This session presents two approaches to online accessibility training for faculty. By comparing the differences in course design and delivery, the presenters will analyze the key factors for training success. Attendees will be able to identify essential outcomes of accessibility training and effective pedagogical strategies in faculty development courses.
Web accessibility, as an important criterion for quality online courses, has multiple implications in online education. From legal compliance to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to the universal design principles that aim to benefit all learners, online course accessibility has become both legal and moral obligations for online instructors.
In general, instructors’ reaction towards ADA compliance includes three categories: 1) being completely unaware of such a requirement and related technical skills; 2) being aware of the importance but lacking the practical knowledge and technical skills; 3) resisting the idea of statutory regulations as an unwanted burden over academic freedom and scholarship. As instructional designers, how do we make successful campaigns for accessible course design as an idea worth embracing and ensure a highly positive collaboration in ADA compliance among faculty members?
At our institution, we experimented with two approaches in teaching faculty about accessible course design. We explored two versions of online training courses. The first one is a self-paced online course, and the second one is an instructor-facilitated training course. We found success in the latter approach. In the past two years, about 40 online instructors have completed all the required course work in the online training course. More importantly than the high completion rate, during the five weeks of training, all participants have demonstrated impressive abilities to create accessible documents with MS Office and Adobe Acrobat and to create and evaluate accessible web content, including creating and captioning online course videos. Moreover, some participants became accessibility advocates within their departments and recommended this training course to their colleagues.
In this presentation, we are going to describe the two online training models we’ve experimented and analyze several factors which are key elements to successful accessibility training. For example, we will discuss questions like those in the following list:
- Why a traditional self-paced model received a low completion rate while the instructor-facilitated course completion rate turned out to be almost 100%?
- What are some course design differences between the two versions, while the stated learning objectives and required competencies remain the same?
- What is the role of instructor facilitation that overturned the course completion rate?
- Using the same instructional content in the instructor-facilitated course, would a self-paced version 2.0 achieve a similar success?
- What else needs to be done in terms of future improvements?
The session attendees will be invited to occasional discussions. By the end of the session, the attendees will be able to identify the key outcomes in accessibility training and take away a few pedagogical strategies that are proven effective in our faculty development courses.