[CATO] [EXTERNAL] RE: Help with testing Chromebooks for accessibility

Tue Jun 13 12:13:28 PDT 2023

Hi Zach and all,

The IT Division at SBCTC let us know that the agency does not use Chromebooks.

This morning I spoke with a woman named Sue Wright who works for SETC, the Special Education Technical Center. This Center is grant-funded through the OSPI, Washington State's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and SETC is located on Central Washington University's campus.

Anyway, SETC lends out Chromebooks as a part of their lending library. They just recently ordered them, yet Sue stated that and have not yet evaluated Chromebooks for accessibility and compatibility with Assistive Technology. She also explained that the CWU IT department is against institutional purchases for Chromebooks as their lifespan is 4-ish years at best and IT views Chromebooks as disposable machines. Additionally, she explained that their organization views Chromebooks more as an access point to the Internet for those using their lending library, rather than to meet the functionality of a true computer since storage and running various applications on Chromebooks can be an issue. This part of our conversation caught my attention because my thought is that college students are more likely to need all the various functionality a more traditional laptop offers, especially the ability to save files and run applications.

Lastly, Sue mentioned Bruce McClanahan at the WA State School for the Blind. I am betting money you are already aware of this name! Anyway, according to Sue, Bruce has done quite a lot of training on Chromebooks and has put together documentation. I have not seen any of this, but wonder if you think it would be fruitful to request these materials?

Lastly, I am curious if the UW IT Accessible Technology Services might have any useful information for us/CATO about Chromebooks. If you have not already chatted with Dan or Terrill, I would be happy to reach out and ask around.

[Title: SBCTC logo - Description: Compass]

Monica M. Olsson (she/her/hers)

Policy Associate – Accessible IT Coordinator

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

•Email: molsson at sbctc.edu<mailto:molsson at sbctc.edu> • Phone: 360-704-3922

The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

[cid:ce3ab362-aeb7-4bc7-83d7-d0cb20deb9ea]<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/321a279c65664c04a18fa34a96e959ab@sbctc.edu?anonymous&ep=signature>                Book time to meet with me<https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/321a279c65664c04a18fa34a96e959ab@sbctc.edu?anonymous&ep=signature>
________________________________
From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> on behalf of Lattin, Zachary via CATO <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 11:35 AM
To: Vicki Walton <vwalton at sbctc.edu>; Distribution List for the Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Lattin, Zachary <ZLattin at clark.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATO] [EXTERNAL] RE: Help with testing Chromebooks for accessibility

[Sent from outside SBCTC]

HI Vickie,

Thanks for the offer.  To your knowledge, does SBCTC currently use them in any capacity?  I know SBCTC isn’t a college but I can include them in my update today if you get back to me.

Thank you,

--Zach

From: Vicki Walton <vwalton at sbctc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2023 2:50 PM
To: Distribution List for the Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Lattin, Zachary <ZLattin at clark.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: Help with testing Chromebooks for accessibility

CAUTION: This email originated from outside Clark College. Do not click links or open attachments unless you validate the sender and know the content is safe. If you suspect this is phishing forward to phishing at clark.edu<mailto:phishing at clark.edu> or contact the helpdesk at x2425 or email helpdesk at clark.edu.

Hi Zach,

I have no experience with Chromebooks. If you think I could be of further help, please feel free to reach out.

[Title: SBCTC logo - Description: Compass]Vicki Walton

Pronouns: they/them

Web Accessibility Specialist/IT Quality Assurance Tester

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

vwalton at sbctc.edu•<mailto:vwalton at sbctc.edu•> office: 360-704-4343• website: www.sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/default.aspx>

Accessibility allows us to tap into everyone’s potential- Debra Ruh

From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Lattin, Zachary via CATO
Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 10:30 AM
To: cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Lattin, Zachary <ZLattin at clark.edu<mailto:ZLattin at clark.edu>>
Subject: [CATO] Help with testing Chromebooks for accessibility

[Sent from outside SBCTC]

Good morning CATO,

Do you have time to help me (and all of us,) out?  Want to get your hands dirty with some assistive technology?

I am being asked to evaluate Chromebooks for use in  Clark College's IT infrastructure.  I am feeling a lot of pressure, especially given Chromebooks' history of being inaccessible and given the scope of what an actually thorough and professional evaluation like this involves.  Because Chromebook accessibility or lack thereof impacts all of us, I figured I would ask CATO for help.  At my CIO"s recommendation, I recently reached out to several institutions who use Chromebooks and it seems those institutions were unaware of or didn't test for accessibility before adopting Chromebooks.  Here is a rough outline of how I plan to go about this testing:

  *   Research existing Chromebook accessibility documentation and find recent user stories from AT users who regularly use the devices
  *   Verify that all built-in assistive technologies are compatible with Google suite, and adequate and functional for a user in 2023
  *   Test out screen magnification and make sure it is adequate
  *   Test switch access and insure compatibility with common hardware switches
  *   Test voice-control (Dragon-like functionality) and insure that user experience is consistent.  Test with device mic and some common headset mics.
  *   Verify that using Chromevox is comparable to using a screen-reader like Jaws or NVDA and verify that the Google Suite is functionally accessible with Chromevox
  *   Verify claims that braille support (including UEB and Nemeth support) has been improved and works consistently across the Google suite of apps.  Verify that braille support works with common braille display hardware.
  *   Finalize an assistive technology training plan for AT users who have Chromebooks and wish to be trained to access Clark resources with them.
  *   Align all of the above with Revised Sec. 508 functional accessibility requirements or with WCAG wherever applicable

Here are a couple of asterisks:

  *   Clark is not considering the arm architectured Chromebooks, only the Intel I5s and i7s
  *   At this time Clark is not interested in touchscreen functionality

I haven't brought this up with CATO leadership or asked to have it on the agenda or anything, just feeling stressed and asking for some support.  I could use any help at all with this!  I'd be glad to chat about it at the June CATO meeting though.

Thank you,

--Zach

Campus IT Accessibility Coordinator and Assistive Technology Specialist

IT Services

Phone (call or text): (360) 992-2016

Email: zlattin at clark.edu<mailto:zlattin at clark.edu>

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