Joliet Junior Colleges 508 Compliant Website Accessibility Journey

Joliet Junior College’s 508 Compliant Website Accessibility Journey: From Problem to Partnership

Mindy Diaz, Manager Disability Services Timothy Roessler, Director of Enterprise Applications Angela Sullivan, Professor, Computer Information & Office Systems

This session will share lessons learned during Joliet Junior College’s journey from initial 508 accessibility challenges in their redesigned website, to solving these challenges through a partnership and new program between Disabilities Services, IT, the CIOS Department, and their website governance software provider.

Joliet Junior College Highlights • Founded in 1901, JJC is the nation’s first public community college

Joliet Junior College Highlights • JJC serves over 38, 000 credit and noncredit students in 6 modernized locations

Joliet Junior College Highlights • JJC’s Fall 2019 credit headcount was greater than 15, 000

Joliet Junior College Highlights • The JJC Foundation maintains and a database of over >100 K alumni

Joliet Junior College Highlights • JJC has a robust offering of premier accreditation/certificate programs including: – Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing – American Culinary Federation – American Health Information Management Association – American Veterinary Medical Association – Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education – National Association of Schools of Music – National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation – National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education – National Kitchen and Bath Association

The Problem! The journey began with a sudden awareness of 508 compliance challenges in our newly designed website: https: //www. jjc. edu

The Problem! • Within days of going live an accessibly concern was raised by a student

The Problem! • The website was rendering oddly through screen readers

The Problem! • High frequency video potentially - at risk to individuals with photoepileptic tendencies

Wait, What? ! A problem? Our web design partner assured us they had 508 experience and were mindful of accessibility compliance in their design

How could there be a problem? • We used semantic HTML code

How could there be a problem? • We removed PDFs

How could there be a problem? • We ensured proper color contrast of our content

How could there be a problem? • We were so close, yet a slight oversight affected the experience of many students

How could there be a problem? • What is the experience for students who use assistive technologies?

How could there be a problem? • Unfortunately, we didn’t solidify with our contractors level of WCAG compliance expected

Our immediate actions IT and Disability Services immediately worked together to try to resolve issues as quickly as possible…. .

Our immediate actions • The student who vocalized the concern was gracious enough to demonstrate

Our immediate actions • Our design vendor was able to slow the video flicker rate

Our immediate actions • Most photos without an ALT tag were identified and corrected

Our immediate actions • Alignment made to 508 W 3 C Web Content Accessibility Standards

New Challenges The team came to the realization that 508 standards can be confusing, and Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) expertise is lacking in the workplace

New Challenges • JJC’s overall web governance strategy need to be expanded to include details on Accessibility and Compliance testing

New Challenges • Our web design partner believed the site to be compliant, and we found ourselves debating 508/WCAG specifics

New Challenges • Screen readers behaved differently than we expected when rendering our site

New Challenges • Even our most experienced web designers lacked specific 508/WCAG expertise and local training was difficult to find

Need for More Technology/Expertise These challenges led JJC to identify a plan to fund purchase of website governance software to aid JJC in identifying website accessibly issues, define website accessibly governance and enhance our 508/WCAG internal expertise

Need for More Technology/Expertise • Automated 508 compliance testing software products were evaluated

Need for More Technology/Expertise • Compliance testing products could provided JJC definitive guidelines on where their site did not met standards

Need for More Technology/Expertise • The use of a testing tool could be referenced in our web accessibility governance statements

Need for More Technology/Expertise • Funding for the testing tool, screen readers, and developing expertise on 508/WCAG within JJC was still needed….

Partnership! JJC’s Disability Services team led the awarding of a grant funded program which formed a partnership to turn our challenges to successes beyond 508 compliance

Partnership! • JJC was awarded a Perkins grant to purchase web accessibility tools and create a 508/WCAG curriculum at JJC

Partnership! • An Automated 508 compliance testing software product was funded and the vendor selected

Partnership! • The tool allowed JJC to use the software to both improve JJC’s websites but also be leveraged by students in a classroom

Partnership! • The grant also funded interns who would use this software to help improve JJC’s accessibility

Partnership! • The interns would help create a pave the road for student programs to assist on JJC websites

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum Computer Information & Office Systems (CIOS) created curriculum on 508/WCAG where the students learned to leverage software tools in partnership with IT, to improve JJC’s website accessibility

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum • CIOs, Managers, Directors, IT Professionals need to understand the importance of web accessibility

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum • Many are unaware of who might be affected by a lack of accessibility support on a web site

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum • The courses are designed to explain the importance and tools needed to evaluate your company’s web presence

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 201 We want our visitors to know the measures we have taken to make their experience on JJC’s website, a positive one!

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 201 Add Closed Captioning to all videos • Evaluation and creation of any materials found online need to be accessible

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 201 Add Closed Captioning to all videos • Epub and PDF • Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power. Point • Images & multimedia

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 201 • Evaluation of semantics and page structure • Tables

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 Web Accessibility + proper HTML 5 semantics = Happy SEO

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • Understanding WAI, W 3 C, & WCAG • Web Analytics with WCAG standards • Screen reader overview

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • User Experience (UX) • WAI-ARIA • Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • Rich Internet Applications • Explore accessibility scrubber platforms and assessment tools

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • Assistive Technologies • What is trending

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • Web Optimization and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

CIOS 508/WCAG Curriculum: CIOS 241 • Demo of a Screen Reader

Summary JJC’s is proud of our journey from initial 508 accessibility challenges in their redesigned website, to solving these challenges through a partnership and new program between Disabilities Services, IT, the CIOS Department, and their website governance software provider.

Summary: The trend is pointing upward • Our accessibility, SEO and overall digital certainty index is improving everyday!

Summary: Final Thoughts • 508 compliance awareness is important for a public institution, but expertise is lacking in the workplace • Software tools designed for 508 compliance can help drive website accessibly governance • Partnership between departments around accessibility led to successes beyond 508 compliance