Introduction to Digital Accessibility: Delivering inclusive digital content

• This course will be taught through a combination of live online teaching and online learning.
• There will be 3 x 3-hour live online workshops in weeks 1, 3 and 5 of the course. These workshops will be active and project-based and will focus on enhancing and providing a critical lens to the online activities. Each workshop will relate to one of the critical questions.
• In week 6 of the course, there will be a final 1 x 3-hour student presentation session.

Key digital content, reading, and activities will be delivered online, equating up to 20 hours of online contact. This includes video case studies, readings, online discussion, and reflective activities.

To be awarded this micro-credential you need to: 

1. Complete three (out of four) weekly blog posts and peer reflections on core concepts, readings and online content (250-words each) 60%
2. Complete a final presentation on the development of an accessibility resource (10 minutes including 3 minutes Q & A and feedback from classmates) 40%

A micro-credential is a small, stand-alone credential that recognises the achievement of specific skills, experience or knowledge. Typically micro-credentials:

1. Top up existing knowledge or skills so that people who are already qualified in an area can increase the range of their practice (e.g. work with electric vehicles), or
2. Provide stand-alone new knowledge or skills so that people who are not already qualified in an area can do a specific aspect of it (e.g. kitchen installation)

Micro-credentials were initially developed in 2015 in response to demand from industry for learners to be formally recognised for short bursts of formal learning that did not fit the model for a full qualification (either at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority threshold of 40 credits for a qualification or a university-defined qualification such as a diploma or degree).

By 2018 the New Zealand Qualifications Authority had begun to approve and register micro-credentials, and NZQA’s website now lists around 170 of them.

University micro-credentials are not the same as NZQA-registered micro-credentials. When you pass this course, instead of getting credits against your NZQA record of achievement, you will be awarded a pass against this course and 5 credits on your university academic transcript. You will be awarded a digital badge and a digital certificate.