Presenting and Evaluating the Impact of Experiential Learning in Computing Accessibility Education

Yasmine N. Elglaly Weishi Shi Qi Yu + 3 lainnya

27 Juni 2020

Many developers don’t understand how to, or recognize the need to develop accessible software. To address this, we have created five educational Accessibility Learning Labs (ALL) using an experiential learning structure. Each of these labs addresses a foundational concept in computing accessibility and both inform participants about foundational concepts in creating accessible software while also demonstrating the necessity of creating accessible software. The hosted labs provide a complete educational experience, containing materials such as lecture slides, activities, and quizzes.We evaluated the labs in ten sections of a CS2 course at our university, with 276 students participating. Our primary findings include: I) The labs are an effective way to inform participants about foundational topics in creating accessible software II) The labs demonstrate the potential benefits of our proposed experiential learning format in motivating participants about the importance of creating accessible software III) The labs demonstrate that empathy material increases learning retention. Created labs and project materials are publicly available on the project website: http://all.rit.edu

Heather Moses Weishi Shi Daniel E. Krutz + 2 lainnya

26 September 2023

Creating accessible software is imperative for making software inclusive for all users.Unfortunately, the topic of accessibility is frequently excluded from computing education, leading to scenarios where students are unaware of either how to develop accessible software or see the need to create it. To address this challenge, we have created a set of educational labs that are systematically designed to not only inform students about fundamental topics in producing accessible software but also demonstrate its importance. Over the previous year, these labs were included in several Computer Science 2 offerings at the Rochester Institute of Technology, comprising a total of 500 student participants. This article discusses instructional observations from these offerings, some of which include the following: (i) many of the research findings from previous efforts remain true with the larger, more diverse evaluation; (ii) our created material and format reduced students’ belief that creating accessible software was difficult in relation to the baseline,; (iii) we observed that our created material and format benefited student opinion that creating accessible software is important, and (iv) computing majors may not be uniformly impacted by experiential educational accessibility material. The educational labs are publicly available on the project website (https://all.rit.edu).

Daniel E. Krutz Samuel A. Malachowsky

1 November 2020

This tutorial will introduce our Accessibility Learning Labs (ALL). The objectives of this collaborative project with The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) are to both inform participants about foundational topics in accessibility and to demonstrate the importance of creating accessible software. The labs enable easy classroom inclusion by providing instructors all necessary materials including lecture and activity slides and videos. Each lab addresses an accessibility issue and contains: I) Relevant background information on the examined issue II) An example web-based application containing the accessibility problem III) A process to emulate this accessibility problem IV) Details about how to repair the problem from a technical perspective V) Incidents from people who encountered this accessibility issue and how it has impacted their life. The labs may be easily integrated into a wide variety of curriculum at high schools (9–12), and in undergraduate and graduate courses. The labs will be easily adoptable due to their self-contained nature and their inclusion of all necessary instructional material (e.g., slides, quizzes, etc.). No special software is required to use any portion of the labs since they are web-based and are able to run on any computer with a reasonably recent web browser. There are currently four available labs on the topics of: Colorblindness, Hearing, Blindness and Dexterity. Material is available on our website: http://all.rit.edu This tutorial will provide an overview of the created labs and usage instructions and information for adaptors.

Daniel E. Krutz Samuel A. Malachowsky Saad Khan + 1 lainnya

26 Juni 2021

Our Accessibility Learning Labs not only inform participants about the need for accessible software, but also how to properly create and implement accessible software. These experiential browser-based labs enable participants, instructors and practitioners to engage in our material using only their browser. In the following document, we will provide a brief overview of our labs, how they may be adopted, and some of their preliminary results. Complete project material is publicly available on our project website: http://all.rit.edu

Yasmine N. Elglaly Catherine M. Baker Emily Kuang + 3 lainnya

11 Mei 2024

Incorporating accessibility education into undergraduate computer science (CS) programs is essential for preparing future technology professionals to create inclusive technology. However, many CS programs lack accessibility coverage, often confining it to human-computer interaction (HCI) courses. To address this gap, we developed accessibility assignments seamlessly integrated into core CS courses. We collaborated closely with ten instructors to select and customize these assignments to suit their needs. To evaluate the impact of these assignments, we conducted interviews with instructors and administered surveys and interviews with their students. Our findings indicate significant improvement in students' familiarity with accessibility concepts and confidence in implementation following completion of the assignments. However, their mindset and future interest in accessibility remained the same. Instructors found it straightforward to incorporate these assignments without compromising core computing concepts. In sum, we validated a foundation for effectively resourcing instructors with accessibility teaching materials and increasing their capacity in accessibility knowledge.