Creating a More Accessible Classroom By Teaching About Accessibility

Creating a More Accessible Classroom By Teaching About Accessibility

Grant:
Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)
Academic Year:
2015 - 2016 (June 1, 2015 through May 31, 2016)
Funding Requested:
$1,870.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
collemc
Overview of the Project:
Creating a More Accessible Classroom By Teaching About Accessibility

This project is intended to improve the pedagogy of my courses by learning more about Accessible Design and then passing that knowledge on to students in my undergraduate and graduate Web Design courses. In the past few years I have placed a great deal of emphasis on the important of designing with accessibility in mind. Unfortunately, many people equate "flashy" with "employable." But in reality, this is not the case and what students should focus on is the basic tenants of design not trends. Still, some students find it hard to reconcile these competing ideas. This workshop will supply me with the additional knowledge I need to demonstrate to the students that accessibility is not only the right thing to do, but also professionally and legally advantageous.

The Web Accessibility Training Workshop is offered by the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. This two-day training seminar covers topics from basic web accessibility principles to advanced accessibility techniques. It also covers legal guidelines and standards for ensuring that websites are compliant. The information and techniques I will will enhance my own teaching, as well as better impress upon my students the importance of designing for wide audiences.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The main objective of the project was to increase my own knowledge on Accessible Principles for web content. Using this knowledge I wanted to impart upon my students the ability and desire to create more accessible Web Portfolios.

Project Achievements:

My own knowledge on accessible design was greatly expanded. The information I learned has affected many tenets of my teaching. I am now more careful to provide a wide array of file formats for student. I have adjusted my lecturing styling to make sure that I am not relying on students visual, auditory, or motor skills to access information. The results in the performance and attitudes of my students were also measured. In the fall semester of 2015 a guest lecturer presented the bulk of the accessibility material to the class. In the winter term of 2016 I integrated accessibility lessons throughout the semester. Here are the results of the survey taken at the end of each term by the students. Q1: Before this class started, how familiar were you with accessibility issues? F2015 Completely Unaware: 1 44 29.7% 2 53 35.8% 3 27 18.2% 4 17 11.5% 5 6 4.1% 6 1 0.7% Very Aware: W2016 Completely Unaware: 1 37 29.8% 2 43 34.7% 3 15 12.1% 4 23 18.5% 5 5 4% 6 1 0.8% Very Aware: W2016 Q2: By the end of the first/second month of class, how confident were you that you were making your pages accessible? F15 Not at all confident: 1 2 1.4% 2 36 24.3% 3 61 41.2% 4 39 26.4% 5 8 5.4% 6 2 1.4% Very Confident W16 Not at all confident: 1 5 4% 2 24 19.4% 3 47 37.9% 4 33 26.6% 5 13 10.5% 6 2 1.6% Very confident: Q3: By the end of the semester, how confident were you that you were making your pages accessible? F15 Not at all confident: 1 2 1.4% 2 8 5.4% 3 34 23% 4 51 34.5% 5 49 33.1% 6 4 2.7% W16 Not at all confident: 1 1 0.8% 2 2 1.6% 3 19 15.3% 4 31 25% 5 58 46.8% 6 13 10.5% Q4: How important do you think accessibility is? F15 W16Not at all important: 1 0 0% 2 4 3.2% 3 7 5.6% 4 23 18.5% 5 43 34.7% 6 47 37.9% Q5: If you had a cool feature on your page but you found out it wasn't accessible, would you keep it there? F15 W16 Yes 74 59.7% No 50 40.3% Q6:If you wanted to add a cool feature on your page but you knew out it wasn't accessible, would you still add it? F15 W16 Yes 43 34.7% No 81 65.3% Q7: Did you find the Accessibility Speaker beneficial? -- Only asked on Fall 2015 survey. Yes 52 35.1% No 7 4.7% Did not attend (All 539 students will choose this option as well as some 206 students) 89 60.1% Overall there was a marked increase in the number of students who felt confident (at least a 5 out of 6 scale) in their ability to create accessible web content. Fall 2015 was approximately 36% of students and Winter 2016 was 57%. A greater number of students also indicated a greater willingness to remove or forego "cool features" in place of accessible content, but there is still room for improvement.

Continuation:
The project will continue in that I will continue to apply the lessons I learned at Webaim Training.
Dissemination:
One of new options available to students this year was the option to perform Web Accessibility Surveys on sites. In all, 13 colleagues will receive accessibility audits from the students.
Advice to your Colleagues:
The greatest challenge to any of these types of projects is the interest the students had in the subject. I will continue to use this survey to see if pursuing accessible design is a personal choice or a pedagogical outcome. The second challenge was the the course content was shuffled this semester and design features were introduced later in the course. This may have affected the students' confidence since they had less time to work on accessibility issues.
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