Scaling Web Accessibility: An approach to professional development and shared responsibility.

Concurrent Session 6

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Robert and Janet will openly discuss the development of their Accessibility SMEs program to scale knowledge of web accessibility principles across the University. They will discuss how participants learn to be subject matter experts. Included will be time for Q&A.

Presenters

Extended Abstract

In late 2020 the University began a new initiative to scale accessibility knowledge to the marketing and technology teams responsible for developing and maintaining the University’s digital footprint and resources. The Accessibility & Usability team recognized that their reviews of their colleagues’ work started to look like the papers they had submitted to their undergraduate professors: they were coming back with a lot of “red ink” that marked things that needed to be improved and fixed.  Having to go back and rework the accessibility of content involved excess of back and forth conversations about the same type of accessibility concerns. The process was frustrating, inefficient, and time consuming. A more thorough grounding in accessible principles and standards was needed to reduce the amount of red ink and speed time to production.

 

To do so, teams would need to upskill their knowledge of accessibility principles and methods to identify common issues before the work was presented to the accessibility team for review. 

With support from college administration, including the Provost, Chief Information Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, the Accessibility and Usability team recruited volunteers who would like to learn more about accessibility and become a resource for their current and future teams.  

 

The first group of Accessibility SMEs began with 24 volunteers from 18 different teams. These individuals range from product owners and copywriters to engineers. The second group of Accessibility SMEs had 15 volunteers from marketing/creative teams.

 

Training consisted of online, self-directed courses and monthly meetings with the accessibility team.  A  key discovery was that independent learning and study was not as effective as consistent instructor-led workshops. 

 Topics included: 

  • Accessibility basics – headings, links, alt text, and color contrast 

  • WCAG requirements 

  • Page mark-up in html and aria 

  • Designing page navigation and structure. 

  • Font choices 

  • Accessible forms 

  •  Automated testing tools 

  • Empathy training  

 

Several resources were created to support learning and facilitate shared knowledge:

  • Accessibility Teams channel with sample code and best practices. 

  • Accessibility requirements added to component library. 

  • SME created Accessibility page in confluence with WCAG requirements, empathy resources, and WAI-ARIA Authoring links. 

  • Accessibility requirements added to the University design system 

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Attendees will follow us on our journey to expand responsibility for accessibility throughout the University, see the curriculum - including testing tools, and where to find more resources. We will share what worked, what didn’t, and how we modified the program in response to feedback and evaluation. Time will be provided for general Q&A.