[Athen] Questions for Web Accessibility Coordinator Position

[Mary Heid]

Another option is to give the candidate the assignment as a follow-up to the first interview. Provide them a specific site, ask them to evaluate a portion of it. You can give them some portions to choose from or leave it wide open and have them choose. Ask them to include a write up of their findings along with a written narrative of their process including how they decided which tool or tools to use. That will give you a good indication of how they tackle the task, their thought process, their communication ability, etc. You might want to give them a deadline for turn around and a few more constraints to define the task and so you get the information you’re seeking from the candidate.

It seems a take-home exercise would be more in line with how one would work on the job, rather than testing their ability to perform under the already stressful situation of an interview. Unless that’s what you’re looking to know.

Best,
Mary Heid
University of Nevada, Reno
mheid at unr.edu<mailto:mheid at unr.edu>

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Steph Rogers
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 7:47 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Questions for Web Accessibility Coordinator Position

Robert,

Have you tried Axe by Deque Systems<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deque.com%2Faxe%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cmheid%40unr.edu%7Cb6a07b232999482b644208d63f407d3a%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=UngMLi1WcLc8VFRObqMRxIpZ2xC8UJcQn%2FI1rzO8SmY%3D&reserved=0>? It’s an extension you can add on your web browser (Chrome and Firefox).

Maybe have a few different web evaluation tools available, but ask the applicant what tool they use or how they would evaluate? Instead of saying you have to use this specific tool. Let them choose what tool best suits them, but making sure they meet your expectations for the position. Just an idea!

Kind Regards,

Steph Rogers
Instructional Designer
Center for eLearning and Connected Environments
University of Central Oklahoma
Phone: 405-974-3402
Email: srogers18 at uco.edu<mailto:srogers18 at uco.edu>



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 9:21 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [Athen] Questions for Web Accessibility Coordinator Position

Good morning:

We are currently interviewing applicants for a new web accessibility coordinator position, who will be responsible for evaluating web content for accessibility, as well as advising people around campus on creating accessible documents and forms.

One of the tasks we would like to ask them to do for us is to use a web accessibility checker (such as WebAIM's Wave) to check a site for accessibility.  This would be an expectation of the position, but we would also like to ask them to do this during the interview and let us know what they are finding as they're doing it, so that we can get an idea of their attention to detail and thoroughness.  My only concern about this is I am not sure of how accessible this tool is to screen reader users.  After running it myself, I was able to check the "Details" tab to see all of the errors and how many there were, but I was not able to read the icons that show where exactly the errors are on the web page.  Is this tool not accessible to the blind?  Is there a tool that is more accessible to the blind?  If we have an applicant who is low vision, is it fair to ask them to evaluate a site for accessibility using a tool such as this?  When I evaluate a web site for accessibility, I simply try to navigate it and make sure I can access everything, but this is certainly not comprehensive enough for a formal position as it is going to be necessary to know exactly where the errors are and how to fix them to comply with the WCAG standards.

Any feedback on the best way to evaluate a site for accessibility, on the accessibility of WebAIM Wave and the process of someone of low vision performing this task would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Robert

--
Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu<mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu>
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302
Phone: 937-229-2066
Fax: 937-229-3270
Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)
Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgo.udayton.edu%2Flearning&data=01%7C01%7Cmheid%40unr.edu%7Cb6a07b232999482b644208d63f407d3a%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=eFfaRnGqgF8xBbPsSx530MNHsf5R6PCNzNRciWI09uE%3D&reserved=0>
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