Hybrid MBA Recognized at UW Accessibility Challenge

Foster’s Hybrid MBA program was recognized at the University of Washington’s 2020 IT Accessibility Challenge Celebration, in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This 6-month challenge acknowledged university schools and programs proactively implementing changes that improve accessibility for everyone: students, faculty, staff, and visitors/guests, etc.

Foster’s Hybrid Course Development Team took this as an opportunity to redesign online course templates and file types for Canvas, a student-facing learning platform.

As part of UW’s Tri-campus (UW Seattle, UW Bothell, and UW Tacoma) celebration at the conclusion of this challenge, Hybrid MBA Instructional Designer Ginny Williams presented on behalf of Foster. She discussed how the team presented inclusive design, challenges, lessons learned, and next steps to an audience of hundreds including Foster School’s Dean Hodge.

These changes help the entire Foster School community, as the faculty in the Hybrid MBA program share best practices across graduate programs.

Accessibility Improvements

Overall Program Focus
– Accessibility strategy and prioritization

New Canvas Course Template
– Clear and consistent design across all templates
– Consistent use of headings
– Image treatment to include alt text
– Hyperlink descriptive text standards
– PDF reduction online where possible

2020 IT Accessibility Challenge 

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has resulted in much-improved access to UW programs and services for students, employees, and visitors with disabilities. However, individuals with disabilities still face barriers at the UW and throughout society. Many of these barriers are the result of inaccessible information technologies, and many of these problems are easy to fix.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the UW dedicated six months (May through October) to focus on the low hanging fruit of accessibility.

Learn more about the UW 2020 IT Accessibility Challenge:

2020 IT Accessibility Challenge

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