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Christine Pope

Accessibility is often treated as an extra—something only needed by people who use screen readers, navigate with a keyboard, or rely on high-contrast visuals. However, the truth is that clear, flexible, and easy-to-use content benefits everyone. Real learners are often studying on the go: on their phones, in the subway, in low light, or without the option to play audio. If you use PowerPoint to create accessible e-learning content, this article will walk you through how to make it more inclusive—and way more usable for today’s learners.What Makes a Course Accessible?If you’ve ever looked into accessibility, you’ve probably come across the acronym POUR. It comes from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the global accessibility standard that helps make digital content work for everyone. The POUR framework breaks accessibility down into four core principles:Perceivable. Your content should be easy to see, hear, or read. If a learner can’t perceive your content in at least one way, it’s simply not accessible.Operable. Learners should be able to navigate your course and interact with it, whether they’re using a mouse, keyboard, or assistive technology. Understandable. The content needs to be clear, predictable, and easy to follow. That applies to both the language you use and how your slides are structured. Robust. Your course should hold up across platforms, devices, browsers, and assistive tools.In the US, accessibility is also guided by Section 508, a federal requirement for making digital content usable by people with disabilities.5 Expert Tips on Inclusive E-Learning DesignAnna Poli, a senior instructional designer at iSpring and an advocate for learning inclusivity, shared seven strategies for designing accessible e-learning that she actually uses in her courses and promotes to her students:#1. Use clear, consistent layouts and headings.When your layout follows a predictable structure, learners spend less mental energy figuring out how to engage and more on what they’re learning. Stick to one or two master layouts throughout your deck, and use heading fonts, sizes, and spacing consistently. With clear headings, you’ll organize information both visually and logically, making it easier to scan, remember, and revisit key points. They’re also helpful for navigation, especially if your course will be published online or in an LMS.#2. Use captions or transcripts for audio/video content.Multimedia can make a course more engaging, but only if learners can access the content. When recording audio in PowerPoint, provide a short transcript in the notes section or as on-screen text.For videos, you can add open captions directly on the slide or provide a downloadable transcript nearby.Captions also have an unexpected benefit—they can help improve retention. Seeing and hearing content simultaneously reinforces the message and supports different learning preferences.#3. Strike the balance with animations.In PowerPoint, stick to purposeful, consistent effects like “Fade” or “Appear,” and avoid complex motion paths or timed builds unless they’re truly adding value. A good rule of thumb is this: If the animation doesn't support understanding, it probably doesn't need to be there.#4. Use color and contrast with intention.Avoid using color alone to indicate correct answers, progress, or categories. Pair it with text, icons, or patterns so the message is always clear. Be sure to test contrast on the actual devices your learners use. That perfect gray-on-blue combo might pass in your office but disappear completely on a projector or mobile screen.Use tools like PowerPoint’s Accessibility Checker, but also trust your eye, especially for small text, light backgrounds, or overlays on photos. #5. Ensure course accessibility after publishing.When converting PowerPoint to e-learning, make sure your publishing tool carries that accessibility setup across the finish line. Some platforms strip out things like reading order, alt text, or keyboard navigation during export. Look for PowerPoint add-on authoring tools that support SCORM export, preserve accessibility features, and offer a responsive course player that adapts to different screens and input types. It’s even better if it includes an accessibility mode that improves navigation for assistive technologies. That way, your efforts aren’t lost in the final version that learners actually interact with.

PowerPoint for Inclusive Learning — 5 Expert Tips

Christine Cox a professor in the Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the New York University Langone Medical Center. She received her B.A. in cognitive science and philosophy from Tulane University in New Orleans and her Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Arizona. Dr. Cox’s main areas of interest include the use of neuroimaging techniques (e.g., functional MRI) to investigate the neural correlates of social cognitive abilities in both neurotypical and clinical populations. Her research has focused on the neural correlates of empathy, emotion regulation, risk perception, and negative stereotypes and prejudice. She has taught classes on Morality in Childhood, Cognitive Psychology, Neuroimaging Methods, and Human Memory, and has guest lectured for NLI on the Social Neuroscience of Uncertainty and Ambiguity. Dr. Cox has published in international peer-reviewed journals such as Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, NeuroImage, Biological Psychiatry, and PLoS ONE. She is a member of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, the Society for Neuroscience, the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Christine Cox

Christine DiDonato, founder of Career Revolution, Inc. is an innovator in the space of career development. As a former Talent Management Executive at Sony, Christine focused her passion and research on developing a new generation of employees to become the next generation of leaders. Christine is a LinkedIn Learning Author and seasoned facilitator who partners with clients to move beyond theory and academics and to put tangible solutions in place that address the challenges of our new workforce. She is recognized as a leading expert in her field as seen in her contributions to popular media sources like TIME, Money, Inc., Forbes, and USA Today. In her new book “Get There Faster: The no-nonsense, no-fluff guide to the career you want”, Christine helps a new generation of emerging talent take ownership of their career path and live their best life sooner.

Christine DiDonato 

To achieve organizational excellence, core management systems and processes need to be fully integrated and focused on measureable results. Measures of results should be based on customer requirements and feedback. Baldrige puts major management systems into six categories. But you shouldn’t think of them as categories. Rather picture six engaged gears that push the organization toward results. The systems/gears are: LeadershipStrategic PlanningCustomerFocus Workforce FocusOperations/Business ProcessesResults Measurement. Leadership articulates the model to all employees at all levels and reinforces the values that propel the integrated systems, such as customer focus, continuous improvement, and employee engagement and empowerment. Baldrige is as much a culture as a management approach—and what a culture it is! All hands and all brains are on deck. Pride, fellowship, and know-how grow because results are achieved and no one is a bench-sitter. Employees and the systems work together as a whole to produce exceptional results. Case in Point During my tenure with the City of Coral Springs, the city employed the Baldrige business model to create system integration and customer focus. In our case, every city worker was introduced to the model and the strategic plan at new employee orientations. Orientation covered the principles that keep professional silos at bay and job satisfaction high, including: establish and deploy vision and valuesfacilitate the development of an evidence-based strategic planset objectives, strategies and measures of progressalign resources and activity to the objectivesmonitor implementation of plansevaluate the effectiveness of plansfoster customer-focused lean processescontinuously improve through “feedback loops” that create organizational and individual learningengage in all of the above. More importantly, my city government experience with the Baldrige model informs my approach to performance management at the Department of Commerce.Applying Baldrige to the Federal Landscape Over the decades, the federal government has searched for the Holy Grail of performance management. This has proved elusive, though, because staff offices have set up performance measurement systems that are not aligned with a strategic plan, employee work plans, or process design. Instead, measures have been created by staff offices, not the folks who are on the line. What’s more, feedback on systems happened primarily when a catastrophic failure occurred; regular feedback for system improvement was an anomaly. Here’s the good news: Times are changing, and there are federal initiatives for customer focus, use of performance indicators and evaluation, employee engagement, and strategic plans that are actionable and monitored. However, if we don’t move on all these fronts through integrated systems that involve the entire workforce, the Holy Grail will remain elusive—even though Baldrige has put it in plain sight.  Check out http://www.nist.gov/baldrige to get a better view. If you have worked in a Baldrige culture, you will never want to settle for less. For a deeper dive on this topic, join me for the session “Changing Up: Integrating a Culture of Performance in Your Organization” at the Government Workforce: Learning Innovations conference.

Building a Federal Culture that Supports Results—Everywhere You Look

“AI won’t replace you, but an instructional designer who uses it wisely just might.” That’s the mindset e-learning professionals are adopting in 2025.To explore where AI fits into modern course development and how experienced IDs are using it to support their daily workflows, we spoke with Anna Poli, a senior instructional designer at iSpring. 5 Practical Ways to Use AI With Instructional DesignAI in learning and development has generated considerable hype, but it has not fulfilled every promise to instructional designers. It didn’t turn SMEs into content geniuses, fully automate course creation, or replace the need for instructional judgment and the human touch.Still, when used strategically, it’s a powerful assistant, saving time, reducing repetitive tasks, and creating space for deeper design work. Here are five areas where it can make a real difference:1. Early-Stage Course PrototypingInstead of starting with a blank slide, AI helps generate a rough outline or suggest slide content based on a topic, script, or meeting notes.“I enjoy using Copilot in PowerPoint paired with iSpring Suite Max as an add-on. It lets me build a course flow from scratch and enhance it with interactivity: quizzes, branching scenarios, or video narration,” says Anna Poli.AI-supported prototyping helps instructional designers test ideas, share early drafts with stakeholders, and refine structure and flow before investing time in full-scale production.2. Training Content RepurposingFor senior instructional designers managing large content ecosystems, AI course creators offer a practical way to develop and adapt courses without starting from scratch. Long-form assets, such as webinars, manuals, or SME recordings, can be transcribed, summarized, and restructured into self-paced modules, interactive microlearning, or quizzes within minutes. With AI, it’s also easier to maintain consistency across formats, identify gaps or redundancies, and adapt content to different roles or learner levels.3. Localizing Content for Global TeamsWhen rolling out training across multiple regions, AI-powered translation tools like DeepL or built-in features in authoring platforms can translate course scripts, assessments, and UI elements with a few clicks, providing IDs with a strong draft before human review.“I usually start with AI-generated translations to get the base version out quickly,” says Anna Poli. “Then, I loop in regional reviewers for cultural nuance and terminology. It saves hours of back-and-forth.”4. Enhancing AccessibilityAccessibility is about giving every learner a fair opportunity to engage, absorb, and apply what they’re learning. But in large-scale learning projects, this is often treated as an afterthought, when time and resources are running low. AI helps shift that work to an earlier point in the process. Instructional designers can:Generate voiceovers using text-to-speech tools while content is being finalized.Add auto-captioning to training videos, making them easier to follow for learners watching without sound.Draft alt text for visuals, diagrams, and screenshots, which can then be quickly refined for context.Adapt reading-level complexity, making content clearer for diverse learner groups.5. Generating Knowledge ChecksGood assessment questions take time to develop, especially when you need to challenge learners at different levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. AI helps by generating draft questions from raw content, such as course modules, transcripts, or SME notes.“Instead of staring at a blank page, I use AI to get five or six rough questions, then fine-tune them based on the learning goals and audience,” says Anna Poli. “These drafts often need refinement, but they provide a starting point that speeds up the process greatly.”Where to Draw the Line: What AI Can’t (and Shouldn’t) DoWhile AI can support many aspects of course development, there are still areas where AI should not be trusted to work solo, even if it seems tempting. To make your teamwork more meaningful, don’t dump these (still very human!) tasks on your AI friend:Define learning objectives without stakeholder input or performance context.Generate culturally sensitive examples or scenarios without review.Replace SME conversations, especially in high-risk or regulated fields.Design ethical decision-making scenarios without nuanced judgment.Catch subtle tone issues in language that could alienate learners.Using AI as a collaborator, rather than a competitor, will definitely give you an advantage. While some teams are still cautious about adopting AI, those who use it thoughtfully are already gaining a strategic edge—and more time for big-picture thinking.

Smarter Course Design With AI – 5 Proven Use Cases 

2024 Awards Issue - TD Magazine

Apprenticeship and internship programs set in motion robust talent pipelines.

A Test Run in Industry Work

2021 Best Practices  - TD Magazine

To help fill the declining pipeline of qualified tradespeople at Sundt Construction, the L&D team launched a groundbreaking workshop geared specifically toward skilled laborers and forepersons.

Building a Training Culture

For Tata Consultancy Services, talent development is a businesscritical function powering growth and transformation.

Partners in Performance

Consider a popular statistic: Generation Y, or Millennials, are expected to comprise more than 50 percent of the workforce by 2020. That is just five years away, so it is essential for this new generation to prepare for a future of leadership.In ATD’s 2012 whitepaper Leadership Development for Millennials, 56 percent of employers surveyed believe that Millennials require specialized leadership development programs to succeed. Envisioning a world that works better begins with instilling the right knowledge and skills in young professionals.Seeking to better serve future leaders of the profession, ATD introduced its Young Professionals initiative in 2014 to encourage professionals entering the field to expand their expertise while shaping the future of the talent development industry. Keeping up with trends and the hottest gadgets is part of the Millennial culture, but how can organizations promote a sustainable future with strong leaders? We asked ATD CEO Tony Bingham to share his thoughts on the future of the industry and what that means for new professionals entering the field.Q: How can organizations prepare for a future with young professionals as leaders?TB: In order to meet the demands of the future, organizations need programs designed to meet the development needs of Millennials. Opportunities for regular and focused development are important to this generation, and acting on that is critical. And, since this generation looks at technology as a utility (like electricity), we must shift our perspectives and design our content to support consumption via a variety of technologies. Smartphones, tablets, apps, social networks, and the cloud are used in virtually every workplace and with increasing frequency. If we want to engage this generation, our design and delivery must include the devices and channels most favored by them.Being the “employer of choice” will be determined in part by the talent development team. In order to help attract, grow, and retain young professionals with leadership potential, a prioritized talent development function must be in place. This goes beyond a requisite training program’s focus on technical skills. Young professionals also seek to enhance transferable soft skills. Organizations should consider mentoring and coaching programs in the areas of communication, relationship building, and diplomacy.Q: What is the best way for today’s young professionals to make an impact in talent development?TB: Young professionals do a great job connecting with one another and adapting to new technology. This group has the opportunity to influence the field by increasing collaborative efforts and sharing content, ideas, and practices across the entire global community using digital and social media. Young professionals must be engaged in creating a culture of collaboration and one that is comfortable with change. It’s their responsibility to get their voices heard, and it’s the responsibility of senior leaders to ensure that an environment exists where this generation can comfortably share their thoughts, and be confident that they are being actively listened to.Q: How can young professionals engage with other ATD professionals?TB: Talent development professionals of all ages are encouraged to share their knowledge with the ATD community by connecting in person at ATD conferences, ATD education programs, local ATD chapter meetings, or online in our very active social channels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WeChat, Pinterest, and so on). I urge young professionals to share their ideas by creating blog posts, podcasts, videos, or infographics. \[Editor’s note: If you’re interested in contributing content, let us know by submitting this form or emailing youngprofessionals@td.org.\]Q: What difference would ATD membership make for a member of Gen Y? Why would a young professional want to join the ATD membership community?TB: This generation understands the importance of community and connections, and that is what ATD membership is about. ATD is dedicated to supporting the growth of talent development practitioners throughout their professional journey so that they can drive results in their organizations, and enjoy greater satisfaction in their careers with a well-proven model for success.Young professionals—really all professionals—need information that is available on demand and highly relevant. With more than 70 years of history, ATD is a trusted source of data-driven best practices, case studies, and education focused around 11 communities of practice (targeted areas of interest). We are constantly searching for offerings that our members will value—we do the work of ensuring that the information is relevant and valuable, saving our members time. Membership also provides many benefits, including discounts, connections to subject matter experts and to one another, assessments, career guidance, and access to content created specifically for members.Additionally, ATD membership and local chapter membership offer many opportunities to network online and in person. It’s always great to see people meet face-to-face at our conferences after virtually connecting on one of our social channels. There is nothing like personal, face-to-face connection. Networking is powerful and robust in the ATD member community.Q: What career advice would you give to young professionals just starting out in talent development or people looking to make a career change?TB: Never stop learning. But, learn with a plan or model. Get involved in online discussions and attend face-to-face events. Joining an association like ATD allows you to develop your networks, potentially leading to new career opportunities, skills, industry information, and relationships. When you’re ready, consider developing expertise and earning recognition through one of our Master Series offerings (trainer, instructional designer, performance consultant, and so forth) or ATD’s industry certification, the Certified Professional in Learning and Performance credential, to demonstrate your skills, advance your career, and deliver even greater results for your company.Q: Do you have any final thoughts for young professionals or the organizations that want to attract and retain them?TB: Great organizations have great people, and in today’s workforce those great people come from multiple generations. While each generation has unique characteristics, I think an important reminder is that every generation has something it can learn from others. Organizations would be wise to recognize the unique opportunities this provides by creating an environment for collaboration within and across generations. Being a lifelong learner is particularly important in this field. Whether you’ve been in the profession for five months or 35 years, you have to continue pushing yourself to learn new things, challenge your assumptions, meet new people, expose yourself to growth opportunities, and embrace change. I think this applies to individuals as well as organizations. We are entering a period in business where innovation and change are key areas of focus for CEOs. The best organizations are developing their talent and their cultures to meet these important challenges.ATD young professionals are encouraged to get involved and submit blog posts, podcasts, videos, or learning visuals. Read more about how you can share your content.

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