2. Time Limits

Allow users to adjust short-term (20 hours or less) time limits to at least ten times the default.
Note: If this would invalidate a timed activity, see Pearson Guideline 3.

Rationale

Some users will need more time to complete activities than the average user. They may have a learning disability that causes reading or processing of information to take longer. Or, they may have a physical disability that slows access to the product.

A time limit that causes a user to lose work or to return to the login page may create a frustrating cycle that prevents the user from completing the activity.

“Twenty hours or less” and “ten times the default” were chosen based on the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, which were developed based on clinical research.

Techniques

Options Quoted from WCAG 2.0 (SC 2.2.1)

• Turn off: The user is allowed to turn off the time limit before encountering it; or
• Adjust: The user is allowed to adjust the time limit before encountering it over a wide range that is at least ten times the length of the default setting; or
• Extend: The user is warned before time expires and given at least 20 seconds to extend the time limit with a simple action (for example, ‘press the space bar’), and the user is allowed to extend the time limit at least ten times;

K-3 Techniques

Students in the earliest grades may not be able to judge how much time they will need. A solution to this is to measure the student’s ability to respond to a prompt or to activate a button through an introductory activity. Then, automatically adjust the timing for the main activity based on that data. This requires user-testing. Controls to further adjust timing should still be made available.

Testing

This covers Pearson Guidelines 2 & 3.

Testing technique	Description
Review	Identify any time limits. If there are time limits, see if there is some way for the user to adjust or extend that time limit to at least 20 times the default. If the user cannot adjust the time limit, see if it is possible for instructors to adjust that time limit individually per student.
Analysis	If a user who requires more time than the rest of the users cannot get additional time, then this is an error.

Related Guidelines

508 Web § 1194.22 (p)

When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

WCAG 2.0 Level A – SC 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable:

For each time limit that is set by the content, at least one of the following is true: (Level A)

• Turn off: The user is allowed to turn off the time limit before encountering it; or
• Adjust: The user is allowed to adjust the time limit before encountering it over a wide range that is at least ten times the length of the default setting; or
• Extend: The user is warned before time expires and given at least 20 seconds to extend the time limit with a simple action (for example, “press the space bar”), and the user is allowed to extend the time limit at least ten times; or
• Real-time Exception: The time limit is a required part of a real-time event (for example, an auction), and no alternative to the time limit is possible; or
• Essential Exception: The time limit is essential and extending it would invalidate the activity; or
• 20 Hour Exception: The time limit is longer than 20 hours.