Improving Campus IT Accessibility Dr. Jonathan Lazar Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences Towson University Copyright Jonathan Lazar This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author

Lots of campus IT to consider Learning management systems (e.g. Blackboard and Desire to Learn) ERP systems (used for course registration and grades) Application processes, both undergraduate and graduate In-classroom IT Departmental web pages Faculty web pages Online tutorials

Accessibility levels at universities are low 2010 study from Thompson et. al. ( in Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology) Home pages and centrally-controlled web resources tend to be more accessible than departmental web pages Only 13% of university web pages that they examined had full accessibility Easiest to implement features (e.g. alt tags) tend to be more often in compliance

The first step… Do a campus-wide audit Identify which instructional tech, which web sites, which LMS are accessible and which are not Don’t just ask “is it accessible?” Don’t just believe vendors You must do actual testing! The audit helps bring attention to the problem, especially for VP/president level

As a first step When taking the first steps, you can use free tools Free screen readers such as: Automated evaluation tools: At some point, you will need more professional-level tools

Once the campus-wide audit is done… Questions to ask… People to talk with… Actions to take…

Campus Accessibility Plan There needs to be an overall campus plan for accessibility, with support from high- level administrators The plan should be publicly posted, with clear deadlines for reaching specific goals What incentives are in place for compliance? What penalties are in place, e.g. for purchasing inaccessible software?

The need for testing Be clear: what types of testing will take place? Usability testing by people with disabilities Automated testing Expert inspections How often will testing take place? Make sure that all new web sites, new applications, and new technologies are tested before being deployed Web site testing needs to be ongoing All of this should be clear in the campus plan

When purchasing software/hardware… Does the company have an accessibility officer? Will the software need to be customized, and if so, will accessibility problems be introduced upon customization? Do the products have VPATs? Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates VPATs document a product's conformance with the accessibility standards under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

VPATs VPATs were developed by GSA and the IT Industry Council Microsoft VPATs cts/section508.aspx cts/section508.aspx Oracle VPATs /index.html /index.html List of companies with VPATs

Web development The campus must have software tools, templates, and training for web accessibility easily available Many different people are involved in web development, all must be involved It won’t happen overnight. It’s a process. Start with the homepage and the major divisions of the university, then move down to the departmental home pages Web sites change daily…testing must be ongoing

You need to involve multiple stakeholders Academic affairs, provost, deans, department chairs Academic senate, college council, council of chairs, and any other groups Student affairs Office of Technology Services or similar campus IT unit Business outreach units

Focus on the positive… Remind stakeholders of the penalties for non-compliance, but…. Remind Deans and Chairs that compliance is something good that can be included: On their departmental/dean annual reports On accreditation reports On reports to state government

Create a panel of reviewers Create a panel of students, faculty and staff with various disabilities, who can participate in ongoing accessibility testing Individuals should be PAID for their time doing accessibility testing It’s more efficient than recruiting people in the general community A number of federal agencies use this approach

What about faculty? Faculty typically report only to academic affairs officials You need department chairs to support accessibility projects, and inform/encourage/pressure faculty Departmental web pages Faculty web pages Course content Long-term, accessibility needs to go on faculty annual reports and promotion and tenure applications (respect faculty governance)

Remind faculty that… Faculty may claim academic freedom, however, they can still say and teach whatever they want This is not an academic freedom issue, it’s a civil rights issue Similar to providing classroom accommodations for students with documented learning disabilities Faculty must provide content in an accessible format, you don’t care what the content says

Faculty in IS/CS/IT Depts. Find out if your academic IS/CS/IT department offers any classes that include accessibility content If so, maybe accessibility evaluations can be a class project, as a starting point Students who have taken accessibility classes could be hired to work on campus accessibility Encourage the department to offer accessibility content in courses

Be transparent about progress Provide monthly, publicly-posted reports comparing academic departments and how compliant they are Publicly state the progress on the campus-wide accessibility plan Include accessibility as a part of new faculty/staff training Have an accessibility statement on all university web pages

Resources that exist Includes standard CFP text for accessibility Web Accessibility Initiative (including WCAG) Guidelines from Section 508