WeBWorK & Accessibility 2007 AIM WeBWorK conference

What does the law say? ADA Section 508 –World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

What might students need? pt 1 Choice about contrast and color Choice about font size and style / image size Links should be text (not images) Keyboard equivalence to mouse actions Compatibility with text-to-speech readers Good ALT tags Accessible interactive problems

What might students need? pt 2 Understandable linear version of the page –Ex. Logical tab order –Ex. Label clearly associated with input box or other form elements Use of semantic markup –Ex. Headers labeled as such (not just large text) Pages open within same window or clearly label opening in new window Text links should make sense when read out of context

What might students need? pt 3 Validation on W3C and other accessibility checkers –Instructor pages & tools –Student pages & tools –Style sheets

What should the WeBWorK community do? Develop a commitment to this issue Go first for the low-hanging fruit

The low-hanging fruit We validate pages ourselves We test pages with screen readers, etc.

Another set of fairly easy things to do Creation of style sheet or features for writing problems –Ex. Recommendation that all entry boxes include labels and/or change in system that requires a label or assigns a default label

An intermediate step Test drive with students with disabilities Test drive with instructors and administrators with disabilities

Another step Write a proposal to support WeBWorK disability access –National Science Foundation –Flash –Other sources?

Funding could support… Consultation & programming with accessible media experts

In the meantime, available resources… EASI Equal Access to Software and Information NCAMNational Center for Accessible Media NIMASNational Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard Flash Mathspeak

More important resources… W3C World Wide Web Consortium MORAE Good sample site

WeBWorK & Accessibility working group Vicki Roth, University of Rochester Lila Roberts, Georgia College & State University Michal Charemza, University of Warwick Gavin LaRose, University of Michigan