Presented at 9:15am in Windsor on Friday, November 22, 2019.
#29475Speaker(s)
- Timothy Roessler, Director of Enpterprise Applications, Joliet Junior College
- Mindy Diaz, Disability Service Manager, Joliet Junior College
- Anglea Sullivan, Professor and Advisor Computer Information and Office Systems Department, Joliet Junior College
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Lecture
- Expertise Level: Intermediate
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
During Joliet Junior College’s journey from initial 508 accessibility challenges in its redesigned website to solving those challenges, several lessons were learned through a partnership between Disabilities Services, IT, the CIOS Department, and their website governance software provider, resulting in a better website and a new academic program.
Abstract
Joliet Junior College (JJC) will share three perspectives of its accessibility journey. They will present lessons learned of a cross-departmental partnership for 508 web accessibility compliance that led to not only a more compliant website but also a new program offering at the college.
The journey began with a sudden awareness of 508 compliance challenges in JJC’s recently redesigned website. This led to the realization that 508 standards can be confusing, and Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) expertise is lacking in the workplace. JJC was able to identify a website governance software provider to aid them in identifying accessibly issues and creating website accessibly governance.
JJC’s Disability Services team led the awarding of a grant-funded program to teach students web accessibility design in Computer Information & Office Systems (CIOS)-created curriculum. The students learned to leverage software tools in partnership with IT to improve JJC’s website accessibility.
Keypoints
- 508 compliance awareness is important for a public institution, but expertise is lacking in the workplace
- Software tools designed for 508 compliance can help drive website accessibly governance
- Partnership between departments around accessibility led to successes beyond 508 compliance
Disability Areas
Cognitive/Learning, Other, Vision
Topic Areas
Accessible Course Design, Accessible Educational Materials, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Timothy Roessler
Tim Roessler has had the good fortune to amass over 20 years of experience and continued success in the Information Technology (IT) industry and with civic engagement. Tim currently is an IT Director at Joliet Junior College and in the past has served in IT executive positions with leadership roles in innovative companies such as Cabot Microelectronics Corporation, Genesys Telecommunications, Edify and Walgreens. He holds a Master in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and has a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
Tim’s civic engagement experience includes previously serving as the Director of Outreach for Genesys Works, a non-profit social enterprise changing the trajectory of life for disadvantaged high school students. He currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for ITKAN, a member-driven professional organization that supports professionals with disabilities within the technology field, and is a member of Joliet Junior College’s Diversity Sub-committee on Disabilities. Tim is passionate about civic engagement, serving the disability community, and leveraging technology to enable change.
Mindy Diaz
Mindy Diaz, Manager of Disability Services has worked in higher education for more than 20 years. She earned her Assistive Technology Certification from University of Illinois at Chicago primarily focusing on web compliance
Anglea Sullivan
Dr. Angela Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Illinois State University and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from DePaul University. Most recently, she earned her Doctorate of Philosophy with a specialization in Online Education, from Northcentral University.
Dr. Sullivan began her career as a computer consultant, where her roles varied from project analyst, senior programmer, and lead senior developer. Throughout her career as a consultant she had the opportunity to build client partnerships with Oracle, SAP, and WebSphere. As a consultant, her roles varied by client, including client- and server-side programmer, database architect, web designer, and web server administrator.
In 2003, Dr. Sullivan joined Joliet Junior College as a full-time professor teaching computer fundamentals, web design, social media, web programming, 3D modeling and animation, and video game design. Her most recent accomplishment was the development of two new courses that focus on web and document accessibility, WCAG, WAI, section 508 standards, assistive technologies, and the user experience (UX), to certify that all online content be accessible, regardless of a person’s visual, physical, audible disability.
In the summer of 2011, she had the opportunity to teach web design at Stanford University, as a visiting professor. She later taught 3D modeling and animation using Autodesk’s Maya at the Working Connections Conference. Her most recent research studied the relationship between digital badges and student motivation of intrinsically and extrinsically motivated higher education students.
Handout(s)
- Joliet Junior College’s 508 Compliant Website Accessibility Journey November 1 2019 (pptx)
Joliet Junior College’s 508 Compliant Website Accessibility Journey Powerpoint
Powerpoint and primary materials for the 'Joliet Junior College’s 508 Compliant Website Accessibility Journey' presentation