[Draft] Module 6: Understanding and Involving Users in [Draft] Designer Modules, Curricula on Web Accessibility

Discuss how organizations conducting user research can include feedback on different accessibility features, barriers, and requirements that relate to people with disabilities.

Learning Outcomes for Topic

Students should be able to:

• describe the impact of including real people with disabilities versus including only personas or simulations
• describe other research activities to be conducted in situations where it is not feasible to include real people with disabilities, such as asking for experts’ advice, or following documented best practices for accessibility
• articulate and communicate the consequences of not involving people with disabilities, for example higher costs to implement accessibility at a later stage
• describe the characteristics of potential participants in user research activities based on different factors, such as the type of disability and the level of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies
• identify related requirements for project managers and other team members to include accessibility in the overall project requirements

Teaching Ideas for Topic

Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes:

• Discuss different examples of involving people with disabilities, such as bringing real people and using personas when you cannot bring real people. Explain that this gives the opportunity to collect direct feedback from people with disabilities on products that are working for them and on products that are not. Emphasize that you can then include that feedback in the research conclusions so that they lead to better overall design for everybody.
• Discuss scenarios where it might not be economically feasible to involve people with disabilities. Explain different research methods that can be used to get an understanding of how people with disabilities interact with technology. For example, asking users, checking documentation, or watching videos. Explain that these research activities help the team understand different solutions to common pitfalls that people with disabilities may encounter when using the product or service.
• Explain the consequences of not involving people with disabilities. Emphasize that accessibility remediation is often difficult and can lead to higher costs when implementing accessibility later on in the development phase.
• Present characteristics of potential participants in user research activities based on several factors, such as the type of disability and the level of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies.

Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic

Optional ideas to support assessment.

• Short Answer Questions — Students reflect about how they could include people with disabilities in their user research activities. Assess how students understand the added value of involving people with disabilities.
• Short Answer Questions — Students reflect about the characteristics of potential participants with disabilities in user research activities. Assess how students understand the diversity among people with disabilities.

Refer back to Module 4: Principles. Standards, and Checks Topic: W3C Accessibility Standards. Present requirements that relate to people with disabilities, such as those included in the W3C accessibility standards. Invite students to explore policies that may apply in their region (if any).

Learning Outcomes for Topic

Students should be able to:

• identify requirements that relate to people with disabilities, for example:
  • a person with disabilities needs to understand how clothing looks like both through vision and through text descriptions
  • a person with disabilities needs to be able to choose their sit when buying a ticket using their assistive technology of choice
• research existing personas and scenarios that avoid common clichés and myths related to people with disabilities
• create personas that include people with different types of disabilities and different levels of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies
• create scenarios that include use of the product with different types of assistive technologies and adaptive strategies

Teaching Ideas for Topic

Optional ideas to support assessment:

• Refer back to Foundation Module 4: Principles, Standards, and Checks, Topic: W3C Accessibility Standards and explain the importance of including the W3C accessibility standards in the overall project requirements for ensuring accessible products.
• Explain some functional requirements of products and services that relate to accessibility, such as appropriate contrast ratios, compatibility with assistive technologies and adaptive strategies, and keyboard support.
• Reflect on the diversity of people with disabilities. Explain that, when creating personas, these need to reflect the different types of abilities people have as well as their level of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies. Explain the importance of creating realistic personas that avoid clichés and myths. For reference, see Interacting with People with Disabilities.

Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic

Optional ideas to support assessment:

• Short answer questions — Ask students about three different types of non-functional requirements included in accessibility standards, such as WCAG. Assess how students understand non-functional requirements included in accessibility standards.
• Short Answer Questions — Ask students about three types of functional requirements that are related to people with disabilities. Assess how students understand functional requirements that relate to people with disabilities.
• Practical — Students create several personas that include different types of disabilities and different levels of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies. Assess how students understand diversity among people with disabilities.
• Practical — Students create several scenarios that include use of the product with different assistive technologies and adaptive strategies. Assess how students understand different scenarios that include use of the product with different assistive technologies and adaptive strategies.

Discuss different strategies to consider when working with people with disabilities, such as accommodations, participation modalities, accessibility of the facilities, and specific setups people with disabilities may require.

Learning Outcomes for Topic

Students should be able to:

• identify the need for including people with disabilities depending on the project requirements and the activities to be conducted
• articulate the advantages and disadvantages of guided and non-guided testing
• identify the existence of custom setups that may require researchers to visit users at their home or office
• identify the following needs when research activities are conducted at a specific location:
  • accessibility of the facilities
  • assistive technology needs
  • accessibility of transportation means to get to the chosen venue
• identify the need for appropriate timings for participants with different levels of skills to conduct the research activities
• relate different testing methods to different accessibility outcomes
• identify the need for involvement of different roles, such as project managers, user researchers, designers, developers, and content authors, to implement received feedback that relates to their specific tasks during the development and authoring phases

Teaching Ideas for Topic

Optional ideas to teach the learning outcomes:

• Explain how including real people with disabilities can help better inform the decisions taken in iterative design processes. For example, mention complex interaction patterns, such as complex form fields or custom dialogs, and reinforce the idea that feedback on expected behaviors and interaction patterns will help take the best design decision.
• Discuss the different levels of skills of people with disabilities when using an assistive technology or an adaptive strategy. Emphasize that some assistive technologies and adaptive strategies are difficult to learn. Explain that different people may need different timings to conduct the proposed activities. Present different strategies to include these differences. For example, setting up different time expectations depending on different levels of experience with the assistive technology and different levels of familiarity with the product.
• Explain different testing methods that exist, such as testing with an assistive technology, testing a paper prototype, or testing an HTML template. Explain that each of these methods delivers different types of outputs. For example, testing a paper prototype is more likely to deliver results related to visual aspects, and assistive technology testing is more likely to deliver results related to the compatibility of the product with assistive technology.
• Discuss several examples of complex user interfaces. Explain that participation of other team members, such as developers and content authors, may be required to address the feedback received from people with disabilities. Emphasize that requesting that participation is a responsibility of the user researcher, whereas coordinating such participation is a responsibility of the project manager.

Ideas to Assess Knowledge for Topic

Optional ideas to support assessment:

• Practical — Ask students to select a venue where they would conduct a face-to-face research activity with people with disabilities. Assess how students understand different accommodations and needs of people with disabilities, such as accessibility of the facilities, transportation means, and others.
• Practical — Give students an activity and ask them to provide different timings depending on the different levels of skills with adaptive strategies and assistive technologies that users have. Assess how students consider different timings depending on the participants’ level of skills using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies.