Designing for Accessible Learning with Ally Software

Sonoma State University

Understanding teaching workflows and needs to inform the design of accessibility compliance support services.

Problem Statement

How to engage and partner with faculty to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance requirements for accessible classroom learning materials.

How might we understand faculty workflows related to the lifecycle of a class, and their development of learning materials, so that Educational Technology Services can design and deliver accessibility services with Ally that align with how faculty think and work, to accelerate the level of compliance.

Approach

Discovery RESEARCH

Understand how faculty approach the development and delivery of class materials over the course of an academic year or term.

  • Faculty Workshops map the lifecycle of a class, critical activities related to content development and maintenance, when these activities are happening, pain points and opportunities.

Facilitate a staff workshop to align and orient services delivery from the perspective of faculty

  • Service Co-creation Workshop using insights and information gained from faculty to map out the new Ally accessibility services and delivery roles for various departments.

  • Map and Blueprint Development aligning faculty activities across the academic year with support services delivery.  

  • Findings and Recommendations, a summary of the research and next steps

“I’m going to laminate this faculty journey map and use it for everything we do.”

— Ally Project Lead

Faculty Content

Faculty think about learning content in terms of function. Accessibility remediation is approached from the perspective of the content format.

Outcomes

Equipped with journey maps, pain points, insights and a prototype blueprint developed with faculty in a workshop, the Educational Technology group was able to

  • Actively participate in a workshop with representatives from different departments serving students with disabilities to map out how, where and when to align service touchpoints.

  • Complete blueprint layers with service touchpoints that align with faculty activities and needs.

  • Identify opportunity areas where Educational Technology and Disability Services can have the greatest impact in the remediation of non-accessible learning materials and influence the development of new accessible content ongoing.

Critical Success Factors

Power of Design is credited with:

  • Having extensive experience and expertise working with faculty and the staff that support them.

  • Working from an outside-in perspective across “silos,” administrative and academic departments.

  • Skillfully designing and facilitating workshops that have meaningful outcomes.

  • Bringing a Service Design approach (workshops and mapping) to help staff members understand faculty workflows and experiences.

  • Creating informative and visually appealing deliverables that live on beyond the duration of the consulting engagement.

Deliverables

  • Faculty experiences and lifecycle of a class journey mapping workshop

  • Staff accessibility services co-creation workshop

  • Journey maps

  • Service Blueprint

  • Findings and Reommendations

Services:

  • Workshop Design and Facilitation

  • Service Design