Module 5: Getting Started with Accessibility  in Foundation Modules, Curricula on Web Accessibility

Introduction

Courses based on this module should:

Learning Outcomes for Module

Students should be able to:

Competencies

Skills required for this module.

Students:

Instructors:

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:

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:

Teaching Resources

Suggested resources to support your teaching:

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