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• The State of Accessibility in Blackboard: Survey and User Reviews Case Study

  Wajdi Aljedaani, Mohammed Alkahtani, Stephanie Ludi, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Marcelo M. Eler, Marouane Kessentini, Ali Ouni · 2023 · Proceedings of the 20th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper investigates the accessibility of the Blackboard mobile app, one of the most widely used Learning Management Systems (LMS) in higher education, through a two-pronged methodology. First, the authors conducted a large-scale survey with 1,308 hearing students and 65 deaf…

  mobile accessibility · learning management systems · deaf and hard of hearing · education accessibility · user reviews

• Comparing Natural Language and Vibro-Audio Modalities for Inclusive STEM Learning with Blind and Low Vision Users

  Justin R. Brown, Stacy A. Doore, Justin K. Dimmel, Norbert Giudice, Nicholas A. Giudice · 2023 · Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2023)

  This study evaluates a multimodal touchscreen diagram system (MDS v 2.0) built on an iPhone that provides blind and low vision (BLV) users with two non-visual methods for accessing graphical STEM content: natural language (NL) descriptions delivered via VoiceOver text-to-speech,…

  blind and low vision · STEM accessibility · data visualization · haptic technology · multimodal interaction

• Low-Cost Tactile Coloring Page Fabrication on a Cutting Machine: Assembly and user experiences of cardstock-layered tangible pictures

  Nicole Johnson, Tom Yeh, Ann Cunningham · 2022 · Proceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '22)

  This short paper presents a design inquiry into using a consumer-grade Cricut cutting machine to create tactile pictures and coloring pages by layering cardstock, as a low-cost alternative to traditional tactile image production methods. The technique, developed over three…

  tactile graphics · blindness · low vision · early learning · DIY assistive technology

• LaTeX as an Inclusive Accessibility Instrument for Highschool Mathematical Education

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, Marco Bracco, Nadir Murru, Tiziana Armano, Anna Capietto · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A '21)

  This paper reports on the design, implementation, and outcomes of a teaching activity in an Italian high school that used LaTeX typesetting language as an inclusive tool for mathematical education. The project was designed to support "Cristina" (pseudonym), a second-year applied…

  visual impairment · math accessibility · education accessibility · inclusive design · assistive technology

• WordMelodies: an Inclusive Mobile App Supporting the Acquisition of Literacy Skills

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, Irene Mantegazza, Sergio Mascetti · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A '21)

  This paper presents WordMelodies, a cross-platform mobile edutainment application designed for inclusive literacy education for primary school children with and without visual impairments or blindness (VIB). The app was motivated by a teacher of children with VIB in the USA who…

  visual impairment · education accessibility · mobile accessibility · inclusive design · screen readers

• Accessibility Challenges in Lab Simulations

  Matthew Ralston, Greg Gay · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the accessibility challenges encountered and solutions developed when creating online lab simulations for an Occupational Health and Safety course at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift from…

  education accessibility · online learning · keyboard accessibility · screen reader accessibility · ARIA

• Online Learning Accessibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Shanna Russ, Foad Hamidi · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This literature review examines 14 papers published over the past decade on e-learning accessibility, reframing their findings through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on K-12 education. During the pandemic, elementary, middle, and high schools made an emergency…

  education accessibility · online learning · universal design for learning · WCAG · digital accessibility

• Teaching Accessibility Awareness with Games

  Greg Gay · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents the Accessibility Maze, a web-based serious game developed at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) to teach web accessibility basics through experiential learning. The game was designed with three goals: provide a high-impact introduction…

  education accessibility · game accessibility · web accessibility · screen readers · keyboard accessibility

• Making the Elusive More Tangible: Remote Tools & Techniques for Teaching Web Development to Screen Reader Users

  Claire Ferrari, Chancey Fleet, Keita Ohshiro, Veronica Alfaro Arias, Amy Hurst · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a free, remote web development workshop for 12 screen reader users, conducted over nine Saturday sessions between August and October 2020. The workshop was a collaboration between New York University and the New…

  education accessibility · screen readers · web development · STEM accessibility · blindness

• Multi-touch Exploration and Sonification of Line Segments

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Cristian Bernareggi, Sergio Mascetti, Federico Pini · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents SoundLines, a mobile app designed to help children with visual impairments develop spatial exploration skills through touchscreen interaction coupled with audio (sonification) feedback. The app is structured as a game where a kitten must be guided to find its…

  visual impairment · sonification · spatial cognition · mobile accessibility · tactile accessibility

• Access Differential and Inequitable Access: Inaccessibility for Doctoral Students in Computing

  Kristen Shinohara, Michael McQuaid, Nayeri Jacobo · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper investigates why the pipeline of students with disabilities pursuing doctoral degrees in computing remains so thin, despite increased support at the undergraduate level. In 2018, the NSF reported that only about 3% of math and computer science PhD recipients…

  education accessibility · disability rights · deaf and hard of hearing · blindness and low vision · digital accessibility

• Student and Teacher Perspectives of Learning ASL in an Online Setting

  Garreth W. Tigwell, Roshan L Peiris, Stacey Watson, Gerald M. Garavuso, Heather Miller · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This experience report examines the challenges and opportunities of teaching and learning American Sign Language (ASL) online during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspectives of both students and a Deaf instructor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), home of the…

  deaf and hard of hearing · sign language · education accessibility · videoconferencing · remote learning

• Teacher Views of Math E-learning Tools for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities

  Zikai Alex Wen, Erica Silverstein, Yuhang Zhao, Anjelika Lynne Amog, Katherine Garnett, Shiri Azenkot · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper examines how teachers use math e-learning tools with students who have specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in grades 5-8, a population where approximately 5% of US public school students are identified as having an SLD. SLDs predominantly affect reading (dyslexia),…

  learning disabilities · education accessibility · educational technology · dyscalculia · dyslexia

• TIP-Toy: a tactile, open-source computational toolkit to support learning across visual abilities

  Giulia Barbareschi, Enrico Costanza, Catherine Holloway · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2020)

  This paper presents TIP-Toy (Tactile Inclusive Programming Toy), an open-source educational programming toolkit using physical blocks and music output, designed for children ages 6-11 with mixed visual abilities — from full sight to total blindness. The fundamental problem is…

  visual accessibility · STEM education · tangible interaction · blindness and low vision · inclusive design

• Web-ALAP: A Web-based LaTeX Editor for Blind Individuals

  Safa Arooj, Shaban Zulfiqar, Muhammad Qasim Hunain, Suleman Shahid, Asim Karim · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents Web-ALAP (Web-Accessible LaTeX-based Authoring and Presentation), an open-source, web-based LaTeX editor designed specifically for blind and visually impaired users. The system addresses a critical gap in STEM accessibility: while LaTeX is widely used in…

  blindness · STEM accessibility · mathematics accessibility · screen readers · web accessibility

• Navigating Graduate School with a Disability

  Dhruv Jain, Venkatesh Potluri, Ather Sharif · 2020 · Proceedings of the 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '20)

  This paper presents a three-person autoethnography by computer science Ph.D. students at the University of Washington, each with a different disability: Dhruv Jain (hard of hearing, congenital bilateral sensorineural hearing loss), Venkatesh Potluri (congenitally blind with…

  education accessibility · disability identity · autoethnography · accommodation · STEM accessibility

• Math Melodies: Supporting Visually Impaired Primary School Students in Learning Math

  Dragan Ahmetovic, Valeria Alampi, Cristian Bernareggi, Andrea Gerino, Sergio Mascetti · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents Math Melodies, a free iPad application designed to teach mathematics to primary school children who are blind or visually impaired, while simultaneously engaging sighted peers. Mathematics education poses particular challenges for visually…

  visual impairment · blindness · education accessibility · mathematics accessibility · children

• Producing Accessible Statistics Diagrams in R

  Donal Fitzpatrick, A. Jonathan R. Godfrey, Volker Sorge · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a system for making statistical diagrams accessible to blind users by generating semantically enriched SVG graphics from the R statistical computing environment. The core problem is that statistical graphics — bar charts, histograms, box plots, scatter plots,…

  data visualization accessibility · STEM accessibility · visual impairment · blindness · screen readers

• ChattyBooks and ChattyBook Service

  Masakazu Suzuki, Katsuhito Yamaguchi · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This demonstration paper presents ChattyBooks, a Windows application that converts STEM content in DAISY/accessible EPUB3 format into audio-embedded HTML5 with JavaScript, enabling playback in any web browser on any platform without requiring specialized DAISY/EPUB3 players. The…

  STEM accessibility · DAISY · EPUB · MathML · mathematics accessibility

• Closed ASL Interpreting for Online Videos

  Raja Kushalnagar, Matthew Seita, Abraham Glasser · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper introduces "closed interpreting," a concept analogous to closed captioning but for sign language interpretation of online videos. While many deaf viewers prefer ASL interpreters over captions (as verbatim captioning speed often exceeds reading abilities, and deaf…

  American Sign Language · ASL · Deaf and hard of hearing · sign language interpreting · video accessibility

• Subjective Evaluation of Website Accessibility and Usability: A Survey for People with Sensory Disabilities

  Tahani Alahmadi, Steve Drew · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents a novel subjective evaluation model for assessing web accessibility and usability from the perspective of students with sensory disabilities, applied to Australian university websites. The model integrates accessibility criteria from WCAG 2.0 and Section 508…

  accessibility evaluation · usability · university websites · education accessibility · sensory disabilities

• Understanding Accessibility as a Process through the Analysis of Feedback from Disabled Students

  Tim Coughlan, Thomas Daniel Ullmann, Kate Lister · 2017 · Proceedings of the 14th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from The Open University UK analyzes over 6,000 open comment feedback responses from disabled students (out of 93,148 total responses) to argue that accessibility must be understood as an ongoing process rather than a state achieved through technical guideline…

  education accessibility · disability · organizational accessibility · distance learning · accessibility theory

• Contextual Language Learning with Capti ESL Assistant

  Yevgen Borodin, Yury Puzis, Andrii Soviak, Vikas Ashok, Andrii Melnyk, I. V. Ramakrishnan · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper presents Capti ESL Assistant, a web application designed to help English language learners develop reading and listening skills simultaneously while remaining accessible to users with print disabilities including dyslexia and vision loss. Built on the Capti Narrator…

  language accessibility · print disabilities · text-to-speech · dyslexia · education accessibility

• Supporting Engagement and Comprehension Online Through Multiple Means of Expression

  Boris N. Goldowsky, Peggy Coyne · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from CAST (the organization that developed the Universal Design for Learning framework) examines how offering multiple means of expression — writing, drawing, and audio recording — in online academic discussions affects engagement among struggling readers in grades…

  Universal Design for Learning · education accessibility · multimedia · learning disabilities · intellectual disability

• Laying a Foundation for the Graphical Course Map

  Linda DuHadway, Thomas C. Henderson · 2016 · Proceedings of the 13th International Web for All Conference (W4A)

  This paper from the University of Utah presents ENABLE, a system that transforms traditional linear, text-based learning management system (LMS) course presentations into interactive graphical course maps. The authors argue that current LMS platforms like Canvas impose two…

  education accessibility · personalized learning · data visualization · learning management systems · machine learning