Barrier-free Information Technology
Accessible IT Through Podcasts, Webinars and Online Courses
Certificate in Accessible Information Technology and Continuing Education Credits
All students completing the course will receive an EASI Certificate of Completion. The course will also count towards the Certificate in Accessible Information Technology provided jointly by USM and EASI.
Course Registration and Schedule
Schedule: 2010 January 4, May 4, September 9
Course registration is $350 with a %20 discount for students. Overseas participants and EASI Annual Webinar members qualify for the student discount.
Payment can be made by check, PO or credit card.
Course description
Barrier-free Information Technology has been revised and enriched with several new multimedia modules. The course is designed to guide an institution in making both its computer and information technology systems fully accessible to its users with disabilities. digitized information is display independent meaning that it can be input and output in ways that make it available to all users regardless of their abilities. Schools are becoming more concerned about providing texts in alternative formats, and the course will describe several different format options and give tips on creating in formats such as Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Web pages and DAISY. Libraries are increasingly using digitized information, and libraries can include the formerly "print disabled" as never before. New technologies are now available that significantly increase the participation of students with disabilities in the fields of science and math as the result of research and resources resulting from National Science Foundation grants. The emphasis in this month-long course will be on creating structures that will lead to the institution-wide system change as required by recent disability-related legislation. The course will be useful for administrators, faculty, computer and instructional support staff, librarians and more.
To earn the course completion certificate, participants will have to do all lessons and submit the assignment at the bottom of each lesson. There are 2 provisions to help in this situation. First anyone can get a 2-week extension to finish the course. Second, if that is not enough, the person will be able to do a free registration as a repeat for the next offering but this option will only be offered one time.
Course Lessons and Assignments
Week 1:
Lesson 1: Introduction and Reasons to Adapt Your Information Technology Systems
This lesson will provide an overview of the entire course. EASI believes That the reasons for an organization to adapt its computer and information technologies include: it is the right thing to do! it makes economic sense! it is the law! and you should do it for yourself because as you age you will also become disabled! It is a combination of the carrot and stick. We will start by trying to inspire and motivate you and then we won't get really legal on you, but we will discuss most of the relevant legislation.
Lesson 2: What Is Adaptive Technology? (Computer Input/Output Problems and Solutions
Most participants in this course will already have some familiarity with adaptive or assistive computer technology. Nevertheless, the lesson will give a quick review of which technologies are relevant and which disability groups benefit from which application. The lesson will introduce the concept of "electronic curb cuts" which demonstrate that adaptations made for a special group always bring unexpected benefits for the entire population. Sidewalk curb cuts are used more by workers pushing carts than by people in wheelchairs.
Week 2:
Lesson 3: Supportive Computer Applications for Users With Disabilities
Week 2 already discussed adaptive or assistive technology which provided input/output access to mainstream computer software for users with disabilities. This lesson will discuss software packages that provide unique and specialized help in reading, writing, organizing and a host of other tasks that provide still more support to people with disabilities. These tend to provide what we call compensatory computing by which we mean using the computer to compensate for some other problem.
Lesson 4: Accessibility of Electronic Devices, Computer Software and Online Content
Everyone is accustomed to thinking about Web sites when talking about making electronic information accessible. However that is only one part of the topic, and, in fact, it is only one part of the famous Section 508 standards. The offices at every institution are full of devices used to create, send, retreive or display electronic information, and accessibility is an issue for all of them. This includes copiers, fax machines, computers, Kiosks, phones and much more. Software also must interface with adaptive technologies in a way that enables the user full functionality in spite of graphics and without requiring using a mouse. There are many document types, and these must be designed for accessibility, and, finally the Web pages also must be accessible to a user with a disability. We recommend using universal design where possible to provide devices and information readily used by everyone.
Lesson 5: Creating and Locating Alternative Media
Various laws and court decisions require schools and colleges to provide students who are unable to benefit from standard text with an effective alternative media. Publishers are moving slowly towards providing some electronic texts but often these are not provided in the most useful format. There are collections of electronic books specifically for people with "print disabilities” and schools need to avail themselves of these resources. Finally, institutions may have to scan hard copy and use optical character recognition as the first step to producing a document themselves. The lesson will point to tips and tricks to do this more rapidly and simply.
Week 3:
Lesson 6: Providing Support for People with Hearing Impairments
Now that computers have all become multimedia applications, people who are deaf need support in their uses of information technology too. Actually, they obviously need support in a face-to-face classroom but that is frequently human support not through information technology. But, even in face-to-face settings computers can be part of providing support to the class lectures. With online courses using video and audio and sometimes voice chat, support needs to be available for online activities. Last, the most obvious need is providing streaming captions for videos.
Lesson 7: Access Issues of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Documents in these fields make significant use of graphs and diagrams and providing effective access to these for students who are blind has been difficult. New technologies are making significant progress overcoming the problems. As lab instruments increasingly use digital output, providing access to that information using enlargement tools or having a synthesizer speak it has made the task relatively simple. The National Science Foundation has funded research in this field, and the lesson will introduce information and resources from that work.
Lesson 8: Using Accessible IT to Enable the Library to Serve the Former "print disabled"
Libraries are now accessible to students with disabilities especially as more of their resources are digitized. Most of the accessibility information librarians need will be the same as has already been covered, but it will be put in a library context. There will also be tips provided on ways to provide access to information students may need for their work which still is not available in an accessible format.
Week 4:
lesson 9: Training Faculty and Staff
faculty and staff are already very busy, and many resent being told by someone else how to do their work. Many also fear that including someone with a disability in a class will lower its academic level. This lesson will explore ways to make such training as basic and short as possible and look for ways to help transcend faculty and staff resistance.
Lesson 10 policies and procedures
This final lesson will encourage participants to find out what policies and procedures their institution already has. It will also look at some policies and procedures being used at other institutions. The lesson will also stress 2 things. First, these require active support from top administration. Second, they need to be designed and implemented in ways that get a "buy-in" from all levels of faculty and staff.
Course registration is $350 with a %20 discount for students and for overseas participants.
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) is a non-profit organization, and our mission is to make information technologies more accessible to users with disabilities.
