Call for Articles

SPECIAL ISSUE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND DISABILITIES
PROMISING PRACTICES: ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Guest Editor: Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.
DO-IT Director, University of Washington

A special issue of the Information Technology and Disabilities (ITD) journal for Spring, 2005, will feature promising practices in promoting, developing, procuring and using accessible information technology in education. Consider submitting an article if you have a practice to share in this arena. The final product will be a guidebook that can be used by practitioners, both those who work with individuals with disabilities and those who work with technology in the mainstream.

TOPICS

We are hoping to include representation from around the country as well as from different levels of education (e.g., k-12 schools, technical training, higher education), types of instruction (e.g., on-site, web-based), and issues addressed (e.g., technical challenges, procurement policies and practices, training/support).

Articles should describe practices that have been proven with rigorous research or that have at least informal data (surveys, anecdotal evidence, indicators that suggest institutional change) to support the practice.

Examples of practices that might be included in this issue:

• A K-12 school district implements practices in support of a newly adopted state policy that requires websites to meet accessibility standards.
• A high school technology teacher incorporates accessibility issues into her curriculum for teaching web design to high school students.
• A distance learning program implements a new policy on accessibility that includes training, support documentation, and follow-up support
• A college undertakes a competition for developing accessible websites for nonprofit organizations
• A school district implements accessibility as a requirement in the procurement of all technology

FORMAT

In order to make the practices documented in this issue of most use to practitioners, we suggest that authors use a relatively consistent format:

• Introduction
  What do we know from previous practices and the published literature about the issue(s) addressed in this practice?
• Background of the Institution
  What are the characteristics of the institution in which this practice was implemented?
• Description of the Problem
  What problem was addressed by this practice?
• Description of the Practice
  When was the new practice implemented? What steps were taken to implement the practice?
• Evaluation of the Practice
  What indications are there that the practice was successful in reaching its goal?
• Lessons Learned
  What was learned in this process that can benefit others who would like to implement a similar practice in their institutions?
• Conclusion

This issue of ITD will be an easy-to-read practical guide of promising practices that can be applied by others in the field. If you have something to share that could benefit others as they attempt to make information technology more accessible to individuals with disabilities, we encourage you to submit a promising practice for this issue of ITD.

SUBMISSION

Authors considering contributions to this issue should send abstracts of proposed articles to Sheryl Burgtahler at sherylb@u.washington.edu by November 15, 2004. A draft of the full article must be submitted by January 30, 2005. All articles published in ITD are peer reviewed, and are subject to possible rejection or revision based upon peer reviewer comments. Authors will be given an opportunity to update and revise their articles based upon peer review comments before final publication. ITD general publication guidelines are available at http://www.rit.edu/~easi/itd/guidelines.htm