Elizabeth Barker, an accessibility manager at Khan Academy, shares her insights on how ed-tech developers can make their tools user-friendly for everyone, including the need for field testing, observation and feedback.
October 15, 2024 •
Brandi Vesco
It was 2007, and Elizabeth Barker was working for an academic assessment company when a teacher with muscular dystrophy reported a problem: He was unable to use his voice command system to access the company’s assessment program. Barker, a former special education teacher, said working to help solve that problem “was what took me down the digital accessibility route.”
With a master’s in special education and a doctorate in educational methodology, Barker served for more than 15 years as an accessibility research scientist at the nonprofit Northwest Evaluation Association, which develops widely used computerized tests called Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). Barker — now an accessibility manager at Khan Academy — said the job gave her a detailed view of the barriers people with disabilities face when using educational technology.
For example, [...]