CEN workshop
“Curriculum for training ICT Professionals
in Universal Design”
Dónal Rice, Centre for Excellence in Universal
Design, NDA, Ireland
Barbara Schmidt-Belz, Fraunhofer FIT,
Germany
Content
– Introduction
•
•
•
•
What is Universal Design (UD)?
Why training of ICT professionals in UD?
What is a CEN workshop?
Why a CWA "UD-Prof"?
– Universal Design training for ICT professionals
•
•
•
Topics of the curriculum
Levels of granularity
Different Training requirements of ICT professionals
– Status and Outlook
What is good design?
What is bad design?
– http://www.hbo.com/curb-yourenthusiasm/episodes/7/62-vehicularfellatio/video/larry-on-perforation#/curb-yourenthusiasm/episodes/7/62-vehicularfellatio/video/larry-on-perforation/index.html/
Bad design excludes
Bad design excludes:
"At night I can see the writing, but by day I
find it impossible to use. I know there's
something written there but I don't know
exactly what it says."
Bad design excludes
“Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms”
“The only important
thing about design is
how it relates to people”
Victor Papanek (1970)
Good design enables
Enables doing everyday things…
Enables cooking…
Enables work…
Enables fun
What is Universal Design?
“Universal Design • means the design and composition of an environment so
that it may be accessed, understood and used by
persons of any age or size or having any particular
physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual ability
or disability
• means in relation to electronic systems, any electronicsbased process of creating products, services or
systems so that they may be used by any person”
–
- Irish Disability Act 2005
• “Universal design” shall not exclude assistive devices for
particular groups of persons with disabilities where this is
needed
- UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Why training of ICT professionals in UD?
– Levers to foster Universal Design and eInclusion
•
•
•
•
Raising awareness
Legal obligations( e.g. public administration services)
Guidelines (e.g. accessible web sites; public procurement)
Providing the necessary knowledge and skills to
stakeholders
– Major obstacles in companies against taking up UD
(http://www-edc.eng.cam.ac.uk/research/inclusivedesign/id1/surveyofbusiness/)
•
•
•
Lack of time and money
Lack of knowledge and tools
Not perceived as client demand
Why training of ICT professionals in UD?
– Long-term goal:
UD becomes part of professional education
•
•
Part of mainstream ICT study programmes (bachelor or
masters level)
Specialized masters level programme
– Short-term goal:
Vocational training in UD for ICT professionals
•
•
•
Raising awareness among companies and stakeholders
ICT professionals acquiring knowledge and skills
Companies become fit to take up UD
–> Curriculum for vocational training to be developed
What is a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA)?
– CEN – European Committee for Standardisation
– CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) is a new type
of publication
•
•
•
To satisfy market demands for a more flexible and timelier
alternative to the traditional European Standard (EN)
But still possesses the authority derived from the
openness of participation and agreement inherent in the
operations of CEN and its national members
Its openness distinguishes the CWA from documents
developed by industry consortia featuring limited
participation („de facto standards“).
Who?
– Chair: Dónal Rice, Centre for Excellence in Universal
Design, NDA, Ireland
– Vice chair: Barbara Schmidt-Belz, Fraunhofer FIT,
Germany
– Secretariat: Elizabeth O’Ferrall, National Standards
Authority of Ireland
– Based on a deliverable from the EU-funded project
dfa@inclusion
– Plus expert group of 20 core members, plus
contributions and comments from 50 organisations and
individuals
22
Why a CWA „Curriculum for training ICT
Professionals in Universal Design”?
– Experts set a frame by specifying the curriculum
and guidelines for the training
– Companies can offer courses referring to the
CWA as a specification
– Companies that get training for their employees
can feel confident that a CWA-conform course
has a good quality
– Certification procedures might be set up,
building on this curriculum.
Content
– Introduction
•
•
•
•
What is Universal Design (UD)?
Why training of ICT professionals in UD?
What is a CEN workshop?
Why a CWA "UD-Prof"?
– Universal Design training for ICT professionals
•
•
•
Topics of the curriculum
Levels of granularity
Different Training requirements of ICT professionals
– Status and Outlook
Curriculum for
Training ICT professionals in Universal Design
10 Topics:
Specification
Goals, Outcome:
(knowledge/skills/
competences)
Content, Methods,
Duration
Level of Granularity
Major
aspects
Details
Introduction
•Target user groups of UD
•User interfaces and UD
•User-centred design and UD
•UD for Web applications
•UD for Games and consumer
electronics
•Software architecture and UD
•Assistive technology
•Evaluation of UD
•Business cases for UD
•UD Policy and Legislation
>220 References
mapped to the
appropriate units
Topics of the curriculum (1/2)
Topic
Short description
Target User Groups of
Universal Design
Awareness of users with impairments; principles
and motivation for UD
User Interfaces and UD
UD of User Interfaces; new UI paradigms
supporting UD
Software Architecture and
UD
Impact of UD on software architecture decisions
Web applications and UD
Accessibility of Web content, authoring tools, user
agents and services; UD for Web applications
Consumer Electronics,
Games
Accessibility of devices for entertainment and
communication
Topics of the curriculum (2/2)
Topic
Short description
User-Centred Design process Principles of human-centred design process as a
and UD
frame for Design for All
Evaluation of UD
Evaluation of qualities of use, including
accessibility
Assistive Technology and UD Assistive technology; the role of AT in a UD
approach
Business Cases for UD
Business cases of implementing UD in a company
Ethics, Legislation, Privacy
and UD
Legal and ethical basis of UD; legal aspects of
user involvement in development and
personalization of services
Course structure and pre-conditions of
the different levels of granularity
– Introduction : The topic is
introduced and the most
important facts are given (15-30
mins)
– Major Aspects : All major
aspects of the topic are covered
but full details are avoided (4-12
hours)
– Details : The topic is covered
in sufficient detail as necessary
to apply the knowledge and
skills on the job (16 – 30 hours)
IN/ID - YYYY-MM-DD
General Understanding
of ICT
Introduction
Major Aspects
Special Professional
Skills
Details
Recommended
Resources
Title / Titre – 28
Typical training requirements of ICT professionals
Content
– Introduction
•
•
•
•
What is Universal Design (UD)?
Why training of ICT professionals in UD?
What is a CEN workshop?
Why a CWA "UD-Prof"?
– Universal Design training for ICT professionals
•
•
•
Topics of the curriculum
Levels of granularity
Different Training requirements of ICT professionals
– Status and Outlook
Status of CWA
– Initiative, business plan and initial draft came from the EUfundet project DfA@eInclusion
– Kickoff May 2009, business plan agreed, chair Dónal Rice,
NDA-IE, vice chair Barbara Schmidt-Belz, Fraunhofer FIT
– 1st phase of public commenting until 04.10.2009
– 15 Experts sent a total of 167 comments
– 2nd meeting Nov 2009, discussion and decisions
– 2nd phase of public commenting until 12. Jan 2010
– Experts sent a total of 238 comments
– 3rd meeting June/July 2010, discussion and decisions
– Final version agreed, to be published in Dec 2010.
Outlook
– With CEN – published December 2010
– Published as accessible PDF (world first for a
standards document?!)
– Promote, e.g., via networks such as EDeAN and
eAccess+
– Need for experience with this CWA



Courses compliant with this CWA
Certification procedures to be set up
Collecting experiences, contacts to trainers and ICT
professionals
– Need to review and update this CWA, based on
experiences
Thank you
for your attention and interest

Contacts:
Chair: Dónal Rice, NDA-IE, DJRice@nda.ie
Vice-Chair: Barbara Schmidt-Belz, Fraunhofer FIT, WebCC
http://www.universaldesign.ie/curriculum