Serena Reavis, Instructional Technology Specialist, NC State
Amy Netzel, Accessibility Specialist, Wake Technical Community College
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 1-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: All Levels
Type of session: Not provided
Summary of Session
This presentation will provide an overview of the redesign of Wake Technical Community College's online accessibility course for faculty. The redesign address challenges raised in the initial course and reflects a switch to usability-focused design.
Abstract
Wake Technical Community College’s original accessibility training course was created with legal terms and technical jargon to try and arm faculty with as much accessibility information as possible. Though comprehensive, this course was challenging and made it confusing to put accessibility guidelines into practice. Faculty members became anxious about creating accessible content. After three years, our department decided to redesign the course with faculty usability in mind.
Kepoints
Accessibility training should focus on participants' needs.
Usability, rather than compliance, meets users' needs.
Accessibility is about students and faculty members.
Speaker Bio(s)
Serena Reavis
Reavis came to Instructional Technology after teaching English courses in seated and online environments and seeing the ways that technology can support learner-centered teaching environments. At NC State, she provides hands-on training to professors wishing to incorporate technology into classes to support pedagogical practices. She holds a MA in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is currently pursuing a MS in Instructional Technology at NC State.
Amy Netzel
Amy is a veteran educator with over ten years’ experience working in public education. She has produced accessible educational content for the web for over two years and has been an advocate for Universal Design for Learning and understanding the user’s experience. At Wake Technical Community College, she supports and provides resources and training to faculty as they build accessibility into their content.