Given at UXPA-DC's User Focus Conference, Oct. 19, 2012

1.
mLearning
for
Veterans:
Designing
for
Diverse
Audience
and
Accessibility
Handout
Background
VA
for
Vets
is
the
Department
of
Veterans
Affairs’
(VA)
exciting,
new
career
outreach
program
for
Veterans
and
Military
Service
Members.
Managed
by
VA’s
Veterans
Employment
Services
Office
(VESO),
its
goals
are
to:
• Recruit
Veterans
to
work
for
VA.
• Retain
Veterans
currently
employed
at
VA.
• Reintegrate
VA’s
service
member
employees
seamlessly
after
deployments.
• Recognize
and
honor
Veteran
service.
• Educate
VA’s
supervisors,
hiring
managers,
HR
professionals
and
coworkers
about
Veteran-­‐specific
issues
and
support
resources.
The
program
includes
a
Career
Center,
military
skills
translation
tools,
live
career
coaching
services,
training,
job
aids,
and
many
other
useful
tools.
VA
for
Vets
is
transforming
the
way
VA
recruits,
retains
and
reintegrates
Veterans
and
service
members.
For
more,
visit
VAforVets.VA.gov
or
direct
any
questions
to
Rob
Parrott
at
Robert.Parrot@serco-­‐na.com
or
Michelle
Chin
at
MChin@rockcreeksm.com.
Veteran
Interviewing
Aid
(VIA)
With
VIA,
VA
for
Vets
has
a
mobile
app
that
explains
the
federal
hiring
process
and
helps
Veterans
prepare
for
interviews
“VIA”
their
smartphone.
The
app
will
be
available
through
the
Apple
App
Store
and
Google
Play
following
the
completion
of
User
Acceptance
Testing.
Design
Features
The
following
design
features
were
incorporated
to
account
for
motor
skill,
visual
and
cognitive
impairments.
Motor
Skills
The
main
menu
uses
Playlists
allow
users
easy-­‐to-­‐select,
wide
activate
videos
buttons
to
access
without
focusing
each
of
the
five
their
finger
on
the
sections.
little
blue
button.
Tapping,
instead
of
Minimal
scrolling
swiping,
allows
all
means
limiting
text
users
to
have
the
to
what
can
be
same
experience
viewed
on
a
typical
when
some
are
screen
and
using
unable
to
control
multiple
pages
that
their
hand
through
tap-­‐based,
movements.
arrow
navigation.

2.
Motor
Skills
Continued
Simple
interactions
make
pages
intuitive,
such
as
the
“Uncheck
All”
button
on
Checklist
screens.
Visual
Impairments
Larger
font
sizes
for
Video
descriptions
content
and
button
narrate
the
actions
in
labels
cater
to
users
a
video
using
plain
with
visual
text
that
can
be
impairments.
accessed
by
the
smartphones’
default
screen
reader.
Visually
impaired
users
can
play
Elevator
Pitch
activity
audio
samples.
Someone
who
is
hearing
impaired
can
read
it.
Cognitive
Impairments
Clearly-­‐labeled
Features
follow
a
menus
and
simple
logical
flow
to
guide
navigation
reduce
users
through
confusion.
The
Main
procedural
steps.
Menu
follows
a
typical
interview
process.
Buttons
of
primary
Writing
short
and
importance
are
simple
to
help
users
yellow
and
less
clearly
understand
priority
ones
are
content.
white.
Arrows
and
buttons
to
clearly
direct
users.