Shifting Left: Lessons from Designing Accessible Learning Content

Last month I had the opportunity to co-manage an accessibility book club reading Susi Miller’s Designing Accessible Learning Content. When Crystal Scott invited me to help co-manage the discussion alongside Osbourne Saunds, I was thrilled to be part of it.

By the time I finished the book my copy was full of tabs, and I realized this is a resource I’ll be reaching for often as I continue designing and reviewing learning content.

As part of the book club, we also hosted a virtual book talk where Susi Miller joined us to answer questions about the book and her work. I had to jump in midway during my teaching day when I was able, but I was really glad I caught part of the conversation. Hearing the author discuss her thinking behind the framework and examples added even more depth to the reading experience.

The eLA Framework

One concept I keep coming back to is the eLA (eLearning Accessibility) Framework.

Instead of organizing accessibility guidance strictly around the W3C structure of WCAG 2.2, Miller reframes accessibility through six steps aligned with the way we design and build learning content.

WCAG gives us the technical guidelines and success criteria. But when you’re actually inside an authoring tool building a course, flipping between success criteria can feel abstract and disconnected from the design decisions you’re making.

The eLA framework bridges that gap. It translates WCAG into something that makes sense within the workflow of learning design and development.

As someone who spends a lot of time building in authoring tools, that shift in perspective feels incredibly useful. It’s one of those ideas that makes you stop and think, why didn’t we organize it this way before?

Shifting Accessibility Left

Another theme throughout the book is “shifting left.”

In other words, accessibility shouldn’t be something we fix at the end of development. It should be considered early in the design process and continuously throughout development.

When accessibility is integrated from the beginning (during content planning, layout decisions, interaction design, and media selection), it becomes far more manageable. It stops feeling like extra work and instead becomes part of good learning design.

The book reinforces something I’ve experienced firsthand: when accessibility is built into the process, it saves time later and results in a better experience for everyone.

Making the Case for Accessibility

Miller also does an excellent job explaining why digital accessibility matters, including both the ethical and legal perspectives.

The book includes learner case studies that illustrate the real barriers people encounter when learning content isn’t designed with accessibility in mind. There are also authoring tool case studies that show how accessibility considerations play out in the environments many of us work in every day.

What I appreciate most is how deeply the book connects accessibility practices directly to WCAG success criteria in the context of learning content. It’s detailed, but always practical.

Applying These Ideas in My Own Work

One of the things I appreciated most about Designing Accessible Learning Content is how easily the ideas translate into real projects. It was very timely as I was having a "shifting left" experience of my own while reading.

While reading the book, I was working on a project involving video tutorials. I had just decided to re-film one tutorial based on some things I was learning in an accessibility course I was taking and some feedback from the course facilitator. I rewrote the script and built accessibility in from the start.

That meant thinking ahead about things like how visuals would be described and making sure the narration clearly explains what learners need to do whether they are viewing the video, listening to it, or reading the captions/transcript.

Not only did this save time in the long run, and create a more accessible video tutorial, it also resulted in a better tutorial overall. The explanations were clearer, the pacing was more intentional, and the instructions worked better for all learners - not just those using assistive technology.

I found myself thinking about this again while developing a Storyline training project on responding to accessibility questions using ADA Title II and WCAG guidelines. As I built the course, I intentionally modeled accessible practices within the design itself. That meant planning for keyboard navigation, structuring content so it can be understood with a screen reader, testing the experience using VoiceOver, and avoiding visual design choices that could create barriers.

Working this way reinforces the same idea Miller emphasizes throughout the book: accessibility isn’t something to bolt on at the end of a project. When it’s part of the design process from the beginning, it becomes a natural part of the workflow, and the final learning experience is stronger because of it.

Why This Work Matters to Me

Reading and discussing books like this reminds me why I’m drawn to accessibility work in the first place. Thoughtful design decisions, many of them small, can remove barriers that might otherwise prevent someone from fully participating in a learning experience.

The more I study accessibility and apply it in my projects, the more I see how closely it aligns with good learning design. Clear structure, thoughtful media choices, and intentional interaction design don’t just support accessibility standards; they make learning better for everyone.

As I continue studying for the CPACC exam, resources like Designing Accessible Learning Content help bridge the gap between guidelines and practice. It’s one thing to understand accessibility principles in theory and another to apply them thoughtfully while designing real learning experiences.

Books like this help bridge the gap between accessibility guidelines and the everyday decisions we make while designing learning. Judging by the number of tabs I used while working my way through this book, I know this is one I will keep referencing again and again.