The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility provides a gateway to accessibility for web professionals. The course is offered online over six weeks by the University of South Australia and W3C member Media Access Australia. Here, lecturers Associate Professor Denise Wood and Dr Scott Hollier talk through the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility at OZeWAI 2012. More info: mediaaccess.org.au/learn

1. Professional
Certificate in
Web Accessibility:
a case study
Dr Scott Hollier
A/Professor Denise Wood

2. WHO ARE WE?
• Dr Scott Hollier:
• Project Manager & W3C AC Representative
• Adjunct Senior Lecturer - Edith Cowan University
• PhD looking at online accessibility
• Legally blind, personal interest in accessibility
• A/Prof Denise Wood:
• Associate Head of School: Teaching and
Learning
• Expertise in Web 2.0 and inclusive education
• Project leader of research focusing on accessible
design

3. INTRODUCTION
• Building the course: creation, development and
challenges
• Curriculum and assessment
• Importance of forum discussion
• Student feedback: what worked, what changed
• Future of the course

4. INDUSTRY COURSE
CONCEPT
• WCAG 2.0 adopted internationally after
release in December 2008
• Australian government initially quiet on
WCAG 2.0 adoption
• ACCAN committee: Discussions led to
Scott and Denise identifying the need for
professional certificate level training to
assist industry transition to WCAG 2.0

5. NATIONAL TRANSITION
STRATEGY
• The plans for the professional certificate
progressed, but gained greater
momentum when the Australian
government announced NTS:
• WCAG 2.0 ‘A’ by end of 2012
• WCAG 2.0 ‘AA’ by end of 2014

6. COMBINING STRENGTHS
• UniSA:
• Experienced in course delivery: SA’s largest uni
with 35,000 students and 400 staff
• Already had web accessibility course as a
capstone in the MBMA undergraduate degree
• Denise: many years experience in teaching web
accessibility and many papers published
• MAA:
• W3C member
• Two decades of experience In access from ACC
• Scott: PhD that focused on web accessibility

7. KEY QUESTIONS
• What are the key objectives of the
course?
• Who is the target audience?
• How long should the course run?
• Face-to-face component or online only?
• What types of assessment would help
students?
• Are we reinventing the wheel?

8. RESEARCH RESULTS
• Need: to understand how to incorporate
accessibility into existing work practices
using existing authoring tools
• No obvious existing tertiary-backed course
• Basic HTML pre-requisite
• Full semester too long, about half the time
would be helpful
• Online delivery and flexible with work
• Learning to caption video: big priority

9. CURRICULUM MODULES
• How people with disabilities access the
Web
• Policy and legislation
• WCAG 2.0 ‘A’ (time priority)
• WCAG 2.0 ‘AA’ & ‘AAA’
• ATAG 2.0 (draft)
• Basic auditing, good V bad design, future
technologies (WAI-ARIA, HTML5, cloud)

10. COURSE ASSESSMENT
AND DISCUSSION
• Assignments:
• Screen reader use with monitor turned off and WCAG
POUR/Guidelines introduction
• Captioning of any 2 minute video, ATAG review on an
authoring tool
• Creating an accessible website template and audit
report
• Forum:
• Includes introductions, general discussion, reflections
on modules
• Feedback indicates forum discussion is as important
as curriculum and assessment

11. CHALLENGES IN PUTTING
IT TOGETHER
• Various agreements between MAA and
UniSA took time
• Curriculum constantly needing updating
• Working out division of responsibility in
terms of admin, marketing, etc.
• Concept to pilot took two years
• Pilot ran in October 2011 which happily
went well
• Three intakes in 2012: Apr, Aug, Oct

12. WHAT WORKED
• Integrated accessibility into work practices
• Met student expectations
• Solid grounding on how to meet NTS
requirements
• Enhanced confidence with user experience
• Awareness of authoring tool accessibility
• Manage time around accessibility implementation
• Tertiary-backed certificate can be used as credit

13. WHAT WORKED
• Forum well used with topics including:
• PDF accessibility
• Good design and bad design
• Current news and events
• Challenges of being the only accessibility
person in an organisation
• Industry-specific discussions

14. WHAT’S CHANGED
• Initial pilot had WAI-ARIA research task
but found it pre-empted other knowledge
• Students found 6 weeks for three
assignments too hard. Now students can
fast track or have extra two weeks
• Admin processes continue to be refined
• Still a lot of work in updating curriculum
• Delays in finalising marks and certificate

15. LOCATION OF STUDENTS
• Large cohort
ACT
• International
including NZ,
US, Canada
• Largest cohort
was WA last
year

16. SECTORS
• Federal & State
Govt 63%
• Recent
increase in
education and
NFP

17. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• All respondents
agree that
course was
engaging and
supported
learning

18. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• All respondents
agree that
lecturers were
engaged and
supported
learning

19. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• Workload for
the course
seemed good
in the pilot…

20. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• …but students
were clearly
overwhelmed
in the second
intake so
assessment
timeframes
were extended

21. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• Before:
knowledge
scattered
around
beginning,
intermediate
and expert

22. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• After: definite
shift to
advanced
knowledge
• Little increase
in experts

23. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• All agree that
completing the
course was a
valuable
exercise

24. STUDENT EVALUATIONS
• Overall
satisfaction
89%
• Neutral 11%:
likely to be due
to admin and
workload
concerns
• No-one
dissatisfied

25. THE FUTURE
• Three more offerings in 2013
• Closer alignment with Access iQTM
• Ongoing curriculum updates
• Incorporation of emerging technologies
• Explore demand for more advanced
program

26. FURTHER INFORMATION
• Course: www.mediaaccess.org.au/learn
• E-mail: scott.hollier@mediaaccess.org.au
• Telephone:
• (02) 9212 6242 (head office)
• (08) 9311 8230 (direct)
• Website: www.mediaaccess.org.au
• Twitter: @mediaaccessaus