Presented at 9:00 am in Virtual D on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
#41102Speaker(s)
- Lorna Notsch, Sr. Digital Accessibility Specialist II, Sage Publishing
- Lorenzo Milani, UX Specialist, Sage Publishing
- Melissa Kingon, Online Course Developer, Sage Publishing
- Crista Earl, Principal Accessibility Consultant, Tech For All
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Lecture
- Expertise Level: All Levels
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
Sage Campus is an online learning platform offering self-paced and instructor-led courses focused on academic skills, including research methods, data science, and information literacy. Committed to enhancing the learning experience for all, Sage Campus recently undertook a significant accessibility improvement program to make its content and platform more accessible to users of assistive technology. This session provides a comprehensive review of the approach taken to make Sage Campus accessible to as broad a user base as possible.
Abstract
After an initial internal review of representative courses, the Campus team worked with Lorna and Lorenzo to create a remediation plan to address accessibility issues found across both the platform and content. Remediation has included updating activities to be keyboard accessible and screen-reader friendly, adjusting directional language and color contrast, and ensuring course materials are accessible. After significant effort, the decision was made to have Tech For All conduct an external accessibility evaluation of Campus. Following TFA’s evaluation, which incorporated testing by blind testers, the Campus team has committed to further remediation to ensure the experience of using this product is enjoyable and accessible to all users.
Keypoints
- Effective collaboration and priority alignment between internal accessibility, editorial, and development teams are invaluable when addressing both platform and content accessibility.
- Building a partnership with an external accessibility provider creates opportunities to advance accessibility
- It is important to start and have a plan for progress. Build on small wins to achieve larger ones.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Accessible Course Design, Assistive Technology, Captioning/Transcription, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Lorna Notsch
Lorna's involvement with digital accessibility began nearly 12 years ago, and she has earned both Trusted Tester and IAAP CPWA certifications. She does internal accessibility testing and creates and maintains accessibility documentation, in addition to a variety of other accessibility responsibilities at Sage across products, teams, and departments.
Lorenzo Milani
Lorenzo is a Italian-born, London-based UX Specialist at Sage Publishing. He’s been at Sage for 7 years as part of the UX team and wears three different hats: Accessibility, Analytics, and Information Architecture.
Melissa Kingon
Melissa is the Online Course Developer at Sage Campus, where she specializes in creating accessible online courses, managing production timelines, and ensuring top-quality content. Her background in education means she is well-versed in various learning theories and has honed skills in presenting, visual design, and project management.
Crista Earl
Crista is a senior member of the Tech for All (TFA) consulting team, leading non-visual accessibility evaluations of software, website, mobile, and integrated hardware and software products. She brings over 30 years of experience in design, development, and testing of accessible information and communication technology. Crista has helped organizations in a variety of industries, including higher education, finance, and publishing. In her previous role as Director of Web Operations for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Crista oversaw a team of developers, database administrators, content managers, and social media professionals to develop and expand several accessible websites and software applications.