Principles for Procuring Accessible Education Technology

At D2L, we strive to change the way the world learns. Too often though we see education technology that is not accessible for learners with disabilities. That’s why, when we created Brightspace, one of our core questions was “how can we make this an accessible platform for all students.” By asking this question before programming, we were able to create a plan for accessibility. In 2016, D2L was the first learning technology provider (and second partner overall) recognised by the National Federation for the Blind’s (NFB) Strategic Nonvisual Access Partnership program.

Now, we want to help move the needle on accessibility even further forward. Our new Guiding Principles for Procurement is intended to provide school districts and institutions of higher education with questions and expectations for their technology vendors in the procurement process.

The principles are simple but meaningful:

1. Require accessibility standards
2. Ask for transparency and validation
3. Reserve alternatives for last resorts
4. Have policies for user-generated content

We recognise that the technology industry, while focused on addressing customer needs, often waits for market vocalisation before building necessary functionality. By bringing accessibility questions and expectations into the procurement process in an explicit manner, schools and institutions of higher education can change the way every student learns.

You can read D2L’s Accessibility of Education Technology: Guiding Principles for Procurement now.