Presented at 2:15pm in Westminster II on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.
#30777Speaker(s)
- Hadi Rangin, IT Accessibility Specialist, University of Washington
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Lecture
- Expertise Level: Beginner
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
In this session, we will describe how we address the accessibility of local and third-party applications from RFP to deployment while sharing the story of our collaboration with multiple technology companies.
Abstract
Given the diversity of the students, staff, and faculty on the contemporary college campus, it is important that the technologies endorsed by educational institutions are accessible, both within and above legislative requirements. Procuring a new product is a major investment for any higher education institution, and the University of Washington is no different. At the University of Washington, the philosophy of Universal Design (UD) is at the heart of the decision-making process. All products endorsed by the campus must meet certain functional criteria in order to be considered for purchase. Alongside security and privacy, we make accessibility a functional criterion when procuring locally-developed and third-party products. We have found that by baking accessibility into the core of the procurement process, we are able to cultivate strong relationships with vendors while simultaneously educating designers and developers on the concepts of Universal Design.
Keypoints
- How to work with your campus on accessibility language in the contract?
- How to develop the collaboration team?
- How to test and evaluate a vendor product?
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Administrative/Campus Policy, Procurement, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Hadi Rangin
Hadi Rangin is an Information Technology Accessibility Specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle. In this position he is tasked with improving access to information technologies for all users, including those with disabilities. To do this Hadi works with and advises software engineers, designers, administrators, and purchasers on accessible implementation techniques, quality assurance, and best practices. Some of the higher education vendors Hadi has collaborated with include Blackboard, Blackboard Collaborate, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Canvas, Elsevier, Ebsco, Ex-Libris, PeopleSoft, Microsoft, Google, Qualtrics, Ellucian, Workday, ServiceNow, Trumba, Innotas, Zoom, and many more.
Additionally, Hadi teaches the Universal Design Principles for Online Learning as well as the Certificate of Professional Development course in Information Accessibility Design and Policy for the University of Illinois.
Hadi's educational background is in Computer Science with a focus on Network Management and Human-Computer Interfaces. As someone who is blind, Hadi brings a wealth of personal and professional experiences to the many spheres he works within.