California State University Ensures Web Accessibility for Visually and Hearing Impaired Students
California State University (CSU) has automated accessibility monitoring to ensure that its thousands of Web sites and millions of Web pages are ready for use by faculty, students, and staff who are visually impaired or deaf or hard of hearing.
Before being published, each of CSU’s Web sites, intranets, Web applications, and e-learning systems must be tested for compliance with Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 to ensure that they work correctly with screen readers, text readers, and voice-activated devices. CSU selected HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff to provide validation, remediation, and ongoing monitoring of the university’s Web sites for accessibility compliance.
"CSU strives to provide all of our students with an equal education, and providing accessible online services and materials is an important part of meeting this goal," said Cheryl Pruitt, Director, Accessible Technology Initiative at CSU.
CSU had been using an earlier version of HiSoftware’s accessibility compliance software for the past three years but recently reconsidered its options. According to Pruitt, the university evaluated four enterprise-level accessibility tools and once again chose HiSoftware.
HiSoftware worked with a group of CSU students to develop the CSU HiSoftware Implementation Plan, which includes standard testing requirements, wide tool deployment, and effective training. This plan helps to ensure that the university’s Web content will meet accessibility requirements as soon as it is published.
California State University serves over 400,000 students across 23 campuses, employs 43,000 faculty and staff, and has over half-a-million users of its Web sites.
More information about HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff is available at the HiSoftware site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].