BFWD and Assistec: Two University Degrees Relevant to Design for All: Accessible Web Design and Assistive Technologies Klaus Miesenberger

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1 BFWD and Assistec: Two University Degrees Relevant to Design for All: Accessible Web Design and Assistive Technologies Klaus Miesenberger University of Linz, Institute Integriert Studieren Altenbergerstr. 69, 4040 Linz, Austria Keywords: Accessible Web Design, Assistive Technologies, Training and Education ABSTRACT At the university of Linz two distance education based courses have been established which offer an official university degree to the participants. They contribute to raise the competence and the awareness in the fields of Accessible Web Design Assistive Technology Application Both areas, in particular in related research and development activities, have established a considerable body of knowledge over the last years. The level of complexity of the technological knowledge and the complex situations of application ask for according teaching and training possibilities as it can not be expected that practice is able to adapt to this changing situation by itself. In accordance to that it is often stated that the application of newest Assistive Technologies (AT), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and also the practice of implementing accessible web systems is lacking. By putting these two course in place an appropriate answer to the challenging technical developments and chances should be given that the increasing potential of ICT and AT can be used in practice for the benefit of people with disabilities. 1. BFWD: UNIVERSITY DEGREE IN ACCESSIBLE WEB DESIGN 1.1. Background The awareness towards web accessibility in the mainstream ICT sector and in society in general increases. This is driven by according legal changes and a better understanding of the importance in ethical, social-economical and business terms both in the public sector and in industry. Due to EU directives in favor of accessibility it has become obvious that an anti discrimination legislation has been put in place in Austria. Web Accessibility in Austria is regulated by two laws: 1

2 a) The e-government-law [1] that has been enacted in 2004 states that websites offered by public authorities have to follow international Web Accessibility standards in order to allow access without barriers for people with disabilities. Following this law, web pages of public authorities in Austria have to be adapted by the beginning of the year b) Furthermore the so called Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz (anti discrimination legislation) was put in force at the beginning of This law guarantees the right of access to all areas of the public sector including web pages. [2] This outlines that there will be an increasing demand for education and know-how in this sector in the near future. To proactively answer this upcoming demand the Institute Integriert Studieren at the University of Linz developed the course Barrierefreies Webdesign [3] (Accessibile Web Design) what was partly funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) [4] and the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture (bm:bwk) [5] Implementation The course is e-learning based and designed in an accessible way for students and teachers. This course is designed for post graduate students and practitioners working in the field of web design. These practitioners or their employers responded very positively to the course layout as they are invited to bring their examples into the course get guidance for the design of new or redesign of existing web system during the course. People with disabilities themselves have been involved in the development of the elearning system as well as the development of the content (blind and visually handicapped, mobility impaired, hearing impaired and deaf). Intensive testing of elearning platforms and according accessibility adaptations led to the implementation of a fully accessible system with a good level of usability for all user groups. [6] The most critical issue was getting approved the course by the university board and the involved bodies (politics, industry, administration) as the course hands over an official and state wide accepted university degree. The course got accepted in spring 2005 after almost 2 years of negotiation. The curriculum encompasses a total of 44 semester hours embedded into a time frame of 4 semesters. It is divided into the following six modules: Technical Fundamentals Assistive Technologies Guidelines and Laws Accessibility Design and Usability Practical Experience Each of the modules contains appropriate lectures. Mandatory attendance hours are reduced to a minimum during the whole course as the main parts of the content are taught using an online e- Learning system. This was intended and also accepted as and invitations for experts on the job. The preparation of the first parts of the content the course was done over summer 2005 and the course started in October 2005 with 21 students coming from Austria and Germany. Most of the students work in web design companies which are confronted with the need to develop accessible web pages for their clients. Other target groups represented are unemployed people and people reentering the labour market and people with disabilities searching for new vocational challenges in this field with personal user experience in the background. 2

3 1.3. Future After successfully starting the course in Austria first considerations and negotiations have been started to offer the course also in other countries and languages. This of course asks for localizing the content. Such co-operations should guarantee the offer in the long run and an efficient and cost effective organisation and updating. The curriculum is designed following a modular approach, which allows that single lectures can be changed and also used for other teaching purposes. Some lectures could for example be easily integrated into the regular lectures for computer science students or to provide training for interested companies and organizations. The course is based on the open source elearning platform called Moodle. [7] As this platform is developed by a big community, there is a constant progress in functionalities, also towards accessibility. This asks for ongoing updates as well as adaptations regarding our own features for accessibility and usability. Discussions with the community about integrating our adaptations into their development and therefore also into new releases would not only be very useful for us, but also for all other organisations providing e-learning courses via Moodle. As soon as version 2.0 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) [8] becomes an official recommendation of WAI, the current content of the course has to be adapted according to the new specifications. The system itself has also to fulfill this new standard. 2. ASSISTEC: UNIVERSITY DEGREE IN ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION 2.1. Background AT/ICT have been recognized as a playground for specialist and freaks over the last decades. Although an increasing number of excellent tools and services has been developed the end users and the fields of support, services and care for people with disabilities has not been using the potential of these new possibilities. I addition the last years led to increasing awareness towards aging and disability. The demographic situation shows an increasing need for new and efficient approaches to be able to keep the level of quality and quantity of services to answer this trend. AT and ICT are more and more recognized as major factors to overcome this situation. An increasing number of research, development and application projects underline this. But still a gap can be found between the technological progress and the social, pedagogical and psychological field of application. Of course the fast and revolutionary developments in ICT/AT often driven by technological needs caused problems in usability and applicability. ICT/AT research and development reacted to this and orients itself towards usability and applicability. One particular reason that the gap still seems to become bigger can be found in the fact neither that aspects of AT/ICT have sufficiently entered established curricula of the support and care field nor that comprehensive courses or diploma have been established for the AT/ICT sector. In Austria for example none of the curricula for jobs in the social service and care sector takes AT and ICT as a subject into account; no course in AT/ICT exists. 3

4 2.2. Implementation This invited to increased efforts in transferring know-how into the social service and care sector. At the University of Linz a distance education course in AT has been developed and got approved by the University authorities following the model of the BFWD course. [9] The organizational and administrative procedures as well as the existing technical infrastructure of the BFWD course, as described above, have been used to implement this course. The university course aims at educating people coming from different vocational backgrounds (welface, social politics, health care, education, AT research/development/application). Again in particular people with disabilities themselves are invited to participate as they have unique experiences and knowledge in the field and are confronted with increased problems at the labour market. [10] The curriculum offers in a time frame of 4 semesters 4 modules encompassing 18 seminars with a total of 42 semester hours: Module: Fundamentals o elearning o Medical and Physiological Fundamentals o Legislative Framework and Funding o Design for All o Fundamentals in AT and Rehabilitation Technology Module 2: Assistive Technologies: Special Knowledge o Adis for Specific Learning Difficulites o Aids for Hearing Impairment o Aids for Vision Impairment o Mobility and Movement Aids o AAL o AT for special environments (work, home, education, leisure) o Practice Module 3: Process of Assortment and Provision of AT/ICT o Assessment o Analyzing the environment: Technical, social and economical factors o AT Management and Mediation AT in Practice: Examples and Application o Training on the Job o Thesis o Research AT and future trends Graduates will be experts in the area of Assistive Technologies especially concerning assortment of appropriate AT, usability of AT, funding, application, adaptation, management and service and counselling respectively. Moreover, the course stresses concentrated and goal-oriented transfer of knowledge according to the up-to-date state of the art in a multidisciplinary environment. One major key feature and goal as well is that the course substantially emphasises practical training and application of the theoretically gained knowledge. Moreover, one major intention is to enhance quality in the practical treatment regarding the profession fields of health care and support and services of people with disabilities. In addition to that the implementation of the university course also aims to improve and foster product development of Assistive Technologies. The first course will start this October. 4

5 3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The development of both courses has been supported by the European Social Fund (ESF), the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture (bm:bwk) and the University of Linz. REFERENCES 1. E-Government-Law (E-GovG), 2004, online available on May 13, 2005 at 2. Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz Regierungsvorlage (government bill), 2005, online available on May 13, 2005 at 3. Barrierefreies Webdesign project homepage, online available on May 13, 2005 at 4. European Social Fund (ESF) online available on May 13, 2005 at 5. Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture (bm:bwk) online available on May 31, 2005 at 6. Miesenberger, K., Ortner, D.: Raising the Expertise of Web Designers through Training - The Experience of B.F.W.D. - Accessible Web Design (Barrierefreies Web Design) in Austria, in: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Klaus, J., Zagler, W. (Eds.): Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 10th International Conference, ICCHP 2006, Linz, Austria, July 11-13, 2006, Proceedings 7. Moodle Homepage, online available on May 13, 2005 at 8. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, W3C Working Draft, 2004 online available on May 13, 2005 at 9. Assistive Technologies project homepage online available on May 31, 2006 at Matausch, K., Hengstberger, B., Miesenberger, K.: Assistec A University Course on Assistive Technologies, in: Miesenberger, K., Karshmer, A., Klaus, J., Zagler, W. (Eds.): Computers Helping People with Special Needs, 10th International Conference, ICCHP 2006, Linz, Austria, July 11-13, 2006, Proceedings 5