Brookwood: Experts in 508 Compliance Standards

Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. Inaccessible technology interferes with an individual's ability to obtain and use information quickly and easily. The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology.

CMS (Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services) needed 33 Captivate movies made 508 compliant and branded with their logo and imaging. Under Section 508 agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others. CMS’s goal was to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.

The Brookwood Solution

Brookwood’s eLearning developers and 508 compliance experts took the 33 Captivate movies, which provide instruction to employees on using Adobe Connect, and brought them under the highest levels of government compliance while branding them with the CMS image. Closed captioning and screen descriptions, which can be read by screen reading devices, were added. Text boxes and highlights were made more prominent, all fonts were adjusted to 18 pt, and animation was synced with the closed captioning. The result was a project that meets all government requirements for accessibility by the impaired and all CMS requirements for a dynamic engaging learning experience.

Key Advantages

• Dynamic, engaging learning complete with corporate branding
• Includes closed captioning, screen descriptions, 18 pt font, and synced animation
• Meets government 508 requirements for accessibility by the hearing impaired
• All content is re-usable for instructors, help desk support and other eLearning courses
• Instructional Design follows a complete learning path or “just-in-time” approach
• Supports Government green Initiatives to provide training options with no travel or printing costs