Structural Supports for Improved Accessibility

Jason Carroll Updated by Jason Carroll

eCornell is committed to building web accessibility into our sites and technologies at a foundational level. Internal review processes including Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT) documentation, vetting of third-party tools, and QA efforts set us up for success in creating accessible experiences across eCornell. While underlying structures undergo these evaluations, accessibility is ultimately dependent on implementation. As an organization eCornell strives to build a culture of accessibility that illustrates the shared responsibility of integrating web accessibility throughout our learning experiences and the ways we leverage technologies.

VPATs are updated regularly by an internal cross-functional team (including Product, Tech, and QA) for all of our sites including Canvas, our marketing site (WWW), OnDemand app, and Keynotes app. VPATs document our conformance with the level of WCAG standards determined by Cornell University, according to several criteria broken down into categories based on the web accessibility principles “Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust”. You can find VPAT documentation here.

As of 2019, third-party tools that require eCornell licenses undergo a vetting process initiated by the Statement of Need submitted by the Instructional Technologies Team (ITG), prompting accessibility review by the Web Accessibility team at Cornell IT. Licensed and approved third-party tools that are integrated into our courses go through this process; any tools that are linked out to may not be validated by this team unless brought to their attention. Even with vetted third-party tools, we should take care to ensure that implementation of these tools remains accessible. Tools often have accessibility guides in their own Knowledge Bases. For example, Adobe offers a variety of accessibility resources and tools.

Overall, it is imperative that accessibility is considered from the outset of any project; our existing structures provide the basis for accessibility compliance of our external-facing sites and all default templates, and designers should take care to consider accessibility when applying any adaptations, modifications, or customizations. For example, our base course template has been reviewed for accessibility, but source materials provided by faculty or other partners may not have been; requesting any necessary updates to the materials and maintaining the integrity of the course template are good steps towards creating an accessible course. Please consult our other accessibility articles as well as any accessibility documentation from third-party providers for guidance with this effort. 

Review Cornell’s general web accessibility best practices and resources.
Check out the Cornell Web Accessibility Testing Process.

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