User-Centered Design for Accessibility (Further Course)

Target Groups and Required Skills

The target group of this course is people who have an interest in making digital systems accessible. This may include project managers, developers, students, and teachers. The course does not require any specific skills.

Learning Platform

The Canvas server at the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA).

Course Duration and Efforts

The course will be a four-week self-paced course. Students will be expected to spend 3 hours per week on reading & watching the materials and doing exercises and assignments.

Short Description

This course will focus on involving users in the design and development of accessible ICT systems. It will cover what user-centered design (UCD) is, why it is important, and how to use it to ensure accessibility of your ICT systems.

Long Description

In this course you will learn how to use user-centered design to ensure accessibility of ICT systems. The course will cover different aspects of user-centered Design (UCD), including principles, activities, processes and methods. Challenges of using UCD to ensure accessibility will be discussed and methods for addressing the challenges will be covered. The course will also give suggestions to current and future ICT project leaders on using UCD in their projects.

How to use UCD to ensure the accessibility of ICT systems will be at the heart of the course. You will gain knowledge on the different methods to involve diverse users in the UCD process, including users with disabilities, such as how to recruit users, how to communicate with users. The methods will be demonstrated through examples. You will practice the gained knowledge through quizzes and exercises.

Authors and Mentors

Weiqin Chen, Norun C. Sanderson, Siri Kessel and colleagues with support from the research group Universal Design of Information and Communication Technology (UD–ICT) at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences.

Course Structure

Week 1: Introduction

  1. Course introduction, including course structure and learning outcome
  2. Introducing user-centered design (UCD)
  3. UCD process, activities and principles
  4. UCD is important for accessibility
  5. Reading for Week 1
  6. Quiz

Week 2: Challenges

  1. Addressing challenges using UCD for accessibility
  2. Example of using UCD for accessibility
  3. Challenges
  4. Addressing challenges
  5. Addressing challenges in the example
  6. Discussion activity (other challenges, how to address them)

Week 3: Methods

  1. Methods in using UCD for accessibility
  2. Recruiting users
  3. Communicating with users
  4. Data collection methods in UCD
  5. Rewards
  6. Discussion activity (choose a case and methods)

Week 4: Example

  1. Demonstrating user testing for accessibility
  2. Steps
  3. Recruitment
  4. Planning
  5. Testing
  6. Discussion activity (what would you do differently?)

How to Register

Interested persons can contact Professor Weiqin Chen for registration.

Open Educational Resources

The content from this course is available as a set of open education resources.