Enhancing Accessibility in Software Engineering Projects with Large Language Models (LLMs)
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Digital accessibility ensures that digital products and services are usable by a diverse range of users, regardless of their physical, mental, or cognitive abilities. While numerous standards and guidelines have been established to aid developers in creating accessible content, studies reveal a persistent lack of accessibility in many web and mobile applications. This gap is often attributed to barriers such as lack of awareness, insufficient knowledge, absence of specific requirements, time constraints, and lack of executive support. In this context, we aim to address the lack of awareness and knowledge challenges by proposing a hands-on approach that leverages the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to enhance students’ accessibility awareness, knowledge, and practical skills. We engaged software engineering students in tasks involving website development and accessibility evaluation using checker tools, and we utilized ChatGPT to fix identified accessibility issues. Our results indicate that practical assignments significantly enhance learning outcomes, with ChatGPT interactions enabling students to gain a deeper understanding of accessibility concepts. This method not only reinforces theoretical knowledge but also demonstrates the practical impact of their work, suggesting that integrating practical assignments with AI-driven support can effectively improve students’ proficiency in web accessibility.
This program is tentative and subject to change.
Fri 28 FebDisplayed time zone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) change
13:45 - 15:00 | |||
13:45 18mTalk | Accessibility Insights from Student's Software Engineering Projects Papers Wajdi Aljedaani University of North Texas, Parthasarathy PD BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, Swaroop Joshi BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, Marcelo Medeiros Eler University of São Paulo | ||
14:03 18mTalk | Enhancing Accessibility in Software Engineering Projects with Large Language Models (LLMs) Papers Wajdi Aljedaani University of North Texas, Marcelo Medeiros Eler University of São Paulo, Parthasarathy PD BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus | ||
14:22 18mTalk | Opening Digital Doors: Early Lessons in Software Accessibility for K-8 StudentsK12 Papers Chunyu Liu University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Samantha Sy University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Elizabeth Lodvikov Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Jingwen Shan University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Devorah Kletenik Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Rachel F. Adler University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | ||
14:41 18mTalk | Sprint to Inclusion: Embedding Accessibility Sprint in a Software Engineering Course Papers Wajdi Aljedaani University of North Texas, Parthasarathy PD BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, Marcelo Medeiros Eler University of São Paulo, Swaroop Joshi BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus |