All government agencies must have accessible websites. This means all public schools or schools who receive federal funding must have accessible websites. The United States Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has agreements with various school districts to help ensure institutions provide content that is accessible to everyone including people with disabilities and those who speak languages other than English. And it’s the right thing to do!
Pick me! Pick me!
On Tuesday, November 5th, more than 200 school webmasters and content contributors came together from across New York City schools to hear from representatives from a variety of platforms.
They came from around the globe to be a part of the largest school district accessibility projects in the world. In attendance were the following website platforms:
- Blackboard / Schoolwires
- eChalk
- Edlio
- Intrado / School Messenger
- Wix
- WordPress. com
Representatives from each company shared:
What each website provider offers, in terms of:
- their platform
- how they would ensure all website content—pictures, documents, and text on a page—would be made accessible
- support provided to schools
- costs
What webmasters need to do to make content accessible
Bringing all the website platforms together in one space to speak with staff provided an effective way for schools to make an informed decision. It also enabled these platforms to learn what the other is doing and get ideas how to provide better products for schools.
What people were saying
Participants were abuzz with their learning on social media. In fact the project hashtag trended on Twitter that day. You can see some of what they were saying on social media as follows:
cross posted at The Innovative Educator
Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.
