First university backed web accessibility course for professionals launched

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Tuesday, 6 March 2012 14:23pm

We have today launched Australia’s first university-backed web accessibility course, offering industry professionals the practical skills needed to meet international accessibility standards, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

A joint venture by Media Access Australia and the University of South Australia, the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility aims to meet the need for technical and managerial staff with web accessibility expertise, as recently spurred on by the Australian Government’s commitment to making government websites accessible as part of the National Transition Strategy (NTS). 

As a result of the NTS, Federal Government agencies will adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level ‘AA’ by December 2014 and state agencies should adhere to level ‘A’ by December this year.

"The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility was just what I needed to improve my performance as a web developer for a government agency,” said course attendee Julie Grundy, Learning Media Developer for the Department of Training and Workforce Development. “It got me up-to-date with the latest accessibility guidelines and showed me how to do things like caption videos, write up audits and make recommendations to development staff."

A successful pilot of the six-week online course was run last year and attended by government and agency professionals nationally. It is run by Dr Denise Wood of the University of South Australia and Media Access Australia’s Dr Scott Hollier.

The first course for 2012 will run from 16 April – 25 May. Visit the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility webpage for information about the course or to register.


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