Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2020

Document Type

Capstone Project

Degree Name

M.A.

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

David Chapin

Subject Categories

Accessibility | Curriculum and Instruction | Education

Keywords

Accessibility, Open Educational Resources, Web Accessibility, WCAG, Disabilities, Learning Objects, Digital Humanities

Abstract

This white paper shares my process for creating my OER website Accessibility Across the Curriculum, located at https://accessibilityacrosscurriculum.awolfeworks.com. This website is an Open Educational Resource (OER) learning object (LO) and learning object repository, conceived as a resource to increase general knowledge on accessibility and increase the teaching of accessibility. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes access to information and communications technologies, including the Web, as a basic human right. One of the various definitions of Digital Humanities (DH) focuses on how DH integrates teaching and the use of technologies, online platforms, research methods, and media. Open educational resources, OERs, are DH tools which have a real impact on the knowledge of our society by sharing information and knowledge openly and freely (depending on licenses). OERs are the learning target of thousands of students around the world and encourage students to utilize educational resources more actively. This OER on accessibility and how to create accessible content grew out of the desire to impact information sharing, learning and teaching by increasing accessibility universally.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), their guidelines, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the four main accessibility principles known by the acronym POUR (perceivable, operable, understandable and robust) are discussed and demonstrated throughout the site. The OER website also provides foundational information on accessibility best practices such as closed captioning, alternative text (alt-text), color contrast and audio descriptions.

In this white paper I discuss the theoretical methodology and frameworks I used in the creation of my work as well as the creative process and technical decisions I made to ensure accessibility.

accessibility-across-the-curriculum-february-2020-20200205224809.warc (889501 kB)
Archived website as a WARC file, created using webrecorder.io – web archive player available at https://github.com/webrecorder/webrecorderplayer-electron

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