COURSE INFORMATION

DATES AVAILABLE

Intake 1: February 
Intake 2: June
Intake 3: October

CONTACT HOURS

Flexible – 10 hours per week recommended

MODE

Online (international)

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Technical knowledge of web design or development

FEES

$2,400 + GST

LOCATION

Online

Course Overview

With the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility, get the essentials needed to achieve compliance with international best practice in accessibility, the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Endorsed by governments including Australia, Canada, US and the EU, WCAG 2.1 is now an international ISO standard.

This university-accredited online qualification, jointly conducted by W3C Chapter Centre for Inclusive Design and the University of South Australia, is a fully assessed six-week program that covers both accessibility principles and techniques.

Successful attendees will receive a graded professional certificate and the course can be counted towards further university studies.

Not available to international students studying in Australia under a student visa

student learning on a computer

Why the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility?

At the end of the course students should have the ability to:

  • Design and develop accessible websites, including the:
    • Development of accessible cascading style sheets (CSS)
    • Creation of accessible multimedia content using captions and transcriptions
    • Development of accessible forms and CAPTCHAs
    • Use of attributes to make images and tables accessible
    • Enabling of web authoring tools
  • Audit websites against international accessibility standards, the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), recently adopted by the Australian Government
  • Understand the principles of usability and accessible web development, and the different ways that people with disabilities access the web
  • Understand accessibility legislation and standards compliance in Australia and internationally

 

person with cogs

Who should apply?

 

The program is highly recommended for

  • Web developers
  • Web managers
  • Web designers
  • Testers and web auditors
  • Usability specialists
  • Content managers

Course structure

The course will be delivered fully online over a six-week period, with students taking part in online discussions with lecturers and students and participating in practical activities.

The course includes a series of self-paced learning modules. The course is pre-recorded.  Students will participate in a chat forum throughout the course where course coordinators are active in the discussions.  

Participants have freedom with their time spent on the course, however, it is recommended participants commit 10-12 hours per week to read modules and participate in activities. There is one assessment every fortnight.

 

Learning modules

  • Web accessibility: importance and benefits
  • Policy and legislative frameworks
  • Practical guidelines
  • More advanced techniques for web accessibility
  • Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0
  • Future standards, including HTML 5 and WAI-ARIA

Assessment

Assessment tasks are embedded within modules. There is one assessment every fortnight.

  • Project analysis report 1 (25%): User experience and WAI-ARIA (Individual Assessment)
  • Project analysis report 2 (35%): Enabling accessibility tools and captioning (Individual Assessment)
  • Major project (40%): Creating a prototype accessible website and testing compliance (Group Assessment)

How to apply

Register your details and make payment through our online portal.

Apply Now

What others are saying

The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility was a fantastic course with awesome instructors! This course is a great fit for anyone new to web accessibility or those with many years under their belt. Very timely considering our move to make Government of Canada websites more accessible. I would take a follow-up course in a heartbeat!

Roch Lambert

Web Standards Centre of Expertise

Organisation: Canadian Government

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Roch Lambert

Web Standards Centre of Expertise
Canadian Government

This course gave me the skills I needed to dive straight in and perform an accessibility audit on my organisation's website, along with the opportunity to discuss, clarify and address issues and concerns with other students, which helped me move forward.

Kaylene Rutherford

Online Manager

Organisation: Australian Securities and Investments Commission

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Kaylene Rutherford

Online Manager
Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility was just what I needed to improve my performance as a web developer for a government agency. 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. The online teaching and forums for discussion made it easy to fit in around my work schedule, too.

Julie Grundy

Learning Media Developer

Organisation: Department of Training and Workforce Development

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Julie Grundy

Learning Media Developer
Department of Training and Workforce Development

This course is ideally positioned for front-end developers, web managers and even accessibility practitioners to gain an understanding of WCAG 2.0 and the practical application of the guidelines.

Gary Barber

User Experience Consultant

Organisation: radhrc

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Gary Barber

User Experience Consultant
radhrc

The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility is a great course with knowledgeable and experienced coordinators. It doesn’t just focus on developing technical capabilities. It explains accessibility in the broader context of policy, legislation and most importantly the real, practical social impact. In implementing the NTS, we are often required to play many roles and this course really helps put it all in perspective.

Accessibility Policy Officer

Australian Government

portait

Accessibility Policy Officer

Australian Government

The course … gave me a deeper appreciation of the challenges assistive technology users face when using the Internet. The opportunity to share experiences with other students and understand how they are resolving accessibility issues was invaluable. The best thing about the course for me and my career is that I can say that my web accessibility knowledge has been independently assessed by respected academic and industry specialists. I will now unashamedly include the title Web Accessibility...

Assistant Director Web and Intranet Section

Australian Government

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Assistant Director Web and Intranet Section

Australian Government