Download Advanced Internet Services and Applications – web standards and

Curriculum guidelines for Masters level programme in Module name
2009
Advanced Internet Services and Applications – web standards
and compliance
Description of purpose
This module introduces web accessibility to mainstream computer science students.
It is based on an existing Masters programme in Media Informatics.
“How can I justify the extra cost for such a small percentage of the
public?
The answer is: Google. Looking at my Web site logs, it is clear that at
least half of the visitors find the sites via Google. And what Google
sees is exactly what a blind person sees. Google is a blind user—a
billionaire blind user, with millions of friends who listen to its every
word. If a blind user can't see your site, neither can Google, and your
site will suffer.”
Stephen Pemberton, Interactions vol 10:1, p44, 2003
Qualifications structure and credit level
Credits:15 ECTS, Masters level
Pre-requisites: Students are expected to have pre-requisite skills, for example in:
Java, XML, HTML and CSS.
Aims and objectives of module

To provide the student with an understanding of the social, economic, political
and technological issues of web accessibility

To equip the student with practical problem solving skills to design and develop
websites and web applications to meet current web standards (eg W3C: HTML,
XHTML, CSS) and accessibility guidelines (eg WCAG 2.0)

To provide an understanding of the relationship of accessible tools (e.g.
authoring tools and content management systems) and user agents (e.g. web
browsers)

To provide an understanding of formats (e.g. XML, RDF and XPATH), their
parsers (e.g. SAX, DOM and STAX) and techniques (e.g. JavaScript and
semantic web) used in building accessible websites and web applications.

To demonstrate the advantages of using standards (e.g. cost and effort saving)
by presenting appropriate use cases.

To equip the student to subsequently be able to address technical issues of the
underlying structures and tools which support the development of accessible web
applications
Design for All@eInclusion Curriculum Guidelines see http://www.dfaie.org
Curriculum guidelines for Masters level programme in Module name
2009
Student-centred learning outcomes
The aim of this module is to provide the student with: the technical skills and
knowledge to design and develop accessible websites, technologies and
applications, these techniques and technical solutions for web accessibility, include:
o
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA)
o
Techniques for WCAG, ATAG, and UAAG
o
Evaluation and Report Language (EARL)
By taking this module the student will understand: the application of web standards
and accessibility guidelines to the development process. The student learns state of
the art mark-up languages used in website and application development, the related
parsers and tools and how to aggregate them in a way to produce compliant and
accessible results.
This module consists of: theory and current issues in web accessibility, practical
design and development, and evaluation activities.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the module the student will have the knowledge to be
able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of web accessibility and the role
of web authoring tools, content management systems and user agents in relation
to the needs of people with and without disabilities, including users of assistive
technologies, ageing, people with cognitive impairments or low levels of literacy.

Critically examine current national, EU and international issues of eInclusion and
the legal framework of web accessibility

Demonstrate a critical appreciation of current web standards and accessibility
guidelines
On successful completion of the module the student will have the skills to be able to:

Apply a suitable systematic design process to the development of accessible
pages, accessible features, or elements of web applications:
o
Mark-up languages and related parsers and processing tools
o
Content Management Systems
o
Semantic web technologies
o
Back-end technologies e.g. web server and middleware
o
User modeling techniques

Design for All@eInclusion Curriculum Guidelines see http://www.dfaie.org
Curriculum guidelines for Masters level programme in Module name
2009

Define, select and apply a suitable evaluation programme using automated and
user testing, and report on the results

Work effectively in a small team environment to achieve team goals
Content (syllabus list)
 Theoretical and practical knowledge:
o Building up advanced Internet services and applications with Web
Standards
o Usable and accessible interfaces: desktop and mobile platforms
 Manage and develop complex on-line applications
o Workflow procedures: content creation, interface development and
user testing
o Content management systems, repositories and eb publishing
frameworks
 Competences for the business world
o Complex Web portals
o e-commerce applications
o Web Services
o Mobile devices
Methods of achieving learning outcomes
The majority of the course will consist of lectures and interactive learning sessions
using real examples of good and bad practice, as well as the execution of small
exercises to learn techniques and methodologies.

Individual and group work to assess common barriers and best practice in
developments of standard based websites and applications

Demonstrations of tools and frameworks and practical how to’s

Group work to apply standards in the development of small exercises and
projects.

Group work to conduct a final project.
Learning, teaching and assessment strategy
The students’ work should be assessable and gradable. The practical nature of this
course can be assessed through the completion of 100% course work on different
aspects of the development of standard based websites and applications:
 50% series of mini-projects and exercises during the course

50% of the marks are awarded to the final project.
Sample activity
These mini- projects consist mainly of tasks targeted to read, process and write
mark-up documents (e.g. XML, HTML, CSS, RDF and EARL) on the other side these
tasks contain the evaluation, customization and repair of the documents as well as
producing reports of the results.
Design for All@eInclusion Curriculum Guidelines see http://www.dfaie.org
Curriculum guidelines for Masters level programme in Module name
2009
Set of mini-projects, presented along the initial classes. Final marks based upon the
projects
 Groups of 2-3 students per project
 Results presented as an Eclipse project (end of semester)
o Development in Java
o Combined with Open Source libraries
 Queries via mailing list
Use of ECLIPSE IDE platform and other open source software
Use of Video clips to show how different people with disabilities use the internet
Reading Material
Caldwell, B., Cooper, M., Reid, L.R., Vanderheiden, G. (2008): Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Available from http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
Chisholm, W., May, M. (2008): Universal design for web applications that reach
everyone. O’Reilly.
Harper, S., Yesilada, Y. (2008): Web accessibility. Springer.
Lawton Henry, S. (2007): Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design.
Lulu.com Available online at http://www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/index.html
Lloyd, I. (2008): Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML & CSS.
SITEPOINT; Edition 2 (30 Nov 2008).
Thatcher, J., Burks, M., Heilemann, C., Lawton Henry, S. (2006): Web Accessibility:
Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance. Friends of ED, 2006.
Web Accessibility Initiative: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ This W3C website includes
material which is in the process of being updated to reflect WCAG 2.0, accessibility
using mobile devices, and the development of ARIA
Additional links to online resources
Opera web standards curriculum:
http://www.opera.com/company/education/curriculum/
RNIB, see also links to Design and build accessible websites, and the Accessible
website directory:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/PROFESSIONALS/WEBACCESSIBILITY/Pages/web_accessi
bility.aspx
Web Accessibility In Mind: http://www.webaim.org/intro/ For list of blogs by
accessibility experts see http://webaim.org/blog/blog-roundup/ Webaim also provide
the free accessibility tool WAVE see http://wave.webaim.org/
Zen garden, the beauty in CSS design: http://www.csszengarden.com/
Design for All@eInclusion Curriculum Guidelines see http://www.dfaie.org