Web Accessibility Evaluation Training – at AccessU!

This year, Knowbility’s John Slatin Access U training institute launches a professional training program on Web accessibility evaluation!

The Web accessibility evaluation curriculum is offered May 11-12 (with post-conference sessions at AccessU on May 13th.) It’s all happening in Austin, Texas at St. Edward’s University. Registration is open!

Our own Whitney Quesenbery, together with Sharron Rush, and Paul Sherman, describe the background and purpose of the curriculum in the latest UPA Voice. They ask

Are you one of the growing numbers of usability professionals who is interested in accessibility? Looking to expand your usability skills to include evaluating web sites for accessibility? Required to ensure compliance to national standards like “Section 508″ or the new international standard from the W3C, Web Content Authoring Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0?

If you answer yes, you may want to head over to the track description for more details, or dive into the pricing and registration page for your planning needs!

We are excited about the program; it is a great opportunity to extend your usability knowledge with accessibility knowledge – or vice versa! As the article in the UPA Voice emphasizes, attendees should carry home

• An expanded “toolkit” of professional practice that includes accessibility.
• An understanding of the standards, guidelines, and US and international laws that apply to accessible information technology.
• A set of tools and benchmarks to gauge success in the implementation of accessible design goals from a user perspective.
• The skills needed to accurately assess and report on web application compliance to standards and best practices in accessible web design.
• The proof to their companies that they have gotten the training they need to do all this.

We encourage you to spread the news about this exciting event on your blog, in your emails, or on your Twitter account. You know that @stcaccess will announce any updates to the program! You can also find news on the UsabilityBlog, where the first announcement of this event was made in the blogosphere.

The Web Accessibility Evaluation Certificate program advisory board is led by Whitney Quesenbery and Paul Sherman (UPA past-presidents) and Sharron Rush (Knowbility), and includes Cindy Lu (UPA Member), Karen Mardahl (STC AccessAbility SIG), Amanda Nance (UPA Board of Directors), Mike Paciello (The Paciello Group), Ginny Redish (Redish & Associates), Sarah Swierenga (MSU Usabilty and Accessibilty Center, UPA representative to TEITAC), Gregg Vanderheiden (The Trace Center), and Kate Walser (SRA and member of TEITAC). (Updated names of advisory board 1 March 2009.)