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Results of Questionnaire Curricula: First Review of "People and Access Technology"

The results of this questionnaire are available to anybody. In addition, answers are sent to the following email address: shadi+EOsurvey@w3.org

This questionnaire was open from 2019-03-22 to 2019-04-04.

15 answers have been received.

Jump to results for question:

  1. Overall Structure
  2. Teaching Outline
  3. Other Suggestions
  4. Bonus Question: In Context
  5. Anything Else?

1. Overall Structure

Focus only on People and Access Technology:

  • Are any sections missing?
  • Should any section be removed?
  • Should any section be merged?
  • Should any section be renamed?
  • Should any sections be re-arranged?

Details

Responder Comments
Laura Keen I think this teaching unit strikes just the right tone. It addresses all of the teaching strategies needed to promote understanding of the diversity of people and their needs when navigating the web. I especially like the Notes section that outlines important cultural, ethical, and cultural considerations.
Kevin Rydberg This looks good to me.
Robert Jolly I like the overall structure of the curriculum and feel it is really solid. I don't have strong opinions about changing (or keeping) sections as-is, including the naming and arrangement. There was a discussion about terminology at the F2F meeting and I would be interested in ensuring that we remain flexible about terms and even the sequence of content if people have strong opinions to present.
Brigitta Norton
Howard Kramer It seemed complete to me and nothing seemed extraneous.
Kris Anne Kinney I worry about the anticipated "Duration" because there can be entire courses built on universal design - I know this is meant to be introductory, so maybe I am overthinking this too.

What is the point of notes? just thoughts you can't figure out where else to fit based on section titles?
Vicki Menezes Miller Title: "People and Access Technology":
Comment: I feel that "People and Assistive Technologies" may be more focused as a title. I don't feel strongly about it but I raise the point.
Rationale: The terms "assistive technologies" and "assistive tools" are consistently used throughout the descriptions here.

All sections otherwise are very clear.
Jennifer Chadwick No removals or merges
Eric Eggert
Sharron Rush Might add to the Learning Objectives: How features meant for PWD have benefits for all users. "Accessible design is good design." In terms of the Teaching Outline, I imagine that different teaching styles might change the order. For example, you may talk first about universal design and then have greater understanding as you use the assistive technologies of what the purpose of that model is.
Richard Steinberg I am new to this group so I am unaware of the progress being made on this project. Under Suggested Teaching Materials, third bullet says, "(outdated) Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer" If this is a work in progress that is being updated, then I think having "outdated" as the first word is off-putting. If it is in the process of being updated, hide from view until it is complete then show it. Or reword to say "(work in progress) Better Web Browsing: Tips for Customizing Your Computer"
Sean Kelly Looks good. Categories seem will thought out with about the right amount of overlap.
Sarah Pulis
Norah Sinclair Possibly add the word "Stereotypes" to "Cliches and myths"

Are there any additional resources to support the principles of universal design section? That would be helpful.

Are there resources available for the access technology demonstrations beyond the perspectives videos?
Shawn Lawton Henry

2. Teaching Outline

Focus only on People and Access Technology:

  • Does "Teaching Outline" have the right content?
  • Does "Teaching Outline" have the right tone and approach?
  • Does "Teaching Outline" match the "Learning Objectives"?
  • Does "Teaching Outline" match the "Prerequisites for Trainers"?
  • Any other observations on the "Teaching Outline" section?

Details

Responder Comments
Laura Keen Yes - I do think that the Teaching Outline matches up well with the Learning Objectives.
Kevin Rydberg This looks good to me.
Robert Jolly Content seems right.
Tone and approach also seem direct, relatable (as a teacher), and clear.
Learning Outcomes would absolutely be fulfilled by the following the Teaching Outline.
The Prerequisites for Trainers seems to be appropriate for the Learning Objectives, but there may be less experienced trainers who may be tasked with delivering a course like this. Not sure how or if we should address that issue, as it should probably be the responsibility of the trainer to determine if they have the experience or knowledge to do this work well.
One minor typo found which I'll issue a pull request for in GitHub.
Brigitta Norton Additional wording might be useful: Note: focus questions on functional aspects of accessibility [accessing a digital environment or accessing technology using assistive tools and software] rather than on medical conditions of people
Howard Kramer I thought the bullet point "Principles of universal design" should mention the benefits to non-disabled users instead of benefits to users with different disabilities. Otherwise, it missed the principle of universal design.
Kris Anne Kinney We should have some type of Teaching material for each of the points in the Outline. I like the tone, I just want to be sure we are giving people enough information to move forward confidently.

As i noted below - can we use Instructors, not trainers. (in the effort to reach faculty)
Vicki Menezes Miller Very good.
Tone and approach are well thought out and formulated. Comments below on specific content items.
Jennifer Chadwick 1. Under Learning Outcomes, the first bullet is "Awareness of diverse types of disabilities and related accessibility needs".
This is a critical starting point, and I wonder if it will reference the excellent content here: https://www.w3.org/WAI/people-use-web/abilities-barriers/

2. Under the section "Prerequisites for Trainers"
[Advanced] In-depth knowledge of accessibility principles and universal design, and expertise in working with people with different types of disabilities."
and the subsequent teaching outline with Principles of Universal Design.

Can we have a clear introductory definition of "Universal Design"? In so far as I have trained and worked, to me it's synonymous with "inclusive design". Otherwise it relates to the physical environment, as per the 7 Principles outlined by the National Disability Authority. http://universaldesign.ie/What-is-Universal-Design/The-7-Principles/.

There is also Universal Design in the context of Apple's development principles. https://developer.apple.com/accessibility/

There may be a few pre-conceived reference points in the audience's mind so it would be good to address this and be clear which line of thinking or set of principles are being referenced (and it's ok if it is multiple.)

3. A general observation that I feel it's extremely important that the content for these sections come from as many real-life use cases as possible - directly from those with lived experience. Ensure people from the community are providing their own experiences in their words if possible.
As outlined, using videos or live demonstrations is a good idea.

Similarly, the focus is around "user-centered design" which now includes persons with disabilities in the definitions of 'user' and is more inclusive. A learning outcome should be there is no longer any separation in the designer (or developer's) mind when building web interactions and experiences. They do not thing of the disabled user as "other", that their needs and preferences are regularly considered and included in the definition of a design, definition of done, part of the user testing process, etc.
Eric Eggert
Sharron Rush In the experiential part - "Provide opportunity for learners to experience assistive tools...." it may be useful to define certain tasks (sign up for a newsletter, book a cruise to Norway, or something) rather than simply exploring tools randomly. Not that this outline should define those tasks but that the idea of task definition might be listed as a suggestion to the trainer.
Richard Steinberg Yes to all questions (Teaching Outline has the right content, tone, approach, etc.)
Sean Kelly Seems well put together.
Sarah Pulis Teaching outline - Stories of people with disabilities
* reference to "Avoid frequently encountered cliches is not clear, particularly without reading down to the notes.
Teaching outline - diverse abilities, tools, barriers
* include guidance in types of disabilities for multiple disabilities
Teaching outline - assitive tools and adaptive strategies
* "demonstrate use by experienced users of access technology, to avoid misunderstanding of the tools (assistive tools can be very complex and not intended for casual use)" is confusing. What if a screen reader user is demonstrating a tool but isn't very technical? I'm pretty sure I know what you are getting at but the way it is written is very confusing.
Teaching outline - principles of universal design
* It is not clear how universal design principles apply to overlapping accessibility neds.
Norah Sinclair Good tone
Shawn Lawton Henry

3. Other Suggestions

Focus only on People and Access Technology:

  • Do all other sections have the right content?
  • Do all other sections have the right tone and approach?
  • Any other observations on any of the sections?

Details

Responder Comments
Laura Keen I really cannot think of anything I would add. My only concern for this unit is the difference that the impact will have for students with or without people giving live demonstrations of how they navigate the web. I believe it could be difficult to fill up 3-5 hours of teaching time without the in-person interactions and questions.
Kevin Rydberg This looks good to me.
Robert Jolly The outlined sections all seem to have content, tone, and approach that is appropriate for the course. This is a really solid foundation to use and iterate on over time.
Brigitta Norton
Howard Kramer Yes to first 2 bullet points. No other observations.
Kris Anne Kinney Additional Teaching Materials may be needed. Especially since one states its outdated (but I think is being updated?)

OR -
Instead of just listing the larger resource of how people with disabilities use the web - we break out each of the subpages so the instructors see the correlation.

I do wish we had a Universal Design resource. or a Universal Design for learning resource.
Vicki Menezes Miller "Principles of Universal Design" needs more on design for all and linked with environments and situations.

Concerning "Suggested Teaching Materials", as you mention "Principles of Universal Design" related to older users, would you consider adding a resource in this context, as follows:

"Older Users and Web Accessibility" ( https://www.w3.org/WAI/older-users/ )
and short-story on retiree Yun (https://www.w3.org/WAI/people-use-web/user-stories/#retiree )

I would move "Better Browsing Tips" to "Getting Started with Accessibility"
Jennifer Chadwick Yes. I think it's very good (and important) that there is a "Notes" section that identifies some existing attitudinal or societal barriers that exist, for instance, "Cliches and myths" that can be discussed and broken down as part of the learning.

"Ethical considerations" and "Cultural aspects" are also important but sensitive topics because they aren't necessarily intentional but need to be addressed. This is a critical part of learning about web accessibility and accessibility in general. Important to keep in.
Eric Eggert
Sharron Rush In the assessments section, I would hope that learners are able to articulate ways in which accessibility promotes design thinking, leading to innovation and creativity in design that actually makes the experience of browsing the web more flexible, adaptive, and better for all users.
Richard Steinberg Other than edit to the word "outdated" I do not see any other issues.
Sean Kelly
Sarah Pulis Review section for simple language and understandability
e.g. "enumerates" - Lists?
Avoid frequently encountered cliches - what does this mean?

Parts of ideas for assessment could be reconsidered.
* "Learners should be able to explain different types of accessibility features, such as colors with good contrast" - teaching outline talks about barriers, not about accessibility features that I can see.
* "Learners should be able to demonstrate what they have learned from exploring..." I don't think assessment should be done on an exploratory activity. It should be linked to learning objectives, not the method of learning.
Norah Sinclair Good tone. Could improve tone, if word "medical" was not used in this sentence, "Highlight the diversity of people with disabilities (also within the same medical group),.. Perhaps change medical to disability
Shawn Lawton Henry

4. Bonus Question: In Context

Focus on People and Access Technology in context of the surrounding module:

  • Is this an appropriate/useful teaching unit?
  • Is this the right scope/size for a teaching unit?
  • Does it flow with the teaching unit before and after?

Details

Responder Comments
Laura Keen I think this could be the most important teaching unit. It is the right size and scope and belongs directly after the introduction unit.
Kevin Rydberg This looks good to me.
Robert Jolly Yes, it is appropriate and useful.
Seems to be the right scope/size for a unit with this focus.
It does flow with the units before and after, but I can also see it being somewhat parallel in terms of the Business Case. Either this or Business Case could follow directly from the first unit, Overview and Terminology.
Brigitta Norton
Howard Kramer I thought yes for all the questions below.
Kris Anne Kinney The term Universal Design - is in the context of physical items, space, and environment. Universal Design for learning is about how a student with a disability can have their classroom adapted to fit their needs. So do we need to be more granular in our Universal Design discussion? Shouldn't we think about how we can have users do the same "task" but in multiple ways - i.e. with a mouse OR a keyboard. That usually falls under universal design for learning.
Vicki Menezes Miller The teaching unit is well packaged. However, the problem I see is that there is overlap in the previous section concerning "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" and the "Web Accessibility Perspective Videos". Maybe a solution would be to shorten the "Overview". In this way, the timing for the overview would be within an hour.

Also, in the previous section "Overview", I think the part on "Essential components" should be left for the "Standards and Guidelines". I think it may be too early to introduce in the Overview.

The flow into the next section the "Business Case" works well.
Jennifer Chadwick It's an appropriate and useful teaching unit.
The size and scope are based on this estimate of "3-5 hours depending on activities". Can the activities be described - and prescribed - more definitely?
For instance, due to time constraints, teachers may decide to skip certain parts of the program they think are not as critical to the learning. Could we co-define the required parts of the program?

For me, I would not want the program to omit the Stories of disability. Ideally, the required 'activities' in a 3-5 hour period, I feel, should be a) watching a video or hearing a live person speak about their experiences, b) seeing a demonstration of a number of ATs. There should always been time for these things, or the impact of the education is significantly lowered if there is only information shared about ATs, without demonstration or personal context.
Eric Eggert
Sharron Rush It is an appropriate and useful teaching unit. I am not sure if the "flow" between units is really relevant since people will use them in ways we don't anticipate.But that said, it seems fine as it is. There was a typo in the preceding unit and I logged a pull request to address it.
Richard Steinberg Yes it is appropriate, right scope, flows with teaching units before and after.
Sean Kelly I'm not sure how to gauge the amount of material but it seems like less than this would leave learners without important knowledge.
Sarah Pulis Length of module seems quite long if combined with other modules.
Norah Sinclair Yes, looks to flow nicely with the surrounding content.
Shawn Lawton Henry

5. Anything Else?

Any further thoughts, comments, and feedback that didn't fit in the questions above.

Details

Responder Comments
Laura Keen
Kevin Rydberg nothing further
Robert Jolly Bravo to the folks who worked so diligently to put this together. This is excellent, and it should be published as soon as possible! :)
Brigitta Norton Some minor grammar/spelling:
[financial] finanicial
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with [D]disabilities (CRPD)
Howard Kramer Maybe because I jumped to the section from the external link provided in the survey I was confused for a bit as to what I was looking at in context with the rest of the material. I wonder if these different areas of the module should be divided as lessons, unit or days or Topic 2 for example. Just a thought.
Kris Anne Kinney I know you don't want copy edits/wordsmithing - but just to keep our headspace when writing in the right place, rather than Trainer should we use Instructor. I think Instructor would go over better with faculty without alienating a corporate trainer. They are - after all, still an instructor.

I may review my answers again tomorrow with a clearer head... today was a long & multi-tasking day.
Vicki Menezes Miller
Jennifer Chadwick DIFFERENT Resource: On the list of roles and responsibilities under "Potential Roles to Address" on the WAI-Guide page (https://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/wiki/WAI_Curricula_(WAI-Guide))

1. Highly recommend breaking the roles of the "executive management team (CEO, CIO, VP, etc.)" apart from "Human Resources" and "Legal Compliance" (they were shown to all be part of a single bullet point). All three roles need to be included on the list of key roles, but the teaching topics, focus and approach could / should very different.

2. Please keep Business Analysts on the list. Example of a critical action within their role: Ensuring that compliance with WCAG is included in the business requirement documentation for all digital projects. For instance, if the compliance level is set to WCAG 2.1 AA in the initial requirements documentation, then at the end of the project, the QA team has a compliance level against which they will measure the complete work. Also, KPIs may be derived from an accessibility requirement that can be measured and keep accessibility in scope of the project. By setting requirements and KPIs, it helps to ensure that 'accessibility work' cannot be descoped from the original project because of 'time and cost restraints'. It is non-negotiable.
Eric Eggert Due to my vacation, I was only able to skim it, so I refrain from commenting in detail above.

For the record: I mildly suggest replacing the description list with headings level 3 which might help screen reader users navigate the content. I would also mildly suggest putting each of the teaching units into expand/collapse sections (expanded by default) to allow users to focus
Sharron Rush Excellent start, thanks for this thoughtful useful work!
Richard Steinberg
Sean Kelly
Sarah Pulis
Norah Sinclair
Shawn Lawton Henry No additional comments on the high level (other than what others have already said). (I do have comments on some details, yet know they're not ready for review yet. :-)

More details on responses

  • Laura Keen: last responded on 25, March 2019 at 17:34 (UTC)
  • Kevin Rydberg: last responded on 26, March 2019 at 18:52 (UTC)
  • Robert Jolly: last responded on 27, March 2019 at 04:52 (UTC)
  • Brigitta Norton: last responded on 27, March 2019 at 08:15 (UTC)
  • Howard Kramer: last responded on 28, March 2019 at 02:50 (UTC)
  • Kris Anne Kinney: last responded on 28, March 2019 at 20:24 (UTC)
  • Vicki Menezes Miller: last responded on 29, March 2019 at 15:45 (UTC)
  • Jennifer Chadwick: last responded on 1, April 2019 at 18:45 (UTC)
  • Eric Eggert: last responded on 2, April 2019 at 07:22 (UTC)
  • Sharron Rush: last responded on 2, April 2019 at 12:04 (UTC)
  • Richard Steinberg: last responded on 2, April 2019 at 14:49 (UTC)
  • Sean Kelly: last responded on 3, April 2019 at 23:39 (UTC)
  • Sarah Pulis: last responded on 4, April 2019 at 02:37 (UTC)
  • Norah Sinclair: last responded on 4, April 2019 at 21:23 (UTC)
  • Shawn Lawton Henry: last responded on 5, April 2019 at 11:54 (UTC)

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