DDI’s Quest for Engaging and Accessible Learning
| The client | DDI is a global leadership firm that helps organizations recruit, motivate and develop exceptional leaders, from entry-level executives to C-suite executives. |
| Industry | Professional services |
| It has been suspended | 1970 |
| Headquarters | Pittsburgh, US |
| It works internally | 20+ countries |
| Elements of the solution | RWS eLearning Services RWS Accessibility Services |
Determined to accelerate its digital training platform reach, DDI found it could learn more—and progress faster—by turning to a trusted partner.
Great leadership is inclusive leadership—that’s one of DDI’s core values. The company strives to ensure that every leader, regardless of location, cultural background, type of senses or abilities, can access and benefit from the development experience.
Expandable Recognition of Diversity
DDI has been committed to diversity since its founding in Pittsburgh, in 1970. Within a year, the company was providing services in Japan, and its overseas growth accelerated in the 1980s. This made translation a priority in its practice, followed by a growing appreciation that localization—including various cultural realities—improves translation to ensure effective learning. The DDI approach to integration has continued to evolve over time. Today, course design acknowledges and considers differences in gender, race, personality, individual preferences and more. The company’s latest goal is accessibility in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Access to Light
Around the world, awareness of the need for better internet accessibility has grown significantly in recent years, perhaps accelerated by the digital shift during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Laws in different parts of the world are also a cause for awareness and action.
DDI has had an accessibility guide for its online training platform since 2018. The company’s initial efforts include basic video documentation, internal accessibility testing, and efforts to make course templates compatible with screen readers. But increasing interest and expectations from customers has encouraged DDI to accelerate its roadmap significantly.
“We realized that if we wanted to move forward with accessibility as quickly as possible, we were going to need professional help,” said Verity Creedy, DDI’s Vice President of Product Management. “We were looking for a partner who can be firm and impartial in assessing where we stand, and help us close the gaps found.”
Eyes Opened
DDI spoke with three of its vendors who were providing content-related services or solutions. One was RWS, DDI’s localization partner for learning materials, including print (for classroom training) and digital (for online classes and self-help eLearning). The two companies have built a trusted relationship over a decade, with RWS taking on a variety of DDI localization training responsibilities beyond basic translation.
“When it comes to accessibility, RWS really stood out,” says Verity. “Our other vendors provided basic guidance, but RWS stuck to the important details, and opened our eyes to what we could do and the impact on the students involved.”
“For example, RWS brings to life the difference between basic video subtitles and SDH,” he continues. “They showed us the difference between a basic screen reader experience and a great screen reader experience. They helped us feel confident enough to say: let’s do more, rather than just enough.”
Testing Platform Accessibility
DDI partnered with RWS and quickly began taking major steps forward in accessibility.
A major requirement of the project was the evaluation of DDI’s digital learning platform to assess its compliance with WCAG AA standards. For several years, DDI has used a content management system (CMS) to manage its learning content in multiple formats and languages, and has done some early work with its content templates in this system to meet basic accessibility standards. So the company wanted to focus initially on its learning environment rather than the content of the course it hosts. RWS helped by analyzing the typical user journey and compiled a detailed report with recommendations for remediation.
“RWS has brought an exceptional level of rigor and technical expertise to accessibility research,” said Verity. “This was not a surprise, as we are used to very high standards in their landscaping work, but it was still nice to see the same quality and efficiency here again.”
Why DDI Chose RWS as an Accessibility Partner
- Your trusted localization partner: a one-stop shop for engaging learning resources
- Unbiased advice and a solid approach
- Expert in both content and software
- Maintenance services are available
Addressing Field Access
The resulting report identified approximately 45 system accessibility gaps, with five prioritized to have the greatest impact on accessibility. This includes a challenge with DDI product colors used in functional (ie, non-decorative) situations. Although it is possible to solve this without changing the brand, DDI is considering adjusting its colors so that its product provides a better experience in all situations.
Audit in hand, DDI has a plan of next steps, starting with the most important issues and moving systematically through the list. RWS will work with DDI’s software engineering team on best practices for development, and evaluate their work.
“Our plan is to finish within six months,” said Verity. “But that’s not the end of our journey at all. We still have a lot to do on the content side of our courseware, and we’re not going to be complacent. We’re going to keep testing the platform on a regular basis—perhaps once a year—to keep improving.”
DDI is updating its software standards, guidelines and checklists, and educating its applications engineering team to put accessibility front and center in future development work. The company also plans to look beyond training to its website and other content. Verity notes that one DDI software engineer is so motivated that he has made accessibility his personal crusade.
He adds, “On my team, two content designers have also stepped up to become our accessible learning champions, unsolicited.”
Assessing and Addressing Content Accessibility
Although the RWS study focused on the platform, it is impossible to completely separate the platform from the content—so the report included some action points for the course content that DDI addresses.
At the same time, many other programs continue to focus on content. DDI has been continuously updating and developing its curriculum templates as a basis for RWS accessibility research. Fortunately, DDI’s use of a CMS with templates will simplify any actions that arise from such testing. Revising and repurposing templates for better accessibility will go a long way toward improving accessibility for all DDI courses, with future content reviews planned to identify any older courses that may need attention.
Special Focus on Video
Another type of content that falls outside CMS templates is video, which was the first thing DDI wanted to focus on, even before doing the platform research.
RWS has helped DDI move from basic subtitles in training videos to subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH), adding descriptions of subtle sounds like background music or alarm sounds. RWS now produces SDH for DDI’s English source videos and all local versions.
DDI already made transcripts available for all videos on its site, but transcripts now include SDH text for more context. For students with visual impairments, transcriptions will soon include descriptions of key visuals and action happening on the screen that will be accessible to screen readers—effectively a text version of the audio description.
Content with only using SDH and annotations for new videos, DDI started a project to apply the same treatment to older videos that are still in use.
Growing Enthusiasm
DDI has ambitious goals for improving accessibility, recognizing that the pursuit of inclusion is an ongoing process. Verity is proud of how far the company has come in such a short time, and appreciates the role played by RWS.
“We have found RWS to be much more than just a partner in space. It has helped us create a program that is passionate about accessibility and will continue to play an important role in helping us realize it. Achieving world-class accessibility in our world-class content will allow us to help more leaders become better leaders.”
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