This program is tentative and subject to change.

While numerous studies have explored the integration of accessibility into computing courses, including software engineering courses, most focus on awareness-building or post-development WCAG compliance testing, often overlooking the shift-left principle, which advocates for embedding accessibility considerations early in the software development lifecycle, particularly during the design and planning stages. To address this gap, we redesigned a software engineering course to incorporate accessibility from the outset, beginning with requirements elicitation and UX design. Students received targeted training in using accessibility evaluation tools such as Stark and Axe for Figma during the design phase, followed by continued testing in the post-development (testing) phase using tools like AChecker and WAVE. We analyzed student projects to understand common accessibility issues detected and fixed across phases, and compared issue types across tools. Our findings affirm the value of a multi-tool, multi-phase approach: early design checks enable identification and remediation of low-effort, high-impact issues, reducing rework and freeing bandwidth for complex development-level fixes. This work provides practical insights for computing educators aiming to meaningfully integrate accessibility into core software engineering curricula and contributes to a broader cultural shift toward building accessible technologies by design.

This program is tentative and subject to change.

Thu 19 Feb

Displayed time zone: Central Time (US & Canada) change

15:40 - 17:00
Accessibility: the Main Quest Instead of a Side QuestPapers at Meeting Room 103-104
15:40
20m
Talk
Evaluating the Impact of Accessibility Testing Tool Usage Across the Software Development Lifecycle in Student Projects
Papers
Wajdi Aljedaani Saud Data & Artifical Intelligent Authority, Parthasarathy PD BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, Swaroop Joshi BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus
16:00
20m
Talk
Walking the Walk: Centering Students with Disabilities in Accessibility Education
Papers
Yasmine Elglaly Western Washington University, David Engebretson Western Washington University, Jesse Leaman Clemson University, Erin Howard Western Washington University
16:20
20m
Talk
You're on the Ball: Using Games to Explore Accessibility for Neurodivergent Users
Papers
Rachel F. Adler University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Bryan Rivera Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Devorah Kletenik pc