Zheyu Wang

Facilitating Full-stack Accessibility of Technologies in Education: An Inclusively Designed Toolkit for Monitoring Technology Accessibility

The United Nations has declared access to education as a fundamental human right. Educational technologies (EdTech) enable and improve access to education; yet, they could create new barriers if they are not themselves accessible. Guided by an exploratory research approach, the use of EdTech in post-secondary education in North America was examined through literature survey, environmental scanning and expert interviews. A concept of ‘full-stack’ of EdTech, comprising technologies supporting the Platform, Process and Content in education is proposed. ‘Full-stack accessibility’ thereby becomes a desired goal for enabling and supporting education for all. Recognizing the critical role of EdTech vendors in the path to full-stack accessibility, an Accessibility Monitoring (A11yMon) Toolkit was inclusively designed in response to their unmet needs, to support them in managing their product accessibility. http://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/2249/