Redesigning for Accessibility: Design Decisions and Compromises in Educational Game Design

Abstract

Accessibility in educational media focuses on removing barriers based on learners’ varied needs. In educational games, players’ diverse needs can impact a wide variety of design strategies. This study focuses on the process used by one design team to prioritize accessibility in the redesign of their older educational games, while creating a process to inform development of new games. The study provides a framework for thinking about games and accessibility vis-a-vis educational games, and documents an action research study with the development team of the Math Snacks project. Using a participatory and qualitative approach, researchers provide a description of the team redesign process to address accessibility: how the team reviewed accessibility gaps in their games; made specific design choices in redesigning for accessibility; and determined which actions could make the games more accessible. The work yielded a process other design teams can implement in their review of existing games.