Stakeholders of accessibility practice

These notes are part of a series for the book.

Seale, J. (2014) ‘Ch. 4, The stakeholders of accessibility practice’ in E-Learning and Disability in Higher Education: Accessibility research and practice, 2nd ed., New York, Routledge.

Outline

Introduction
1. Why the need to identify all stakeholders?
2. Which stakeholders are identified as important?
Stakeholder roles and responsibilities
1. Senior manager
2. Staff developer
  1. Development of strategic partnerships with key stakeholders
  2. Embedding accessibility in all e-learning-related staff development programs
  3. Targeting all staff versus targeting specific groups
  4. Incentivising attendance
3. Lecturer
  1. A responsibility for lecturers to transform how they teach
  2. A responsibility for lecturers to transform what they teach
4. E-learning professionals
5. Student support services
  1. Advise students of their rights and responsibilities/advocate for students
  2. Accessing students’ technology requirements
  3. Provide training to students
  4. Provide customized learning materials
Conclusion

Notes

This chapter builds on Chapter 1, in which different stakeholders were identified. Because the book is about what’s happening in university settings, I’m adding my own note for equivalents within a corporate setting:

Senior manager: These people manage the people and decision-making of the departments that create or buy instructional material, IT equipment, or support services; they are similar to a company’s managers and senior managers of HR, instructional design teams, IT teams, and Help Desk teams.
Staff developer: These people teach the employees, similar to an instructional designer or an HR department’s learning and development (L&D) personnel.
Lecturer: These are teachers, and also people who create training material, similar to trainers and instructional designers in corporate settings.
E-learning professional: These people maintain the systems used to deliver e-learning resources, similar to LMS administrators in companies.
Student support services: These people help others use their equipment and gain access to information and material, which is similar to Help Desk personnel in a company.

The chapter starts with the argument for including multiple stakeholders in the overall goal of accessibility. It ends with a mention of the counter-argument.

We need multiple stakeholders involved because: It can’t be done without a distributed model, in which all stakeholders contribute and are accountable.
We don’t need multiple stakeholders involved because: It’s a pipe dream, it would never happen anyway.

With the one detractor, most published work in this area agree that the work of accessibility needs to be distributed and shared among multiple stakeholders. There is general consensus except when it comes to the need for managers and staff developers (instructional designers/L&D) to be involved!

Managers

Accessibility is more easily attained when managers are supportive, have a positive attitude about the work at hand, and have previous experience. They should lead instead of delegate. They should make sure that:

Elearning material is audited for accessibility
Any accessibility experts have a dotted-line work relationship with departments creating e-learning resources
Teams are given staff development opportunities that improve their skills in the area of accessibility
Equipment and software that is procured is accessible and can produce accessible outputs
Technical teams are involved in developing strategy for accessibility
An appropriate amount of time and resources is allocated toward meeting accessibility goals
Staff have the expertise, training, and support they need to meet accessibility goals
When the goals of different stakeholder groups compete, the managers should manage these tensions

Staff developers (instructional designers/L&D)

Studies show this group lacks knowledge and wants to provide better support and more accessible learning resources. They:

Can become change agents in the organization by forming partnerships with the other stakeholders
Would benefit from having access to specialist knowledge
Would benefit from having ownership of their decisions instead of being told what to do — left to devise their own path (but that does require agreement that accessibility is important, even when facing competing needs for time and budget)
Can further help meet the accessibility goals by including accessibility information in the training material they create (for example, giving the steps to using accessibility features in training about new software). By folding this into all applicable training material instead of providing it separately, that helps make it more “everyday”.

Lecturers (instructional designers)

Studies of teaching staff at universities show that they have limited knowledge about accessibility and negative attitudes toward disabled students. They need to change what they teach and how they teach.

What they teach: They need to include accessibility into their curriculum so their students will have the skills they need in the future. This may include information about universal design.
How they teach: Theirs is not a technical change, but a pedagogical one. ‘[A] fully accessible course must e based on sound pedagogical principles, which in turn will determine the appropriate technology, and will result in accessible materials and activities’ (Seale, 2014, p. 67). Any accessible teaching approach that can be done in face-to-face classes also can be done with elearning, and so the choice should first be based on pedagogy, then accessible design.

E-learning professionals (LMS administrators)

Some studies show that this group has a low level of awareness and knowledge of accessibility issues. There is some belief among this group that accessibility limits creativity and innovation, and thus limits what they can provide for elearning. However, other studies content that this group has taken on much of the responsibilities for the delivery of accessible elearning.

Student support services (help desk)

People in this position often are key people in connecting people (learner and the stakeholders mentioned here) with accessible technology and resources and making sure they also understand how to use them. As a result, they may take a leadership role in accessibility and also be an advocate for learners with disabilities.

Katherine Hinchey