Re: Seeking feedback on IAAP certification roadmap

Hi all,

In my opinion Š.

Coming from a part of the world (Scandinavia) without a string tradition for
such certification, I find it difficult to understand what an accessibility
certification program would add in terms of improved accessibility. In other
areas ­ coaching, for example ­ we have seen pseudo-certification programmes
where the main reasons appears to be to attempt to keep others out of the
business and to generate money from training and certification. Surely, this
is not what we want in the accessibility community.

In my more than 20 years in the field of digital accessibility, I have very
rarely met people who claimed to be accessibility experts without the proper
skills and insight. Most practitioners that I have come across have been
extremely knowledgeable, and many of us have been extensively involved in
policy, legislative and guideline development, formal audits and developer
support. 

Surely, we need to ensure that accessibility becomes part of the corriculum
where it¹s relevant. However, that would involve course development in
collaboration with relevant academic institutions rather than a private
certification programme. It seems bizarre that it is possible to complete
degree programmes in computer science, information science, digital design
and similar without having taken a proper course on accessibility.

Venligst/Kind regards

Lars
----
Lars Ballieu Christensen
Rådgiver/Adviser, Ph.D., M.Sc., Sensus ApS
Specialister i tilgængelighed/Accessibility Consultants
Tel: +45 48 22 10 03 ­ Mobil: +45 40 32 68 23 - Skype: Ballieu
Mail: lbc@sensus.dk ­ Web: www.sensus.dk <http://www.sensus.dk/>  &
www.robobraille.org <http://www.robobraille.org/>

Vi arbejder for et tilgængeligt og rummeligt informationssamfund
Working for an accessible and inclusive information society

From:  Paul Bohman <paul.bohman@deque.com>
Date:  tirsdag den 8. april 2014 19.15
To:  <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Subject:  Seeking feedback on IAAP certification roadmap
Resent-From:  <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Resent-Date:  Tue, 08 Apr 2014 17:16:20 +0000

Cross posted request for feedback:

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) needs
your feedback on our roadmap for accessibility certification. Here is the
roadmap as it stands now:

http://www.accessibilityassociation.org/content.asp?contentid=163

We are still in the early stages of designing the certification, so your
feedback is most valuable now, before we commit to a certain path.

Here are some questions to consider as you read the roadmap:
1. What do you think of the roadmap overall?
2. What would you do to improve our roadmap?
3. 
4. What do you think of the levels of certification outlined in the roadmap?
5. 
6. Are there any broad Knowledge Domains and Roles that we have left off
that should be included?
7. Do you like our list of Digital Accessibility areas of certification?
Should we add to or subtract from this list? (For example, one person
commented that we should add gaming to the list.)
8. Do you like the idea of certifying for these areas separately, in a
modular approach as we have done? (See the section on Referencing IAAP
Credentials for an explanation of how this might work)
9. 
10. Do you like the 3 year period for certification? Would you make it
shorter (2 years) or longer (5 years)?
11. What kind of certification assessment would you create? Keep in mind
that it has to be a valid and meaningful test of the right kind of
competencies, it must be challenging enough that novices could not pass it
without first studying or gaining experience,  it must be scalable (not too
burdensome to administer or grade/score the assessment), and translatable
into other languages.
12. 
13. Once certification becomes available, do you think you would go through
the process to become certified? Why or why not?
14. What else should we consider as we move forward?
To give feedback, you can reply directly to this email, or you can send an
email to the certification committee: CC@accessibilityassociation.org

Paul Bohman, PhD
Chair, IAAP Certification Committee
Director of Training
Deque Systems, Inc
www.deque.com <http://www.deque.com>
703-225-0380, ext.121 <tel:703-225-0380%2C%20ext.121>