WAI Curricula/Supporting Materials/

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Introduction

This analysis explores the need for additional material, to better explain use of the WAI Curricula in different situations. This additional information may become integrated as part of existing pages of the Curricula or result in new pages linked from it.

Background

The materials of the WAI Curricula provide content to build web accessibility courses. These materials contain learning outcomes, teaching ideas, ideas to assess knowledge, and teaching resources to help educators in their creation process. However, these materials:

• Do not get into the details of how to build a specific accessibility course.
• Provide little information to other audiences who might want to use the WAI Curricula to compare and select web accessibility courses, and to ask for the creation of courses specific to their needs.

Use Cases

The following are considered audiences and use cases for the WAI Curricula:

Primary Audience

1. Somebody who has training experience but is not necessarily an accessibility expert and wants to:
   • include accessibility in a course with broader focus than only accessibility (ie. web design/development etc.);
   • create a course specifically on accessibility.
2. Somebody who has accessibility expertise but is not necessarily a training expert and wants to teach accessibility.

Secondary Audience

1. Somebody who wants to compare and select courses on web accessibility. This could be:
   • an individual wanting to improve own skills;
   • for organizational/team training.
2. Somebody who needs to put together a contract or RFP (Request for Proposal) for a course on web accessibility.

Tertiary Audience

1. A Quality Assurance professional who needs to advise their organization on the quality of several course proposals.
2. A developer or designer who wants to start with accessibility (not recommended.

Analysis

The following is a list of possible additions to the resource based on the above use cases.

Use Case 1

They might come to the resource looking for:

• Information about how to ensure accessibility of the materials and the course itself.
• Examples of several course models and characteristics: duration, format, correspondence to credit systems, etc.

Use Case 2

They might find it difficult to develop their training, since we did not get into much detail. We could help them by adding information about:

• Examples of several course models and characteristics: duration, format, correspondence to credit systems, etc.
• Information about how to interact with people with disabilities.
• Information about how to ensure accessibility of the materials and the course itself.

Use Case 3

We could make this resource more appealing to them by helping them answer the following questions:

• Does the provider offer any accreditation on course completion? Diploma or any other available methods.
• Does the provider offer any certification? IAAP, any other local, regional, or international entity.
• Is it suitable for in-house teaching or we need to hire somebody to teach it?

Use Case 4

We might extend the resource providing information to help them answer the following questions:

• Is it in our premises? Do we need to send people to other facilities?
• How many people is the course suitable for?
• Can people take it online? Does it require physical presence?
• Does the course require participants to attend the full day? Can it be split into several hours during several days?
• Are attendees expected to devote more hours in addition to the ones devoted to the lessons?
• What accommodation means are needed for the course to take place?
• Does the provider take into account means for reasonable accommodation for course participants?

Proposal

After analysis of the use cases and existing material, we propose to add content addressing:

• Use cases 1 and 2 (primary audience);
• Use cases 3 and 4 (secondary audience).

This new content could be linked from the WAI Curricula overview page.

Course Types and Formats

Objective: Deliver qualitative information on how to build courses. It addresses use cases 1 and 2 (primary audience).

Description: List some definition of terms, and examples of course types and formats.

Contents:

• Terminology in use -- Explain the terms used in the current iteration of the WAI Curricula for the different blocks of content so that course creators can adapt them to their needs.
• Type of course -- Include examples for formal, informal, vocational, and academic courses.
• Format -- Distinguish between Online Courses and face-to-face courses.
• Duration -- Give examples of how long a module could take, expressed in hours, ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System), etc.

Comparing Course Offerings

Objective: Help to seek, compare, and select courses on web accessibility. It addresses use cases 3 and 4 (secondary audience).

Description: List some course characteristics that have an impact on organization of human resources and procurement.

Contents:

• Students' Outcomes -- Focus on mappings that demonstrate how the course addresses learning outcomes of the curricula.
• Teaching Abilities -- Focus on teaching strategies of the instructor.
• Evaluation -- Focus on homework and assessment activities and their expected outcomes, grading strategies, etc.
• Course certificates -- IAAP certification or other local, regional, or international organization.
• Availability of slides, handouts, and media from the course for future consultations.
• Course logistics:
  • Online / face-to-face.
  • Location.
  • Number of attendees.
  • Intensive or extensive course.
  • Reasonable accommodation means for course participants.