Digital Accessibility Foundations Free Online Course

The “Introduction to Web Accessibility” online course provides the foundation for making your websites, apps, and other digital technology:

  • Work well for people with disabilities
  • Meet international standards
  • Enhance the user experience for everyone

Accessibility is essential to create high-quality products, and to not exclude people from using your products and services.

 

Who the course is for

The course is designed for technical and non-technical learners, including:

  • developers
  • designers
  • content authors
  • project managers
  • students
  • instructors
  • people with disabilities

What you get from the course

The course is structured so that you can focus on the topics that you are most interested in. Optional activities and additional materials provide more learning on specific topics.

For example, you can choose to focus on:

  • Coding web applications to meet international W3C standards.
  • Designing interfaces to meet the needs of people with disabilities, including older users.
  • Advocating for accessibility by understanding real-life experiences of how accessibility is essential for some, and useful for all.
  • Writing a business case to present to management.
  • Planning and managing accessibility in projects and in organizations.
  • Checking web pages for basic accessibility issues and improving accessibility.

 

We encourage you to go through the entire course, even if you focus more on some topics. The syllabus includes:

  • What is Web Accessibility (2 sections) — challenges the way you may approach accessibility.
  • People and Digital Technology (5 sections) — gives you the “why” behind the what you need to do for accessibility.
  • Business Case and Benefits (2 sections) — explains how accessibility can expand market reach, demonstrate social responsibility, drive innovation, and minimize legal risk.
  • Principles, Standards, and Checks (5 sections) — walks through the accessibility requirements in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG); provides optional material for learning more about coding accessibly; guides you to use tools to check some accessibility barriers.
  • Getting Started with Accessibility (2 sections) — explains approaches for integrating accessibility into your design and development processes; provides tips for getting started with accessibility right away.

More “What you’ll learn” and syllabus is in the edX course page.

Duration

The course is designed to take about 16-20 hours to complete for most people. It is listed as 4 weeks of 4-5 hours effort per week.

It is self-paced so you can complete it in a shorter or longer time frame.

This course will be available on the edX platform through at least the first quarter of 2021. We expect an updated version of this course to be available long term.

 

Cost: Free, optional certificate

The course is free. The audit option gives you access to all of the content.

 

Optionally, you can choose to get a Verified Certificate for USD 99 to demonstrate successful course completion.

The Certificate can be printed, listed in resumes, and linked to online profiles.

You can start auditing the course now, and later choose to get a Verified Certificate.

For more information, and to enroll today- click here.

 

 

All information on this page used with permission of W3C and taken from https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/foundations-course/