The Paciello Group announces collaboration with the W3C on the launch of the new WAI "Introduction to Web Accessibility" course

CLEARWATER, Fla., Dec. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its ongoing effort to ensure an equitable experience online, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has taken a substantial step forward in educating the population on accessibility. It has partnered with the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO IITE) to create a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) based on the WAI open curricula. 

The edX-hosted course, "Introduction to Web Accessibility," will teach participants the fundamentals of web accessibility as well as why it's so important to aim for an accessible web experience. Trainers include experts from W3C Member organizations worldwide, including The Paciello Group, which was selected to provide the educational content for the "People and Digital Technologies" module. 

"Building skills and capacities are equally important to the implementation of digital accessibility as technical standards. This course provides the fundamental skills that are increasingly important across digital professions today and in the future," said Shadi Abou-Zahra, W3C Accessibility Strategy and Technology Specialist.

TPG has a long history of active participation in several W3C working groups and intends to continue to provide support for ongoing W3C initiatives like this MOOC. At TPG, we embody the sentiment "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and work tirelessly to promote, support, and educate individuals everywhere about the criticality of digital accessibility. 

"We've been a longtime collaborator with the W3C and our vision of creating a more inclusive digital future aligned closely on this project. TPG is committed to raising awareness of digital accessibility and have found such training is critical to achieving our goals," said Kathy Wahlbin, VP Enterprise Accessibility & General Manager of The Paciello Group. 

"Our focus was on people and digital technologies; it's what we know best. Individuals who take this module will be able to learn about the broad diversity of people with disabilities and the different types of assistive technologies and adaptive strategies. They will also recognize the impact of design decisions on accessible user experiences and begin to explain some of the interdependencies between components of web accessibility."

About The Paciello Group

TPG is a full-service accessibility consulting group and a leading provider of accessibility monitoring and management software solutions. Our accessibility consulting services include everything from accessibility testing and evaluation, to VPATs®, to user testing and research. TPG's accessibility management platform, ARC (Accessibility Resource Center), is a central point of access for accessibility tools and services that support every element of an organization's accessibility strategy.

SOURCE The Paciello Group