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Communicating Digital Accessibility Principles to University FacultyPhillip J. DeatonMichigan State University: Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting, College of Arts and Letters [email protected]
James E. JacksonMichigan State University: Usability/Accessibility Research and [email protected]
30th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
San Diego, California
March 04, 2015
Accessibility in Post-secondary Education
We will explore how you can
• help faculty to understand accessibility
• connect faculty with accessibility resources
• evaluate courses for accessibility
• help faculty to “fix” their courses
Contents
• Introduction• Technical tutorials• Review and remediation
The “Making Learning Accessible” Project
• Pitched to Michigan State University’s Creativity Exploratory
with the intent of
– Increasing accessibility of course and administrative content
– Working with faculty to improve the accessibility of their
course content
• Worked with the Web Accessibility Working Group at MSU
• Also have worked with and received guidance from
Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting (UARC) and
the College of Arts and Letters (CAL)
Michigan State University’s Web Accessibility Policy
Essentially: Web content is required to meet WCAG 2.0 AA
Technical TutorialsCommunicating Digital Accessibility Principles to University Faculty
Tutorial Content
• Produced tutorial content
on webaccess.msu.edu
• Quick guides for how to
create content across a
variety of mediums
• Also have additional
tutorial content available
that is not posted yet
Tutorials as a Starting Point
• Information that
faculty need to make
accessible content.
– Used as a
springboard for
conversations in
meetings, working
groups
– Information that can
be conveyed in an
hour long workshop
Tutorials as Demonstration
• Faculty know that they can ask for content similar to what is
on the website and that it will be looked into
• Faculty share the tutorials with other faculty
• Faculty can ask questions about how to follow-up the
tutorials
Review and RemediationCommunicating Digital Accessibility Principles to University Faculty
Faculty Have to Meet Technical Guidelines
• Some have accessible courses, some don’t
• Some faculty have no idea where to start
• Course reviews can be very diverse in terms of content
• The faculty that you work with can be just as diverse
Faculty Personas
Resistant• Hesitant• Intrigued• Fixate on limitations• Talk about
accessibility with their colleagues
• “Why can’t we just individually accommodate?”
Embracing• Innovative, thoughtful• Intrigued• Seek to incorporate in
all aspects• Talk about
accessibility with their colleagues
• “We can design universally accessible courses? Where do I start?”
Course Reviews
• Requires understanding of course objectives and course
content
• Try to arrange a 15-30 minute kick-off meeting with a group
or with individual faculty
• Can take a lot of time
Five Questions before Starting a Review
1. What software do you use to create content?
2. What are the primary goals of the course/the course
objectives (also ask for a copy of syllabus)?
3. How do you distribute materials?
4. Did you inherit any materials from past instructors?
5. Do you plan on incorporating materials made using
different software later in this course or in any of your
other courses?
The Process
• Kick-off meeting (15-30 minutes)– Try to get multiple faculty to come per meeting
• Review representative content of a faculty member’s courses– (1-3 weeks, depending on mediums of content creation, and
hours)• Presentation of findings
– Some faculty prefer 1-4 page reports with examples, some prefer presentations
– Some may need more than that• Presentation/discussion on student interaction models
– Most faculty are interested in how students and students with disabilities interact with their content
What Faculty Need
• Every faculty member has different levels of experience with accessibility– Do not assume that one instructor knows what another might
have known.• Most faculty do not like hearing that their courses need to
be “fixed”
Things to Avoid
• Do not
– Refer to the work that you are doing as “fixing” their courses
– Compare faculty to their peers who are “doing it right”
– Overwhelm
– Sell accessibility, or monopolize meeting times on accessibility
Best practices for Faculty Consultations • Do
– Show faculty what using their content is like for users/students
with disabilities
– Show faculty before and after of what experiencing content
would be like
– Show “fixing” of content and offer assistance as they “fix”
content
– Ensure that accessibility is part of committees, purchasing,
meetings, and the learning discussion
What Faculty Want
• To build inclusive courses
• To reach students
• To reach a broader audience with their research and their
passions
• To be able to make fixes as easily as possible; they’re busy
The Ways to Reach Faculty
• Tutorials
• Workshops
• Presentations
• Meetings
• Working Groups
• Informal settings
Faculty Concerns
• “Why is my course being evaluated?”
• “Who gets to see this evaluation?”
• “My course is already perfect.”
• “Will this change the intent of my course?”
The Making Learning Accessible Project Today• Focuses on evangelism• Continued work with faculty• Training others in user/student-centered design and design
evaluation• Additional help/tutorials to faculty upon request
Thanks to
• The Making Learning Accessible team– Mack George– Ian Michael Terry– Funder: Creativity Exploratory
• College of Arts and Letters Accessibility/Usability team– Mack George– Ryan Schroeder– Marta Werbanowska– Kate Sonka– Scott Schopieray, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Technology and Innovation• Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting
– The whole student team, for learning and researching and working with me
– Graham L. Pierce– Sarah J. Swierenga Ph.D., CPE Director
© Michigan State University Board of Trustees
Phillip J. DeatonMichigan State University: Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting, College of Arts and Letters [email protected]
James E. JacksonMichigan State University: Usability/Accessibility Research and [email protected]
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