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Teaching Accessibility: Case studies of courses that include accessibility topics in their curricula

Bios & Handouts Videos

Scheduled at 11:45am in Cotton Creek II on Friday, November 16.

#27252

Speaker(s)

  • Howard Kramer, PI, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Terrill Thompson, Technology 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 the speakers will review curricula components that they and other faculty have used in classes that teach about accessibility in computer science, IT and web design courses. Specific resources that can incorporated into classes will be discussed.

Abstract

A 2017 study by Shinohara, Kawas, Ko, and Ladner asked computing and information science faculty in the United States whether they teach accessibility-related topics and if not, why not.

Participating faculty reported the most critical barriers to teaching accessibility to be the absence of clear learning objectives and the lack of faculty knowledge about accessibility.The study reported that "[f]aculty desired resources that were specific to the areas of computing in which they teach rather than general accessibility resources and guidelines.”

Through the review of accessibility content included in existing courses, this session aims to provide resources and curricula content that faculty can use to incorporate accessibility topics into their courses on IT and web design.

Keypoints

  1. Educational institutions are not teaching accessibility topics in their IT and computing courses
  2. One reason is that faculty do not have access to resources that are specific to their discipline
  3. The resources and examples discussed in this talk can be used by faculty wishing to address accessibility

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Including Accessibility in Curriculum, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Howard Kramer

Mr. Kramer has worked in assistive technology, disability, information systems and accessible media for more than 25 years. From 1997-2012 he worked with Disability Services at CU-Boulder, establishing the Assistive Technology Lab, which serves students with disabilities needing specialized access. He is founder and coordinator for the Accessing Higher Ground Conference: Accessible Media, Web & Technology, and teaches courses on Universal Design at CU-Boulder.

Terrill Thompson

Terrill Thompson is technology accessibility specialist at the University of Washington, where his work is supported in part by AccessComputing, a project funded by the National Science Foundation to increase the participation of people with disabilities.

Handout(s)

Videos