Implementation Suite:
Evaluating Sites
Developing Policies
Selecting Authoring Tools
Training Suite
> Overview -
Objectives - Curricula - Modules
- Tips - Setup
Curricula for Web Accessibility Training
This page provides samples of hypothetical curricula which could be used
for a variety of different audiences. This page is intended for trainers,
or for people arranging training services from a training provider.
IMPORTANT: These curriculum outlines and the estimated times per module are
suggestions only! Modules and training approaches can be combined in many
different ways. Please note:
-
Using a curriculum outline from this page does not imply any endorsement
from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) or the Web Accessibility Initiative
(WAI).
-
These curriculum outlines are designed for experienced trainers, with substantial
expertise with Web accessibility.
-
Any actual training session must be planned and customized according to the
needs of the specific audience.
-
Times to present the suggested modules, either as a quick introductory approach
or an in-depth instructional approach, vary greatly according to individual
presenters.
-
Some suggested WAI resources on this page refer to materials still in draft
stage or unavailable at this time; however these are included as suggestions
as in some cases similar materials or approaches may be available from other
resources, or WAI materials may be available shortly.
-
Additional outlines such as a three-day and/or a five-day curriculum may
be added later.
Contents:
-
General introduction -- heterogeneous audience -- twenty
minutes
-
Accessible Web design -- Web design students -- two-hour
class as part of semester
-
Accessible Web design -- Web designers -- three-hour
hands-on workshop
-
Accessibility features of Web technologies -- Web designers
and application developers -- ninety-minute workshop
-
Accessible application design -- product developers
and quality-assurance testers -- full-day training
-
Organization-wide implementation of Web accessibility
-- senior managers -- ten minutes
Scenario: twenty-minute general overview on Web accessibility, as one of
several presentations on a panel of speakers.
Highlighted learning objectives
Sample curriculum
-
Show the first three minutes of Web Sites That Work [Web page to be provided],
showing people with disabilities using assistive technologies -- OR -- briefly
discuss a scenario or two from How
People with Disabilities Use the Web (~4 minutes).
-
Discuss the reasons why Web accessibility is important, including the
demographics of the disability
marketplace, the carry-over
benefits of universal design, and
policy requirements that might apply
locally -- OR -- briefly introduce the Business Case for Web Site
Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~3 minutes).
-
Demonstrate the Before and After Web Site Reconstruction. [Web page to be
provided] (~3 minutes).
-
Introduce a few myths/facts from Myths About Web Accessibility [Web page
to be provided] (~3 minutes).
-
Introduce the Quick Tips to Make Accessible
Web Sites, and mention several points covered on the card -- OR -- introduce
the Checklist for Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines, showing that there are groupings of different
priority checkpoints, starting with the simplest features of Web sites then
also higher priority checkpoints (~3 minutes).
-
Briefly discuss or demonstrate how to do an initial check of Web sites for
accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~2 minutes).
-
Provide a quick introduction to WAI Resources,
showing that there is a variety of resource types for different needs, explaining
that they are developed through a consensus process with input from many
perspectives. In particular, point out the Checklist for Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines, and the Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites
(~2 minutes).
Scenario: a single two-hour lecture/presentation on Web accessibility as
part of a full semester's introductory course on general Web design skills.
Highlighted learning objectives
Sample curriculum
-
Advance reading assignment:
-
In-class work:
-
Show part or all of Web Sites That Work [Web page to be provided] , and discuss
briefly (~15 min).
-
Go over Myths About Web Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~10)
-
Discuss the reasons why Web accessibility is important, including the
demographics of the disability
marketplace, the carry-over
benefits of universal design, and
policy requirements that might apply
locally -- OR -- briefly introduce the Business Case for Web Site
Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~10 minutes).
-
Introduce the online Curriculum for Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines as a self-study resource; demonstrate the techniques
and examples layers, including multimedia files (~10 minutes).
-
Discuss the 14 guidelines from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,
highlighting priority one and two checkpoints from each (~20 minutes).
-
Display a badly designed Web site, using an LCD projector, and have students
critique site and direct trainer how to fix the worst problems (~25 minutes).
-
Briefly discuss how different authoring tools can facilitate or hinder production
of accessible Web content (~10).
-
Introduce several accessibility checkers and discuss how to use (~10).
-
Introduce a variety of WAI Resources including the many specific techniques
documents (~5).
-
Hand out Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites (~5).
-
Follow-up homework:
-
Ask students to fix their own Web sites, or find one to fix, using the Checklist
for WCAG.
Scenario: hands-on workshop on accessible Web design skills, for up to 20
experienced designers, with at least one computer for every two participants.
Assumes initial familiarity with reasons for accessible Web site design.
Highlighted learning objectives
-
Business case and policy basis for accessible
Web site design
-
Barriers, assistive technologies, and
alternative access strategies
-
Designing accessible Web sites
-
Evaluating and retrofitting Web sites
for accessibility
-
Finding additional resources on Web
accessibility
Sample curriculum
-
Have participants display and navigate through an inaccessible site using
a screen reader OR a text-based browser -- OR -- show people the output of
an inaccessible Web site as generated through a Lynx emulator (~10 minutes).
-
Ask participants to navigate several sites without using the mouse, in other
words, by keyboard only. This works best if one throws the mice over the
back of the desks or tables that participants are sitting at (~10).
-
Introduce and discuss the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, highlighting
priority one and two level checkpoints (~30).
-
Show a variety of Web sites and have participants identify which sites implement
the guidelines and which do not, by using the Checklist of checkpoints for
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as a reference (~30).
-
Give participants a badly designed Web site (perhaps the first site that
they saw), and have them fix it; then look over each others' work and discuss
the results -- OR -- ask pairs of participants to design accessible Web sites
from scratch, with pre-prepared content provided (~40 minutes).
-
Discuss the authoring tools that participants are currently using, and techniques
for producing accessible sites with those tools (~20).
-
Briefly introduce the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including
features that will simplify the task of producing accessible Web sites (~20).
-
Introduce additional WAI resources including the various Techniques documents
(~20).
Scenario: specialized training workshop, at a professional conference, on
accessibility features of a new W3C technology, such as Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG), to a mixed audience of Web site and Web-based application developers,
most of whom are already familiar with the need for Web accessibility.
Highlighted learning objectives
Sample curriculum
-
Point people briefly to resources explaining why Web accessibility is important,
including the demographics of the
disability marketplace, the
carry-over benefits of universal
design, and policy requirements
that might apply locally -- OR -- briefly introduce the Business Case
for Web Site Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~5 minutes).
-
Introduce whichever scenarios from How
People with Disabilities Use the Web that are relevant to the Web technology
under discussion, and follow the internal document links to information about
relevant disabilities and assistive technologies. (~20)
-
Briefly introduce the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
1.0, Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0,
and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and
demonstrate how they each have relevant provisions to consider in implementing
the featured Web technology. (~15)
-
Introduce the featured Web technology by discussing the relevant W3C Note,
for example, Accessibility Features of CSS,
Accessibility Features of SMIL, or
Accessibility Features of SVG.
-
Demonstrate use of an accessible user agent with accessible content.
-
Demonstrate techniques for producing accessible content.
Scenario: in-house training at a Web authoring tool development company;
developers already have some orientation to the importance of Web accessibility.
Note: This training requires expert knowledge of the Authoring Tool
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and prior review of the authoring tool under
discussion.
Highlighted learning objectives
Sample curriculum
-
Ask people about their prior knowledge and experience with accessibility
issues and assistive technologies (~10 minutes).
-
Discuss some scenarios from How People
with Disabilities Use the Web (~20).
-
Demonstrate assistive technologies and adaptive strategies for accessing
the Web, for instance by using a text-only browser, a screen reader with
speech output (or play an audio recording of screen reader output), a screen
enlarger, speech recognition, cpations, or adapted keyboards. Introduce resources
from Alternative Web Browsing.
(~30)
-
Review Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
(WCAG 1.0) as both a foundation for and a complementary part of the solution
with other WAI guidelines. (~30)
-
Introduce supporting resources for WCAG 1.0, including the
Checklist, the various
Techniques documents, the
Curriculum for WCAG, the
logos, and the
Fact Sheet. (~20).
-
Demonstrate several different accessibility
evaluation tools for Web sites,
running on inaccessible pages -- OR -- show some excerpts from Web Sites
that Work [Web page will be provided] to highlight impact of successful
implementation of WCAG. (~10)
-
Display some Web sites that are inaccessible, and where the inaccessibility
was either caused by or not prevented by specific features of the particular
company's authoring tools; identify and discuss problems. (~20)
-
Provide a detailed overview of the Authoring Tool
Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG 1.0), emphasizing priority one and
two checkpoints. (~40)
-
Ask participants to identify (or identify in advance) three to five checkpoints
from ATAG 1.0 which are particularly challenging to implement in this company's
product, and then use the ATAG Techniques
document and linked references to explore potential solutions. (~120)
-
Briefly introduce advanced techniques if relevant to the particular authoring
tool, for example, accessibility features of
SMIL for multimedia authoring tools;
accessibility features of SVG for SVG authoring
tools; MathML if relevant. (~30)
-
Discuss conformance testing approaches and
conformance logos for authoring
tools. (~30)
-
Discuss participation opportunities
in WAI working groups, and/or other ways to find
additional information resources to assist
in implementing ATAG 1.0. (~15)
Scenario: A brief presentation, using a laptop and LCD projector, around
a conference table during a senior management meeting.
Note: The tight timing of the following suggested modules require
extensive familiarity with the material, and careful rehearsing of the
presentation in advance.
Highlighted learning objectives
Sample curriculum
-
Briefly show the Before and After Web Site Reconstruction [Web page to be
provided.] (1 minute)
-
Give a brief policy overview if relevant
for the organization's locale. (2 minutes)
-
Pass around the Quick Tips to Make
Accessible Web Sites emphasizing that a few simple provisions can have
a major impact on accessibility. (1 minute).
-
Briefly introduce demographics of
the disability marketplace, and the
carry-over benefits of universal
design. (1 minute).
-
Run the Car demonstration, showing a SMIL-based multimedia presentation that
is both captioned, for people who can't hear the audio, and described, for
people who can't see the video; and point out that Web accessibility does
not mean dull and boring text-only Web sites. (1 minute)
-
Provide an overview of the implementation steps that can lead to effective
implementation of Web accessibility within an organization. (1 minute)
-
Introduce myths/facts about Web accessibility, including proportional/reasonable
cost of accessibility [Web page to be provided]. (1 minute)
-
Point to the WAI Resource page to let people
know that solutions exist and that there is a variety of resources available
to assist with implementation support. (1 minute)
-
Take some questions, to see what concerns or misunderstandings might have
arisen such a brief tour of Web accessibility issues and resources. (1 minute,
or more if they ask you to stay.)
Last updated November 3, 2000 by Judy Brewer
(jbrewer@w3.org). This WAI Resource is
produced by the Education and Outreach Working Group.
Please send comments and updates to
w3c-wai-eo@w3.org.