Module 5: Getting Started with Accessibility in Foundation Modules, Curricula on Web Accessibility
Introduction
Courses based on this module should:
- Introduce different strategies on how to plan, apply, manage, and sustain accessibility.
- Introduce roles and responsibilities related to implementing accessibility.
Learning Outcomes for Module
Students should be able to:
- Explain different organizational strategies to plan and manage accessibility.
- Describe how to develop accessibility policies for organizations and statements for products.
- Describe ways to explore the accessibility environment in organizations.
- Distinguish different roles and responsibilities for applying accessibility.
- Explain how to start addressing accessibility in an existing project.
Competencies
Skills required for this module.
Students:
- Basic understanding of:
- Computers and the Web.
- Accessibility concepts and terminology.
- How people with disabilities use the Web.
Instructors:
- In-depth knowledge of:
- How people with disabilities use the Web (including assistive technologies and adaptive strategies).
- The links between components of web accessibility.
- Accessibility principles.
- The W3C accessibility standards.
- Accessibility planning and managing strategies.
Topics to Teach
Optional topics to achieve the learning outcomes.
Topic: Planning and Managing Web Accessibility
Introduce different approaches for integrating accessibility throughout the design and development process. Refer to Planning and Managing Web Accessibility. Emphasize that it is crucial to have management support to succeed in long-term accessibility implementations.
Learning Outcomes for Topic
Students should be able to:
- Explain that accessibility implementation needs involvement from a wide range of roles.
- Recognize the need of technical and financial resources for accessibility.
- Identify some roles to ensure a consistent implementation of accessibility, such as those from Quality Assurance or Executive Management Teams.
- Describe how to involve people with disabilities throughout projects.
- Describe some accessibility case studies from organizations.
Teaching Ideas for Topic
Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes:
- Introduce specific considerations to integrate accessibility based on your particular students. See Planning and Managing Web Accessibility.
- Emphasize the importance of involving real users with disabilities early, and throughout projects. See Involving Users with Disabilities.
- Discuss case studies of organizations that have adopted accessibility. Analyze with students successes and challenges of such cases. See Business Case for Digital Accessibility.
Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic
Optional ideas to support assessment:
- Reflective Journal — Students identify accessibility related processes based on what they have learned, and research how to update them to better integrate accessibility. Assess students’ capacity to identify strengths and weaknesses in an overall accessibility strategy.
- Guided Quiz — From a given set of roles, students list main responsibilities associated to each of these roles. Assess students’ capacity to identify roles and attribute responsibilities.
- Portfolio — Students select a product of their choice and develop strategies to efficiently plan and manage accessibility. Assess students’ capacity to identify key actions for accessibility to be maintained throughout time.
Topic: Developing Policies and Statements
Introduce students to accessibility policies for organizations and accessibility statements for websites. See Developing Organizational Policies on Web Accessibility and Developing an Accessibility Statement/. Emphasize that policies are mostly internal within organizations, whereas statements are public commitments on accessibility implementation.
Learning Outcomes for Topic
Students should be able to:
- Describe accessibility policies as a mechanism to reinforce commitment among the organization members.
- Recognize the role of accessibility statements as a way of documenting the current accessibility status and of defining future steps and commitments.
- Explain some current accessibility approaches from well-known organizations.
Teaching Ideas for Topic
Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes:
- If possible, bring in some examples of accessibility policies you are aware of or may have access to. Explain that they serve to document organizational commitments, to encourage implementation, and to define processes. If you do not have such documents, walk students through the different elements that are needed for an effective accessibility policy. Refer to Accessibility Policies.
- Explore publicly-available accessibility statements and reflect with students on some of the aspects they include.
Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic
Optional ideas to support assessment:
- Report — Students draft an accessibility policy based on an organization of their choice. Assess students’ capacity to define the scope of the policy, and to reference current standards.
- Presentation — Students draft an accessibility statement for a product of their choice and present it to their peers. Assess students’ capacity to reflect on current status of the product and to demonstrate commitment to accessibility.
Topic: Roles and Responsibilities
Introduce roles and responsibilities for accessibility. Explain that implementing web accessibility requires involvement from the whole team.
Learning Outcomes for Topic
Students should be able to:
- Explain how accessibility responsibilities are shared among different roles within the team.
- Describe some accessibility features and map them to specific roles.
Teaching Ideas for Topic
Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes.
- Explain the different types of roles involved in implementing web accessibility. Emphasize that implementing web accessibility requires involvement from the whole team.
- Introduce the scope of their responsibilities throughout. Emphasize that sometimes a particular accessibility feature needs involvement from several roles.
- Introduce some accessibility features and specify which role(s) would be responsible for them. Explain that there might be only one role or several roles involved.
Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic
Optional ideas to support assessment:
- Multiple Choice Questions — From a given set of product features, students assign their corresponding roles and responsibilities. For example, if an alternative text is required for an image, who would provide that text? Who would implement it?
Topic: Accessibility in an Existing Project
Introduce some strategies to address accessibility in an existing project. Use examples found in Web Accessibility First Aid: Approaches for Interim Repairs.
Learning Outcomes for Topic
Students should be able to:
- Explain how to identify potential accessibility issues in projects.
- Describe some strategies to scope, prioritize, and repair accessibility issues in an existing project.
Teaching Ideas for Topic
Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes:
- Introduce some of the methods to gain an understanding of the current accessibility status in the project, e.g., performing a first review or carrying out a detailed accessibility evaluation. Refer to Web Accessibility First Aid.
- Introduce some of the strategies that can be used to prioritize issues.
- Explain how interim repairs can act as a starting point for future accessibility implementation strategies.
- Engage students to discuss accessibility issues of a given digital product. Encourage them to reflect on which of the issues they would prioritize and how these issues could be solved according to what they have already learned.
Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic
Optional ideas to support assessment:
- Presentation — Students identify accessibility issues in a website or application and share their findings with their peers. Assess students’ accuracy when performing first checks.
- Debate — Students prioritize the issues found and elaborate on how to fix them. Assess students’ capacity to identify key tasks and contents and to consider the impact of issues.
Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Module
Optional ideas to support assessment:
- Multiple Choice Questions — From a list with all accessibility planning and managing strategies, students select those they consider relevant for their particular situation.
- Presentation — Students present different roles and responsibilities involved in web accessibility and describe their associated tasks. Assess students’ capacity to identify responsibilities and map them to their corresponding roles.
- Report — Students describe some strategies to integrate accessibility in any existing project. Assess students’ capacity to communicate and prioritize strategies.
Teaching Resources
Suggested resources to support your teaching:
- Planning and Managing Web Accessibility — Introduces activities to help you integrate accessibility throughout the web production process. These are organized according to web project management stages of “Initiate”, “Plan”, “Implement”, and “Sustain”.
- Developing Organizational Policies on Web Accessibility — Provides step-by-step guidance on developing organizational policies relating to web accessibility. It is part of the broader “Planning and Managing Web Accessibility” resource, to help guide through this particular organizational step.
- Developing an Accessibility Statement — Provides guidance and a free generator tool to help website and application owners to create accessibility statements. It encourages organizations to communicate their commitment to accessibility and to provide feedback channels for user with disabilities.
- Involving Users in Web Projects for Better, Easier Accessibility — Explains the benefits of involving real users with disabilities from the inception of web projects throughout their design and development stages, and provides advice on working with people with disabilities effectively.
- The Business Case for Digital Accessibility — Explains the rationale for organizations to pursue digital accessibility for people with disabilities. This includes driving innovation, enhancing brand, extending market reach, and minimizing legal risk. It includes case studies from different organizations.
- Web Accessibility First Aid: Approaches for Interim Repairs — Introduces approaches to help organizations prioritize and address pressing issues, while building towards more comprehensive approaches to implement accessibility.
- Contacting Organizations about Inaccessible Websites — Provides guidance for users with disabilities on how to contact organizations when they observe accessibility barriers. It encourages communication and exchange between organizations and their website users.