Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT
In fall 2021, ATI staff conducted a series of in-person/virtual debriefing sessions with strategic partners (i.e., Disability Services, Stearns Center, Communications, ITS Web Administration, ITS — Teaching and Learning Group, etc.) to identify gaps in Mason's digital accessibility response efforts. While many commented that ATI services (i.e., captioning and transcription, document remediation, web accessibility) and resources (ATI websites, training) have been well received, few understand how or have the confidence to address digital accessibility-related concerns on their own. The two biggest areas of concern involved the expansion of our document remediation efforts and supporting our existing web accessibility strategy. Collectively, it was suggested that additional work is needed to move our strategic partners from just being aware of digital accessibility to understanding how to identify and remediate issues on their own.
Over the course of the spring 2022 semester, ATI staff, leveraging the Trusted Tester for Web Conformance Test Process Version 5 (TTV5) offered by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Accessible Systems and Technology, led a cohort of GMU content authors and web developers through how to identify issues related to inaccessible web content.
The TTV5 is comprised of a series of self-paced, web-based modules that offer guidance not only on the requirements and importance of Section 508/WCAG but also how to identify and report Section 508 conformance-related issues. The TTV5 is offered at no cost to those who enroll and participants had 12 weeks from the date of self-enrollment to complete the training modules, the practice test and the final exam.
This presentation will highlight how this cohort was structured in spring 2022 and adjustments made for the second cohort in spring 2023, who participated, costs involved and the findings from this effort.
