Ohio State nav bar

Digital Accessibility Software Testing

What is Digital Accessibility Software Testing?

The digital accessibility team is trained and certified in evaluating software used for teaching and learning to ensure that it can be used by those with disabilities.

This evaluation is required for all future software purchases or custom-built tools that are not for personal use. 

Existing products may be grandfathered in by following the protocol the ADA Coordinator's office until their contracts are renewed.

Please note that the digital accessibility team will only test and evaluate software for it's accessibility conformance. 

This testing will not fix any issues that arise during the evaluation. 

The goal of testing is to identify what problem areas a software may have and create a compliance plan to bring the software in line with Ohio State's Minimum Digital Accessibility Standards.

 

What Do I Need?

  • Testing and evaluation of software can take up to 8-12 weeks. 
  • Requesters who ask for software evaluation must have a complete environment set up for us to test within. 
    • This means trial license keys, logins, virtual machine installations, etc. 
  • If the software to be tested is going to be integrated into Carmen/Canvas, please request the Carmen/Canvas team to add it to Carmen test course instance as the digital accessibility team does not have access to add it on it's own.

 

What Happens After Testing?

Once a test is finished, the results will be shared with both the requestor and the developer of the software.

Problems with accessibility conformance will be discussed by the digital accessibility team in a meeting between the requestor, and the developer(s).

A reasonable timeline will be decided upon to address the conformance concerns and an exception will be filed with the ADA Office by the digital accessibility team. 

Near the exception expiration date, if the software is to continue to remain in use, a new review will be made and any changes will be brought to the attention of the software user. 

At this point, a renewal of the exception may be necessary.

If a test does not identify problems with accessibility conformance, no further action will be necessary.

 

How Do I Start This Process?

When you are ready, you may request a software review with us.