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The Status of Web Accessibility of Canadian Universities and Colleges: A Follow-up Study 10 Years Later
PROCEEDINGS

, Simon Fraser University, Canada ; , University of Alberta, Canada

AACE Award

EdMedia + Innovate Learning, in Victoria, Canada ISBN 978-1-939797-03-2 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC

Abstract

The accessibility to education for all individuals regardless of disability is a basic human right. Although various laws and policies in Canada recognize the rights for equal benefit and protection from discrimination for people with disabilities, these rights are not being recognized in university and college websites. This follow-up study in 2012 is based on two earlier studies in 2001 and 2002 that evaluate the web accessibility of all Canadian postsecondary institutions top-level front entry pages. This study surveyed 383 postsecondary institutions in Canada to evaluate their level of Web accessibility based on the WCAG 1.0 guidelines. It was found that 26.6% of front pages were free of Priority 1 errors, 1.8% were free of Priority 2 errors, and only 1.0% were free of both Priority 1 and Priority 2 errors. Although there is some improvement of Priority 1 errors in 2012 (26.6%) compared to 2002 (19.9%) and 2001 (14.9%), a majority of Canadian postsecondary webpages remain inaccessible.

Citation

Zap, N. & Montgomerie, C. (2013). The Status of Web Accessibility of Canadian Universities and Colleges: A Follow-up Study 10 Years Later. In J. Herrington, A. Couros & V. Irvine (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia 2013--World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 2498-2507). Victoria, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 19, 2024 from .

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