Zoom: Striving for Functional Accessibility

Presented at 2:15pm in Lakehouse on Wednesday, November 14, 2018.

#17914

Speaker(s)

Hadi Rangin, IT Accessibility Specialist, University of Washington
Ken Ding, , Zoom

Session Details

Length of Session: 1-hr
Format: Lecture
Expertise Level: All Levels
Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Web Conferencing Tools are an integral part of higher education systems and are used more and more for webinars, virtual meetings, and team collaborations. Thanks to feedback from the Athen Zoom Accessibility Collaboration Group, Zoom became reasonably accessible to users. In this session, we’ll discuss and demo selected accessibility features.

Abstract

Online communication and teaching tools are not only used in distance education or collaborative projects, they are also used increasingly in blended and traditional teaching environments.

Two years ago, we evaluated the Zoom online conferencing tool for accessibility/usability and we shared the result with our campus and the company.

We established an accessibility/usability collaboration group with Zoom and within a few months, we were able to observe the first accessibility fixes and enhancements. Zoom has continued to improve the accessibility/usability of their application since then.

In this session, we will discuss how we work together to incorporate accessibility in the design process, identify the proper implementation techniques, and test the application. We will also demonstrate selected accessibility features and you’ll have the opportunity to share your feedback directly with the Zoom product engineer.

Keypoints

How the Zoom Collaboration Group works
How we test and report accessibility/usability feedback
Learn about accessibility features of Zoom

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Assistive Technology, 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.