It can be tricky to design a cloze activity to be accessible, but it is very possible to do in CourseArc. We have several tips and examples to demonstrate how to design cloze activities with accessibility.

Use Descriptive Labels

Every blank in a cloze activity should have a descriptive label that gives the learners additional context about the purpose of the cloze field. When adding a blank to an activity, be sure to fill in the label field.  Insert Cloze screenshot, showing a Correct Answer of "dogs" and a Label Field of "plural of dog"


Here are some samples of appropriate labels: 

  • In the following activity, the learner is instructed to fill in the plural for each word.  
    screenshot of a cloze activity laid out in a table. There are two columns - word and plural. Each row contains a word and a blank to fill in. Row 1 - dog, blank. Row 2 - tooth, blank. Row 3 - sheep, blank. Row 4 - society, blankEach label (not shown, but read by the screen reader) describes what the learner should input. For example, "plural of dogs," or "plural of tooth."

  • In the following activity, the learner is presented with amendments and is instructed to fill in the amendment.
    screenshot of a cloze activity. Header shows "Amendment 1" followed by amendment 1 text, then a dropdown. This is followed by a horizontal line. Header shows "Amendment 2" followed by amendment 2 text, then a dropdown.In this example, the first label is set to "Amendment 1 Name," and the second label is set to "Amendment 2 Name".



Chunk Your Content

It can be very helpful to chunk your content to make it easier to navigate with a screen reader. You can break up your content in several ways: 

  • Create an accessible table with proper headers, and add the cloze field in the last column of each row  
  • Format content into a list 
  • Use headers within the content
    screenshot of a cloze activity. Header shows "Amendment 1" followed by amendment 1 text, then a dropdown. This is followed by a horizontal line. Header shows "Amendment 2" followed by amendment 2 text, then a dropdown.

The goal is to have some chunking between each cloze field to make it easier for screen reader users to understand the context of each field. 

 

Place Blanks at the End

When possible, try to place blank fields at the end of a chunk of content. This configuration makes it easier for screen reader users by letting them hear the entire context before filling in a field. To illustrate, here are two examples of how to redesign an activity to make more sense for learners using a screen reader.

Example 1 - Bill of Rights

We originally designed this block with a header, followed by the cloze field, and the text of the amendment. 

screenshot of original cloze activity. Header shows "Amendment 1" followed by a dropdown, followed by amendment 1 text. Header shows "Amendment 2", followed by a dropdown field, followed by amendment 2 text.

We then rearranged this block so that the cloze field was located after the amendment text.

screenshot of a cloze activity. Header shows "Amendment 1" followed by amendment 1 text, then a dropdown. This is followed by a horizontal line. Header shows "Amendment 2" followed by amendment 2 text, then a dropdown.

Example 2 - Economic Systems

We originally designed this block as a list of the characteristics of capitalism and communism with the cloze dropdown being the first or second word of the list item. Screenshot of cloze. First list item shows: [blank] shuns private ownership of land. Second list item shows [blank] gives more importance to individual aspirations

We reworked this block to include a table with the cloze dropdown located in the last column of each row. 

Screenshot of redesigned cloze activity. Structured as a table with headers "Characteristic" and "Economic System". Row 1 - "shuns private ownership of land" in column 1, and dropdown field in column 2.



For additional information on the Cloze block, refer to What answer types does the Cloze block have? and How do I add a cloze activity?.