Barrier-free E-learning
Accessible IT Through Podcasts, Webinars and Online Courses
Barrier-free E-learning
Schedule: 2010: March 1, July 5, November 1
Course Registration
Course registration is $350 with a $70 discount for students. Overseas participants and EASI Annual Webinar members qualify for the student discount.
Course Description
Course Description
Barrier-free E-learning has been significantly updated and also enriched with new multimedia. The course now is based on the realization that course content authors, faculty and instructional designers, are placing that content inside a courseware or learning management system. Most of the Web accessibility issues relate to that interface, and only a few accessibility features are relevant to the actual course content. The revisions focus on a limited set of accessibility issues and also stress how to achieve accessibility using familiar software that designers are already using.
University, business and public schools all are adopting one or more forms of online learning technologies for delivering education and training. Online learning is simultaneously praised and roundly condemned. In any case, it is sweeping across America and into other countries. One of the results of the rapidity of this explosive growth is that, until recently, little attention has been paid to making these technologies accessible to people with various disabilities. Modern adaptive computer technology has the potential to provide the most level learning space in history for these students. However, the wrong technology choices may erect new and needless barriers to the full inclusion of these students.
The information in Barrier-free E-learning will be useful for administrators, instructional technology staff, instructional design staff and for any faculty who post content for their courses whether those are distance learning courses or merely online components of traditional campus classes.
Barrier-free E-learning course participants will leave the course with a practical tool that will empower them to influence the accessibility of e-learning at their institution.
This month-long course will be taught by Professor Norman Coombs, a leader in e-learning for more than a decade, winner of Zenith's Master of Innovation award and New York State's CASE Teacher of the Year award in 1990 both for his work in the use of this technology in innovative ways to provide an inclusive educational setting. Coombs estimates that he has taught some 5,000 students in more than 40 countries.
The course is month-long and is entirely taught over the Internet with the use of the web and e-mail. for class sharing. There will also be several modules using multimedia, video, audio, PowerPoint etc.
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.
Week 1:
Lesson 1: Introduction to E-learning Systems
This lesson will discuss the different types of e-learning or online learning systems, and will also describe the types of disabilities that are relevant for e-learning which essentially refers to people with what used to be called "print disabilities". There will be a discussion of the ways in which e-learning systems provide both advantages and disadvantages for this population. The lesson will demonstrate how actual accessibility is made up of 3 components: an accessible courseware system, robust adaptive technologies that interact effectively with that courseware and an end user that has skill in using that adaptive software and has experience with the Web.
Lesson 2: What is Accessibility and is That Enough?
The major thrust of this lesson is to explain that making a Web site meet the Section 508 Standards or the WAI Guidelines may not be enough to permit a student to learn effectively online. A site may meet technical accessibility standards and still be confusing for a user to understand and difficult to navigate. While this is true for everyone, it is particularly true for users with disabilities. The lesson will also look specifically at Blackboard, WebCT, eCollege and Horizon Wimba and what they say about their accessibility.
Week 2:
Lesson 3: Tips for Faculty and Content Providers
This lesson will argue that good design and clear communication is half of achieving accessibility for people with disabilities. Good teaching improves learning for everyone. Course content posted inside courseware by faculty will normally only relates to 3-5 accessibility issues instead of the 16 Section 508 Standards, and we will focus exclusively on this limited set of accessibility features. The lesson will include ten tips for effective e-learning developed over the years by Coombs.
Lesson 4: Creating Content Using Microsoft Word
This lesson will explain how using styles in Word helps make documents that are consistent, that can export with the format to other file types, are more accessible for users of adaptive technology and which permit the author to make modifications quickly and easily. When the author takes 3-5 accessibility features into account, the end result will produce accessible content for use in the courseware system. It will also describe recent technical breakthroughs permitting the display of math and scientific information that can now be accessible to users who are blind.
Lesson 5: PowerPoint and Accessibility
First, the lesson will discuss general content and slide design tips for accessibility. Some screen reading software will not function in PowerPoint in which case the author may need to save the content in another format. It will explain how to extract content from PowerPoint and save it either as a Word document or as rich test format both of which would be accessible to anyone with any adaptive technology. When saving for the Web content providers will need the Illinois Microsoft Office Accessibility Wizard to guarantee a totally accessible result. The lesson will also explore different ways to save narrated PowerPoint for the Web in an accessible format.
Week 3:
Lesson 6: Creating Accessible PDF Documents
Simple PDF documents can be produced using Microsoft Word provided the document is simple and provided that the author is using styles in Word. Scanning hard copy into PDF can have the output sent to Word which, again if the structure is simple, can create accessible output. More complex PDF documents or repairing inaccessible documents will require someone learning the basics of Acrobat.
Lesson 7: Authoring With Dreamweaver and Creating Multimedia
For those faculty members who do create some Web content, we recommend their using Dreamweaver which includes special accessibility features. We will only discuss the most basic access items:
images, tables,
forms
and other items students’ request.
We will not discuss multimedia creation itself. Instead, we will assume the multimedia content author is familiar with its creation. We will discuss how and when to include audio descriptions of video for users who are blind and text transcriptions of conversation for users who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Captioning can be very time-consuming and arduous, and, for that reason, we will point some simple solutions although they may not always synchronize voice and text too well.
Lesson 8: Checking for Accessibility
The genuine test of the accessibility of Web content is to have a number of users with different disabilities and different adaptive technologies to examine the content manually and report back. However, there are several software packages which can be considerable help to content authors wanting to check their content themselves. There are 2 packages on the web: Cynthia Says and Watchfire WebXACT. High Software also produces a commercial package, called, Act Verify, and there are also browser extensions for both Internet Explorer and FireFox. This lesson will introduce these tools and provide the know-how that is needed to use them.
Week 4:
Lesson 9: Beyond Online Delivery
Currently, Complex graphs, drawings and other complex images like maps cannot be made accessible online. The graphic can have a text label identifying, but if it is important course content and is too complex to be rendered in a clear, verbal description, the content will have to be provided in some other way. Usually, this will require creating raised-line, hard copy tactile graphics accompanied with Braille. This will require special formatting to compensate for resolution issues and will require an appropriate embosser to output both raised lines and Braille. This also has to be created enough in advance to be delivered to the student before it is presented online.
Lesson 10: Planning and Policy
The Office for Civil Rights has said that providing support for students with disabilities is a campus-wide responsibility. There needs to be a planning body which includes half a dozen or more departments and which receives support from the higher levels of the institution. The courts say there needs to be a plan in place to cover all aspects of accessibility which does not rely on ad hoc solutions. We will discuss what departments need to be involved and which topics it needs to consider.
