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WAI: Strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities

Curricula for Web Accessibility Training

Page Contents

This page provides samples of hypothetical curricula which could be used for a variety of different audiences. This page is intended for trainers, or for people arranging training services from a training provider.

IMPORTANT: These curriculum outlines and the estimated times per module are suggestions only! Modules and training approaches can be combined in many different ways. Please note:

1. General introduction -- heterogeneous audience -- twenty minutes

Scenario: twenty-minute general overview on Web accessibility, as one of several presentations on a panel of speakers.

Highlighted learning objectives

Sample curriculum

  1. Show the first three minutes of Web Sites That Work [Web page to be provided], showing people with disabilities using assistive technologies -- OR -- briefly discuss a scenario or two from How People with Disabilities Use the Web (~4 minutes).
  2. Discuss the reasons why Web accessibility is important, including the demographics of the disability marketplace, the carry-over benefits of universal design, and policy requirements that might apply locally -- OR -- briefly introduce the Business Case for Web Site Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~3 minutes).
  3. Demonstrate the Before and After Web Site Reconstruction. [Web page to be provided] (~3 minutes).
  4. Introduce a few myths/facts from Myths About Web Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~3 minutes).
  5. Introduce the Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites, and mention several points covered on the card -- OR -- introduce the Checklist for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, showing that there are groupings of different priority checkpoints, starting with the simplest features of Web sites then also higher priority checkpoints (~3 minutes).
  6. Briefly discuss or demonstrate how to do an initial check of Web sites for accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~2 minutes).
  7. Provide a quick introduction to WAI Resources, showing that there is a variety of resource types for different needs, explaining that they are developed through a consensus process with input from many perspectives. In particular, point out the Checklist for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and the Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites (~2 minutes).

2. Accessible Web design -- Web design students -- two-hour class as part of semester

Scenario: a single two-hour lecture/presentation on Web accessibility as part of a full semester's introductory course on general Web design skills.

Highlighted learning objectives

Sample curriculum

3. Accessible Web design -- Web designers -- three-hour hands-on workshop

Scenario: hands-on workshop on accessible Web design skills, for up to 20 experienced designers, with at least one computer for every two participants. Assumes initial familiarity with reasons for accessible Web site design.

Highlighted learning objectives

  1. Business case and policy basis for accessible Web site design
  2. Barriers, assistive technologies, and alternative access strategies
  3. Designing accessible Web sites
  4. Evaluating and retrofitting Web sites for accessibility
  5. Finding additional resources on Web accessibility

Sample curriculum

  1. Have participants display and navigate through an inaccessible site using a screen reader OR a text-based browser -- OR -- show people the output of an inaccessible Web site as generated through a Lynx emulator (~10 minutes).
  2. Ask participants to navigate several sites without using the mouse, in other words, by keyboard only. This works best if one throws the mice over the back of the desks or tables that participants are sitting at (~10).
  3. Introduce and discuss the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, highlighting priority one and two level checkpoints (~30).
  4. Show a variety of Web sites and have participants identify which sites implement the guidelines and which do not, by using the Checklist of checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as a reference (~30).
  5. Give participants a badly designed Web site (perhaps the first site that they saw), and have them fix it; then look over each others' work and discuss the results -- OR -- ask pairs of participants to design accessible Web sites from scratch, with pre-prepared content provided (~40 minutes).
  6. Discuss the authoring tools that participants are currently using, and techniques for producing accessible sites with those tools (~20).
  7. Briefly introduce the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including features that will simplify the task of producing accessible Web sites (~20).
  8. Introduce additional WAI resources including the various Techniques documents (~20).

4. Accessibility features of Web technologies -- Web designers and application developers -- ninety-minute workshop

Scenario: specialized training workshop, at a professional conference, on accessibility features of a new W3C technology, such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), to a mixed audience of Web site and Web-based application developers, most of whom are already familiar with the need for Web accessibility.

Highlighted learning objectives

Sample curriculum

  1. Point people briefly to resources explaining why Web accessibility is important, including the demographics of the disability marketplace, the carry-over benefits of universal design, and policy requirements that might apply locally -- OR -- briefly introduce the Business Case for Web Site Accessibility [Web page to be provided] (~5 minutes).
  2. Introduce whichever scenarios from How People with Disabilities Use the Web that are relevant to the Web technology under discussion, and follow the internal document links to information about relevant disabilities and assistive technologies. (~20)
  3. Briefly introduce the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and demonstrate how they each have relevant provisions to consider in implementing the featured Web technology. (~15)
  4. Introduce the featured Web technology by discussing the relevant W3C Note, for example, Accessibility Features of CSS, Accessibility Features of SMIL, or Accessibility Features of SVG.
  5. Demonstrate use of an accessible user agent with accessible content.
  6. Demonstrate techniques for producing accessible content.

5. Accessible application design -- product developers and quality-assurance testers -- full-day training

Scenario: in-house training at a Web authoring tool development company; developers already have some orientation to the importance of Web accessibility.

Note: This training requires expert knowledge of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, and prior review of the authoring tool under discussion.

Highlighted learning objectives

Sample curriculum

  1. Ask people about their prior knowledge and experience with accessibility issues and assistive technologies (~10 minutes).
  2. Discuss some scenarios from How People with Disabilities Use the Web (~20).
  3. Demonstrate assistive technologies and adaptive strategies for accessing the Web, for instance by using a text-only browser, a screen reader with speech output (or play an audio recording of screen reader output), a screen enlarger, speech recognition, cpations, or adapted keyboards. Introduce resources from Alternative Web Browsing. (~30)
  4. Review Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) as both a foundation for and a complementary part of the solution with other WAI guidelines. (~30)
  5. Introduce supporting resources for WCAG 1.0, including the Checklist, the various Techniques documents, the Curriculum for WCAG, the logos, and the Fact Sheet. (~20).
  6. Demonstrate several different accessibility evaluation tools for Web sites, running on inaccessible pages -- OR -- show some excerpts from Web Sites that Work [Web page will be provided] to highlight impact of successful implementation of WCAG. (~10)
  7. Display some Web sites that are inaccessible, and where the inaccessibility was either caused by or not prevented by specific features of the particular company's authoring tools; identify and discuss problems. (~20)
  8. Provide a detailed overview of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG 1.0), emphasizing priority one and two checkpoints. (~40)
  9. Ask participants to identify (or identify in advance) three to five checkpoints from ATAG 1.0 which are particularly challenging to implement in this company's product, and then use the ATAG Techniques document and linked references to explore potential solutions. (~120)
  10. Briefly introduce advanced techniques if relevant to the particular authoring tool, for example, accessibility features of SMIL for multimedia authoring tools; accessibility features of SVG for SVG authoring tools; MathML if relevant. (~30)
  11. Discuss conformance testing approaches and conformance logos for authoring tools. (~30)
  12. Discuss participation opportunities in WAI working groups, and/or other ways to find additional information resources to assist in implementing ATAG 1.0. (~15)

6. Organization-wide implementation of Web accessibility -- senior managers -- ten minutes

Scenario: A brief presentation, using a laptop and LCD projector, around a conference table during a senior management meeting.

Note: The tight timing of the following suggested modules require extensive familiarity with the material, and careful rehearsing of the presentation in advance.

Highlighted learning objectives

Sample curriculum