So What Does It Cost? Case Studies of Campus Web Accessibility (Note: This session will be streamed...

7/27/2019 So What Does It Cost? Case Studies of Campus Web Accessibility (Note: This session will be streamed live for the online audience only and will not be recorded.) (176931294)

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So What does it Cost? Case Studiesof Campus Web Accessibility

Cyndi Rowland

Jonathan Whiting

Utah State University



NCDAE.org/goals

Important note

• We are not economists – but we are using

data from one (Linda Goetze, who

unexpectedly retired, or would be here).

• Time supports data summaries only, but if you

want to see more, come talk to us.

• Monograph will be out early 2014



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Gaining Online Accessibility to

Learning through Self-study



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• Ready resources

– Recommended Practice

Indicators for Institutional

Accessibility

– Action Paper

– Benchmarking and Planning

Tool

• Self-study can be used during

cycles of reaffirmation

• Participate this fall!

– Cheat Sheets

– Articles, Templates, Resources

• Resources under development

– Institutional Blueprints

• Even more directed resources

•

Improved tool functionality

– Cost Case Studies

– Accreditation Blueprints

• Aide transition for Regionals

• Aide use by institutions during cycles of

continuous quality

improvement• Consortium Partners

– National Center onDisabilities and Access toEducation(NCDAE)

– WesternInterstateCommissionfor Higher Education (WICHE)

– Keeping WebAccessibility inMind (WebAIM)

– SouthernRegional EducationBoard (SREB)

Michian VirtualCommunit ColleesAssociation MVCCA



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The case studies will NOT yield

the cost of web accessibility

They will describe costs or benefits

associated with different practices,

on different campuses



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Cost Case Studies: Methods

• Identify Institutions to participate: Variations in size, 2and 4 year, regions of the U.S., stage of accessibility

• Identify key participants and dates for focus groups

• Focus group protocol: purpose and issues discussed

• Identify in-depth issue for case study

• Collect time and cost data in 2011 and 2012

• Write and share case studies with participants

• Determine institutional anonymity


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Results

• There were wide variations in the amount of time and cost data provided after the focusgroups

• Some provided a very limited snapshot of thestaff and other institutional resources used forthe in-depth issue

• Others provided very detailed information andapplied a more rigorous method of datacollection



So what did we find?



Four to share today

• Costs to retrofit accessibility in 1,110 onlinecourses of a distance education unit

•

Cost benefit of a procurement practice as aneffective way to lessen costs of accessibility

• Costs for captioning online audio and video

across a campus

• Costs to litigate (or benefit to not litigate) astudent complaint



Community college with large

distance education program

#1: Cost to retrofit fully online

distance education courses

(to WCAG 2.0 AA standards)



Cost Case Study Methods:

Course Remediation

8 Steps in this study:

1. Accessibility components determined (all to conform to

WCAG 2.0 AA)

2. Determine 6 existing representative courses to evaluate

2 Simple: no multimedia elements

2 Moderately complex: video or audio, but no interactivity

2 Complex: Interactivity



Cost Case Study Results: Course

Remediation (contd.)

3. Courses randomly assigned for accessibility evaluation

to 1 of 4 reviewers, each reviewer evaluated 3 courses

4. Determinations made as to who “should” make

changes for any given error

5. Estimates of time each change would take taken from

both data (e.g., Coombs 2009) and expert behavior.Time estimates staff and faculty knowledge and skills

“as if” they had received training and were

fluent in making the change.



Cost Case Study Results: Course

Remediation (contd.)

6. Model costs for each retrofit (i.e., salary estimates for staff or

faculty multiplied by the needed changes per course)

7. Quantify the number of existing courses needed to go through

this process with variations in complexity.

8. Arrive at total estimated cost to make all existing on-line courses

accessible based on number of courses by complexity, individual

salaries and expertise to do the accessibility changes and thenumber and type of accessibility fixes needed for those courses.



Remember

This case represents the cost to remediateinaccessible distance education courses

NOT the cost to create them accessibly from theoutset



Data Samples:

Course Remediation Estimates

Ingredient Description of

how it should

be accessible

Responsible

Party

Time and

cost per

ingredient

Total

ingredients

& cost for

Course A

Total

Ingredients

& cost for

Course B

Images and

non-text

elements

Providing

information

for images and

non-text

elements

Faculty

member

1 min per

image;

$1.07 per

image

0 18

images=18

minutes=$1

9.26

Web pages& word

documents

Give structureto documents

with headings

and lists

Facultymember

10 minper page;

$10.70 per

page

39 pages=6hours and

30

min=$416.

26

52 pages=8hours and

40

min=$556.4

0



Ingredient Description

of how it

should be

accessible

Responsible

Party

Time and

cost per

ingredient

Total

ingredients

& cost for

Course A

Total

Ingredients

& cost for

Course B

PDFs Made from

electronic

document

Faculty

member

30 sec per

page; $0.54

per page

46 pages=23

minutes=$2

4.84

0

A complex

scanned

article

Alt Media

Specialist

10 min/pg;

$4.16 per

page

0 0

Link Text Real wordsused for

links, that

describe the

destination

Faculty 30 sec perlink;$ 0.54

per link

0 5 links=2.5min=$2.70

Data Samples:




Data Samples:


Ingredient Descriptionof how it

should be

accessible

ResponsibleParty

Time andcost per

ingredient

Totalingredients

& cost for

Course A

TotalIngredients &

cost for

Course B

Videos-produced by

institution

(including

instructor

made)

Should becaptioned Faculty 8 min permin of

video;

$8.56 per

min of

video

828 min of video=110.4

hours of

captioning-

$7070.08

344 min of video=46

hours of

captioning=$2

945.84

Videos notproduced by

institution

Should becaptioned

Outsourced foraccommodations

$132/hr or$2.20/min

2 hours and4 min of

video-

$272.80

0



Summary for Simple Courses

Note variability

• Time: 7.5 hours to 9.75 hours

• Faculty hourly rate at $29.04/hr: $213.76 to

$244.26

• Faculty hourly rate at $64.04/hr: $441.26 to

$480.91



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Across all distance education courses

Simple Moderate Complex

Total courses 800 (72%) 300 (27%) 10 (1%)

Time range 6,000 to 7,800 hrs 17,440 to 36,430 188 to 553 hrs

$29 salary/hr $174,000 to $226,200 $505,760 to

1,056,470

$5,452 to $16,037

$ 64 salary/hr $384,000 to $499,200 $1,116,160 to

$2,331,520

$12,032 to $35,392



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Grand Total

$29 / hr $64/hr

23,628 hours (591

weeks)

$685,212 (lowest estimate) $1,512,192

44,783 hours (1,120weeks)

$1,298,707 $2,866,112 (highest estimate)



NCDAE.org/goals

Discussion of Online Course Cost

Findings

• Variability needs to be explored

• This applies only to online courses through thecampus distance education unit, NOT online

elements of campus based courses

• The lesson here: Don’t get yourself in a situation

to have to retrofit it all. – Begin now

– Move forward in time



NCDAE.org/goals

Statewide System of Higher

Education

#2: Cost Benefit of a Procurement

Practice



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SOLUTION: SYSTEM PROCUREMENT

IN-SYSTEM SUBCONTRACTS

They wanted a way to evaluate

accessibility and embed automatedand manual checks into this

evaluation



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The result

• A central procurement across the system was

made

– Each campus was billed

– Only 20 of 23 used the software

– Each campus realized a savings of $10,000 in this

procurement



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The result

• Two subcontracts were awarded centrally to

campuses in the system

– Automated evaluation: Create custom permissions

within the tool (work with the vendor). Cost $23,997

– Manual evaluation: Create and deliver training on a

protocol of manual checking. Cost $10,203

•This work was used across the system so thatothers did not need to use resources.

– Potential savings of over $34K for each of the other



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The result – Efficiency over $800K

• System-wide procurement

– Saved $200,000

• Subcontracting

– Saved $649,800 – This assumes each of the 20 institutions would have

completed similar work at similar costs($34,200 x 19institutions)

•The lesson here: Band together – Use the natural economies of scale to advantage

what you want to accomplish



NCDAE.org/goals

4+ public institution with close to

$30,000 students

#3: Costs of Captioning



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Common problem – Unique approach

• Costs for captioning used to be paid by the Disability

Resource Center (DRC) and the Library. These costswere increasing dramatically each year.

• A decision was made to spread these costs to the

colleges that host the courses – although the DRCwould work to make it happen.

• A few exceptions

– Grant work would pay for captioning if possible

– Some faculty choose to do their own

– Library continues to caption library resources



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Three semesters : Sp 2011

Fa 2011Sp 2012

Costs to caption were gathered

through invoices



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Average costs per minute of video

Source Cost per minute

In-house: Disability Resource Center transcript $1.5

In-house: Disability Resource Center transcript and syncing $1.9

Outsourced with private vendor (transcript and syncing) $1.9

Outsourced with private vendor – rush job $2.9



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Low number of courses billed for captioning

Sp 2011 Fa 2011 Sp 2012 Totals

College A 1

(53 min)

1

(58 min)

0 2 courses

111 min

$190

College B 0 3

(305 min)

7

(304 min)

10 courses

609 min

$1,057

College C 0 0 1

(176 min)

1 course

176 min

$366

College D 1

(65 min)

2

(164 min)

1

(510 min)

4 courses

738 min

$1,217

College E Unknown

(1,956 min)

1

(15 min)

2

(59 min)

3 courses

2030 min

$3,369



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Take away: Cost efficiency when you

can plan ahead

Total cost across 3 semesters was$6,199



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4+ public institution with over

$40,000 students

#4: Cost to Litigate a Complaint

(or benefit to not) Through the

Courts



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Litigate a Complaint Through the

Courts to a Final Judgment

• Student with a disability alleged that inaccessible

web content prevented their completion of

coursework required for degree

• Advocacy organization brought suit on behalf of

the student against the postsecondary institution

• Office of civil rights complaint filed before

litigation

• One year of litigation and a settlement

agreement followed



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Litigation Costs

• Advocacy group reported costs of:

– Total attorney & Paralegal fees $389,000

–

Expenses for Co-counsel, travel mediator &expert: $117,000

– Total advocacy group expenses: $506,000

–

Institution reimbursed advocacy group $235,000 – Net cost (unreimbursed) to advocacy group

$271,000



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Litigation Costs (contd.)

• Postsecondary Institution Costs

– Settlement of fees & expenses reimbursed to

advocacy organization $235,000

– Damages paid to Plaintiff $150,000

– Cost for outside counsel fees & costs $115,000

–

Total paid for lawsuit by Institution $500,000



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Litigation Costs

• Other Institution Costs to make coursework

accessible

– Hardware & software purchases $20,000

– Salaries $10,356

– Total $30,356

–

Total Institution Costs $530,356



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Litigation Costs

• Unreimbursed expenses of advocacy

organization $271,000

•

Total costs to post-secondary institutionlitigation & course remediation $530,356

• Total estimated out-of-pocket costs $801,356

• For the institution much of this expense was

paid by risk management



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Litigation Costs

• Simplified analysis omits many dollar and non-

dollar costs of litigation

– Student did not obtain their degree

– Lifetime earnings and taxes paid reduced

– Reduced student quality of life

–

Opportunity costs of staff at both organizationsinvolved in litigation is likely underestimated when

only including what was billed



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They were also required to make

their entire digital architecture

accessible

These costs are unknown



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Summary

• Avoiding a lawsuit would more than cover thelow cost range to retrofit existing online coursesin our first example, without the bad PR.

• Litigation costs vary widely with region in countrywhere expenses are incurred, length of negotiations, and whether or not it goes to trial

•

Take away: Don’t go into litigation. What could$800,000 do for an institution’s accessibilitywork so no complaints occur?



NCDAE.org/goals

What about YOUR costs? How to

begin a budget

• Consider staffing the planning phase ($100K)

– a minimum .5 project director to coordinate theinstitutional efforts (Salary & benefits at USU are

estimated to be $46,000) – Funding .1 of the core accessibility task force

members (Salary and benefits at USU for 6members are estimated to be $55,000)

• An NCDAE resource on developing yourbudget

– ncdae.org/resources/tips/budget.php

http://ncdae.org/resources/tips/budget.php






Discussion

Contact us:

[email protected]

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




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So What Does It Cost? Case Studies of Campus Web Accessibility (Note: This session will be streamed...

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