Learner-First UX/LX Checklist

Purpose · Severity levels · Part 1: User Experience (UX) · Part 2: Learner Experience (LX) · References

Created by Chelsea Taylor · Licensed CC BY 4.0

Purpose

The purpose of this checklist is to measure the user and learner experience across digital learning content, such as eLearning course exports and slide decks.

User Experience is the extent to which a user, regardless of impairment, can understand and interact with the content.
Learner Experience is the extent to which a learner, regardless of impairment, can achieve learning outcomes.

Severity levels

The test for every level: how does this impact the learner? It keeps the focus on the learner and their experience, not on design or speed.

#	Level	Definition	Example	Launch
1	Blocked	The learner can't access the content.	Video with no captions and no transcript; a lesson or page with no content	Must be fixed before launch
2	Inaccurate	The content is wrong, and a learner who follows it could make a mistake on the job. Wrong high-stakes content is always Inaccurate.	A wrong fee amount	Must be fixed before launch
3	Detracts	The learner gets less: less of the content, or a worse version of it than other learners get.	Transcript but no captions	Fix before launch, or launch with a named owner and a fix date
4	Adds effort	The learner gets the same content but has to work harder for it, which can hurt retention depending on subject, familiarity, distraction and pressure.	A misspelling that makes them re-read	Can launch; fix in the next revision
5	Minor error	Incorrect, but doesn't block understanding. Each one wears down the learner's trust in the content, and in the designer.	A missing comma; a wrong founding year	Can launch; fix in the next revision

High-stakes content (wrong content here is always Inaccurate, in any module):

Money: prices, fees, rates, amounts, billing steps
Legal & compliance: regulations, policy, contract terms, how personal data is handled
Safety & security: physical safety, health, passwords, access, identity checks and fraud
Client-facing: anything the learner says, sends or shows to a customer
Can't be undone: steps like approve, submit, delete, send

Rules:

Each finding gets ONE level, the most severe that applies. Other levels it hits go in an Also column.
Severity sets the suggested fix order. Within a level, findings with more Also entries sort first.
The tool suggests the fix order; the reviewer and the designer can override it.
Blocked and Detracts never move because content is high-stakes.
Text that fails contrast (item 1) is Detracts: low-vision learners get a worse version of the same content. Text under 2:1 is Blocked: it is too faint to read at all.
Missing required information (an amount, a step, a setting) is Inaccurate when following the course without it could lead to a mistake on the job. When the content is only less complete, it is Detracts.
A large pile of Minor error findings can raise severity, but only rarely. No threshold set.

Who checks:

File: the tool answers it from the course files.
Draft: the tool drafts an answer, marked unconfirmed; a human confirms.
Human: left open for a person.
If the tool ever grades long-form answers, a person confirms the grade.

Part 1: User Experience (UX)

Visual

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
1	Contrast	Does the text pass the WebAIM contrast checker with a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for larger text?	File if colors are in the files, else Human	WebAIM Contrast Checker
2	Color as only indicator	Are there any instances where color is the only indication of meaning?	Draft
47	Zoom	Does the content still work when zoomed to 200%, with nothing cut off, overlapping or hidden?	Human	W3C (2023), WCAG 1.4.4

Images

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
3	Alt text	Is there Alt Text for all images and tables?	File	WebAIM, Alternative Text
4	Decorative images	If the image is for aesthetics only, is it marked decorative?	File	WebAIM, Alternative Text
40	Decorative not clickable	Are decorative images non-interactive (not zoomable or clickable)?	File if the settings are in the export, else Human
43	Branding	Does the content follow the organization's branding requirements, including any labels required on screenshots and images?	Human

Structure and links

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
5	Headings	Are heading styles and/or header rows used for text and tables?	File	WebAIM, Microsoft Word
6	Link text	Are hyperlinks descriptive?	File	WebAIM, Links and Hypertext
7	Free navigation	Can the learner freely navigate the content at their own pace?	Human	Pappas (2015)
48	Real lists	Are lists built as real lists, not typed dashes or symbols?	File	W3C (2023), WCAG 1.3.1

Keyboard

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
44	Keyboard access	Can every button, link and interaction be reached and used with the keyboard alone?	Human	W3C (2023), WCAG 2.1.1
45	Visible focus	Can you always see where the keyboard focus is?	Human	W3C (2023), WCAG 2.4.7
46	No keyboard traps	Can the learner always move the keyboard focus away from any element without getting stuck?	Human	W3C (2023), WCAG 2.1.2

Audio and video

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
8	Captions	Are there captions and/or transcripts provided for all audio?	File	WebAIM, Captions
9	Caption accuracy	If there are captions, do they align with the spoken audio?	File if there is a caption file and a transcript, else Human. Checking against the audio itself needs speech-to-text, which the tool doesn't do.	Arsic (2022)
10	Caption width	If there are captions, are they an appropriate width for the screen so that the learner isn't moving their head to read the caption?	Human	Arsic (2022)

Slides

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
11	Slide reading order	If there are slides, is the reading order correct?	File	WebAIM, PowerPoint
12	Slide titles	If there are slides, are the slides titled?	File
13	Slide layouts	If there are slides, is content aligned with slide layouts?	File	WebAIM, PowerPoint
14	Theme change	If there are slides, does the content make sense when the theme is changed?	Human

Assistive technology

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
15	Accessibility scanner	If there is an accessibility scanner built in to the program, do any issues appear?	Human
16	Windows Narrator	Does the built-in Windows screenreader narrate the text as intended?	Human	Microsoft (2023)
17	Mac VoiceOver	Does the built-in Mac screenreader narrate the text as intended?	Human	Apple (2024)

Part 2: Learner Experience (LX)

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks
18	Outcomes shown	Are the learning outcomes displayed to the learner?	File
19a	Reading level	Is the reading level appropriate?	File
19b	Audience fit	Is the text easy to comprehend for this audience?	Draft if the intake describes the audience, else Human
20	Terms defined	If there are uncommon terms, are they defined?	File

Alignment

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks	Reference
21	Observable verbs	Does each learning objective use an observable verb? Can the objective actually be measured?	File	Bloom (1956)
22a	Objective vs format	Does the level of each objective match what the format lets a learner demonstrate?	Draft	Bloom (1956)
22b	Practice outside course	If the objectives need higher-level practice than the course can provide (analyze, evaluate, argue), does the learning plan place that practice outside the course (video, practice with a buddy)?	Human	Bloom (1956)
23	Content order	Does the order of the content build toward the objectives?	Draft
24	Assessment level	Does the assessment test at the same level as the objective's verb?	File	Bloom (1956)
25	Proves knowledge	If a learner gets the answers right, can you strongly argue they know the topic?	Human

Assessment quality

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks
26	Plausible distractors	Multiple choice: are all the wrong answers plausible, so the right answer isn't obvious among unrelated or random options?	File
27	Requires recall	Does the assessment make the learner think back on the content, rather than being answerable without taking the course?	File
28	Covered in course	Is everything the assessment asks about taught in this course, not in a team wiki or another outside source? (N/A if the course has a prerequisite course.)	File

Practice and feedback

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks
29	Feedback given	Does every practice question give the learner feedback?	File
30	Feedback explains why	Does the feedback explain why an answer is wrong, beyond "incorrect," "try again" or "not quite"?	File
31	Feedback steers	Does the feedback address why a learner might have chosen that answer, and steer them toward the correct one, so they don't reach it by process of elimination? (A visual can help, like a picture showing where things are.)	File
32	Leave and return	Can the learner leave the quiz to check the content and come back where they left off? Learners have their notes on the job, so the quiz shouldn't test memorization.	Human

Relevance

#	Short name	Criterion	Who checks
33	Learner language	Does the course use the language learners actually use on the job (acronyms, sales methodologies, team terms)?	Human
34	Real processes	Does the content follow the existing processes and procedures the learner will use?	Human
35	Tools explained	If the learner needs a specific software or tool, does the content explain it and the scenario they'd use it in?	File
36	Real problems	Does the content include real problems the learner will face (case studies, scenario-based questions)?	File
37a	Links work	Do the links work?	File
37b	Outdated content	Is the information still current? (Tool flags dates, "as of" lines, version numbers, retired names, redirecting links.)	Draft
37c	Team repositories	Do links go to the repositories the team actually uses?	Human
38a	Connects within course	Does the content connect to earlier or later parts of this course?	Draft
38b	Connects to experience	Does the content connect to the learner's past experience or other courses?	Human
39	Sign-off and beta	Has a manager signed off, and have team members beta tested the course?	Human
41	Screenshots current	Do screenshots match the current product UI?	Human
42	Product names	Are product names written with the company's exact capitalization (CamelCase, Sentence case, lowercase), not what a tool autocorrected them to?	File if product names are given in the intake field, else Draft (flags inconsistent spellings)

References

Apple. (2024). VoiceOver User Guide. https://support.apple.com/guide/voiceover/welcome/mac
Arsic, K. M. (2022, July 30). The (Un)Written Closed Captioning Standards and Protocol. Subly. https://www.getsubly.com/post/captioning-standards-and-protocol
Bloom, B. S. (Ed.). (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. David McKay.
Microsoft. (2023, October 9). How to turn on and use Narrator in Windows 11. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/learning-center/how-to-use-narrator
Pappas, C. (2015, June 15). Effective eLearning Navigation: 5 Key Principles! eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/effective-elearning-navigation-5-key-principles
WebAIM. (2024a). Alternative Text. https://webaim.org/techniques/alttext/
WebAIM. (2024b). Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions. https://webaim.org/techniques/captions/
WebAIM. (2024c). Contrast Checker. https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
WebAIM. (2024d). Links and Hypertext. https://webaim.org/techniques/hypertext/
WebAIM. (2024e). Microsoft Word. https://webaim.org/techniques/word/
WebAIM. (2024f). PowerPoint Accessibility. https://webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/#order
W3C. (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/