9 a.m. - 1 p.m. PT | 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. ET
Building accessible digital environments is a foundational step in creating greater opportunities for our students, faculty, staff, and all other individuals with disabilities to participate and engage in our higher education mission. With the approach of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), join us in this virtual event for digital accessibility presentations emphasizing practical and actionable outcomes!
Topics will include accessibility practices in the design process, Do-It-Yourself accessibility testing, Lightning Talks on implementing institutional best practices to enable progress, and a Q&A session on emerging digital accessibility topics for higher education institutions. Learn how you can take action to create a more accessible digital experience in these 50-minute sessions. Guest speakers coming soon!
Agenda
9:00 a.m. PT | Introductions and Opening Remarks
11:00 a.m. Central Time | 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time
9:10 a.m. PT | Start with Design
11:10 a.m. Central Time | 12:10 p.m. Eastern Time
Delivering a robust online experience can include the contributions of designers, developers, content authors, and more. Ensuring an accessible website or application requires attention to accessibility principles early in this process, but there can be confusion as to what that looks like. The design phase is an excellent opportunity to discuss and implement accessibility practices even before any code is created. Join us for a session on how to include accessibility as part of the design process, including how to use Figma to highlight accessibility issues, integrating accessibility into design systems or style guides, and how to conduct user testing with people with disabilities.
10:10 a.m. PT | Do-It-Yourself Accessibility Testing
12:10 p.m. Central Time | 1:10 p.m. Eastern Time
Accessibility testing can be seen as a highly complex endeavor or requiring the involvement of digital accessibility companies to conduct large-scale accessibility audits detailing every potential barrier. But there are many accessibility tests that can be performed quickly and easily right at your own computer, no matter your role. This session will focus on Do-It-Yourself accessibility testing and the solutions you can implement today to identify potential accessibility barriers.
11:10 a.m. PT | Digital Accessibility Progress: Lightning Talks
1:10 p.m. Central Time | 2:10 p.m. Eastern Time
While pursuing accessibility for our websites, digital content, and services, focusing on perfection can lead to institutional groups feeling discouraged or pessimistic about achieving such high goals. Sharing progress can aid us in reflecting on our current successes, what needs to change, or where we can focus our efforts to realize achievable outcomes. In this session, a collection of Ivy+ institutions will present lightning talks on how they have made progress on accessibility efforts involving captioning strategies, building a network of digital accessibility advocates, integrating accessibility into procurement processes, partnering with communications groups, and more.
12:10 p.m. PT | Panel: Q&A on Digital Accessibility Issues Facing Institutions
2:10 p.m. Central Time | 3:10 p.m. Eastern Time
Do you have a question about digital accessibility? Are you seeking answers to current accessibility issues faced by higher education institutions? Join us for this Q&A session with accessibility subject matter experts from multiple Ivy+ universities. Submit a question in advance or share during the Q&A event!
