The Future of Education
Accessibility Statements in Digital Resources
Ann Marcus-Quinn, University of Limerick (Ireland)
Abstract
One of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic is that digital resources are being incorporated to a greater extent into the teaching and learning experiences across all levels of education [1]. Teachers and faculty are more aware than ever before of the diversity in their classrooms and lecture halls. The UN sustainability goals [2] have played a significant role in racing awareness around the quality of education for all. The web accessibility directive has resulted in the legal requirement of public sector websites to publish web accessibility statement on their websites [3]. In publishing such statements organizations and institutions are becoming more aware of creating online spaces that can be used by everyone. It is within this context that this short article looks at that necessity for web accessibility statements to move beyond the school website and for such statements to be associated with digital teaching and learning materials [4,5,6]. Instructional design is a profession and their best digital learning resources are the result of a collaboration between professional instructional designers and subject matter experts.
Keywords Accessibility Statements, Accessibility, Digital Resources, UN Sustainability Goals
References
[1] Marcus-Quinn, A., & Hourigan, T. (Eds.). (2021). Handbook for Online Learning Contexts: Digital, Mobile and Open: Policy and Practice. Springer Nature.
[2] UN Sustainability Goals https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030-goal4.html
[3] Oncins, E., and P. Orero. 2021. “Let's put Standardisation in Practice: Accessibility Services and Interaction.” Hikma 20 (1): 71–90.
[4] Parkinson, C. M., & Olphert, C. W. (2010). Website Accessibility and the Role of Accessibility Statements. In Integrating Usability Engineering for Designing the Web Experience: Methodologies and Principles (pp. 166-190). IGI Global.
[5] Marcus-Quinn, A., & Hourigan, T. (2022). Digital inclusion and accessibility considerations in digital teaching and learning materials for the second-level classroom. Irish Educational Studies, 41(1), 161-169.
[6] Zuniga, H. (2022). Accessibility and E-Resources: Why It Matters and What You Can Do. The Serials Librarian, 1-6.
