How can design educators incorporate accessibility principles into their curriculum?

1 Define accessibility goals and outcomes

Before you start designing your curriculum, you need to define what accessibility means for your context, your learners, and your projects. Accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all concept, but rather a dynamic and contextual process that depends on the needs and preferences of diverse users. Therefore, you should identify the accessibility goals and outcomes that align with your learning objectives, your design discipline, and your target audience. For example, you can use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as a reference for web and digital design, or the Principles of Universal Design for physical and spatial design.

2 Incorporate accessibility into the design process

Accessibility should not be an afterthought or a separate module in the design process, but should be integrated from research to prototyping to testing. To incorporate accessibility, you can use persona and scenario development to create realistic and diverse user profiles and scenarios, which will guide your design decisions and evaluate your design solutions. Accessibility audits and checklists can assess the current state of your design project and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, user testing and feedback from people with different abilities and disabilities should be included in the design process, especially in the testing and feedback stages. Online platforms such as UserTesting or Loop11 can be used for web and digital design, while local participants can be recruited for physical and spatial design. Collecting user feedback on the accessibility and usability of your design will help ensure that it meets everyone's needs.

3 Use accessible and inclusive teaching methods and materials

Accessibility is not only about the design product, but also about the design education itself. To ensure that all learners can access, participate, and benefit from your curriculum, you should employ accessible and inclusive teaching methods and materials. For example, offering multiple modes of presentation, such as text, audio, video, images, diagrams, or animations with clear and simple language and captions or transcripts for multimedia elements. Additionally, multiple modes of engagement should be provided for activities such as discussion, collaboration, reflection, or experimentation. Learners should be given choices and flexibility to express their preferences, interests, and goals with feedback and support for their progress and challenges. Furthermore, multiple modes of assessment should be available for outcomes such as portfolio, presentation, report, or prototype with clear and consistent criteria and rubrics. Allowing learners to demonstrate their learning in different ways and formats is also important.

4 Evaluate and improve your curriculum

Finally, you should evaluate and improve your curriculum based on the accessibility goals and outcomes that you defined at the beginning. To do this, you can conduct a self-evaluation of your curriculum using the accessibility audits and checklists that you used for your design projects. Additionally, learner evaluation through surveys, interviews, or focus groups can provide insight into their experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction with the accessibility and inclusivity of your curriculum. And finally, peer evaluation by colleagues, experts, or external reviewers can help to review your curriculum against the accessibility standards and guidelines.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?