Accessibility in Computer Science Education: Shifting Practice through Dialogic Pedagogy (Workshop)

The number of people with disabilities in the UK is steadily increasing. At the same time, technology has become an indispensable part of daily life: people connect with each other and complete everyday tasks, such as, manage personal finances, shop and communicate with various service providers, through digital apps. When accessibility is lacking, users with disabilities are systematically excluded. As educators, we have a responsibility to advocate for the integration of accessibility across the Computer Science curriculum. In this workshop, we invite participants to collaboratively engage in a series of activities designed to explore practical, pedagogically informed ways to do this. We advocate moving away from the current paradigm in which accessibility is treated merely as an afterthought and an add-on in Human-Computer Interaction curriculum, towards an intentional praxis brought about through Dialogic Pedagogy.