Five Steps to Improve Access and Equity in Online Courses (TxDLA 2014)

Post on 18-Dec-2014

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There's no question; online courses must be designed to be accessible. The three major standards organizations include access. Easier said than done! And, standards don't provide any real guidance on how to me the legal requirements, let alone meet the standards.

transcript

Try to find a circle, star, and/or square.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#demonstration card

Try to find a circle, star, and/or square in 3 seconds.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card Number 1

Try and find a circle, star, and/or square in 3 seconds

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card Number 2

Try and find a doc, boat, balloon, or car as shown on the demonstration

card.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card Number 3

Where would you go?

http://www.martin-missfeldt.com/images-pictures/speed-painting-videos/color-blindness-visual-test.jpg

5 Steps to Improving Access and Equity in Online Classes

Ray RoseRose & Smith Associates

This work by Raymond Rose is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Who are you?

• Government

• Non-profit

• K-12

• Higher Education

• For-Profit

What do you do?

• Course Instructor

• Course designer

• Program Manager

• Administrator

• Other

Why are you at this session?

• Curious

• Concerned

• Looking for assurance I’m already doing everything right

• To hear those 5 tips.

Data to Consider

• 56.7 million people with disabilities in US

• 48 million (20%) in US have some hearing loss

• 11% of post-secondary students have a disability

Quick Thoughts

• Do you wear glasses/contact lenses?

• If you answer yes, you realize that…

• You’re one step from having a disability

• Everyone can become disabled… and probably will if we don’t die first.

Standards…

• K-12

– iNACOL

– Quality Matters

• Higher Ed

– Quality Matters

– SLOAN-C

• Everyone

– WCAG

SLOAN-CCourse Structure

4. Instructional materials are easily accessible and easy to use for student

5 .The course adequately addresses the needs of students with disabilities via alternative instructional strategies and/or referral to special institutional resources

From…http://sloanconsortium.org/quality_scorecard_online_program

SLOAN-CFaculty Support

1. Technical assistance specifically for online course development and online teaching is provided for faculty.

2. Instructors are prepared to teach online education courses and the institution ensures faculty receive training, assistance, and support at all times during the development and delivery of courses.

SLOAN-CStudent Support

10. Policy and process is in place to support ADA requirements.

iNACOLQuality Online Courses V2

User Interface

4. Rich media are provided in multiple formats for ease of use and access in order to address diverse student needs.

iNACOLResources and Materials

11. Student have access to resources that enrich the course content.

Section B: Instructional Design

iNACOLAccessibility

10. Course materials and activities are designed to provide appropriate access to all students. The course, developed with universal design principles in mind, conforms to the U.S. Section 504 and Section 508 provisions for electronic and information technology as well as the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility guidelines (WCAG2.0).

Section D: Technology

iNACOLTeaching Standards

The online teacher knows and understands

legal mandates stipulated by the Americans

with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals

with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the

Assistive Technology Act, and Section 508

or other similar guidelines/requirements for

accessibility

Standard F: Teacher Knowledge and Understanding

iNACOLQuality Online Programs

* iNACOL currently developing standards for blended learning

Quality MattersAccessibility

8.1 The course employs accessible technologies and provides guidance on how to obtain accommodation.

8.2 The course contains equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.

8.3 The course design facilitates readability and minimizes distractions.

8.4 The course design accommodates the use of assistive technologies.

Become Familiar with UDL

• Universal Design for Learning

– Multiple means of representation

– Multiple means of Action and Expression

– Multiple means of engagement

http://www.cast.org/udl/

Think Print disability

• Includes:

– Visual Print-disability

– Physical Print-disability

– Cognitive and/or Perceptual Print-disability

Have you heard of/are familiar with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973?

504 Basics

• Appoint 504 Coordinator

• Establish 504 Grievance Procedure

• Provide annual notice of Coordinator and Grievance Procedure

Section 504• Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973

(Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1973)– mandates that qualified people with disabilities have access

to programs and services that receive federal funds

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990) – reinforced and extended Section 504– prohibiting institutions from excluding and otherwise

discriminating against students with disabilities in public programs and services,

– regardless of whether or not they are federally funded

• U. S. Department of Justice, 1996– if qualified individuals with disabilities enroll in online

courses, these courses must be made accessible to them

Vocational Rehabilitation Act. (1973). Pub. L. 93-112, U.S. Code. vol. 29, § 701 et seq.Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990. 42 U.S.C.A. § 12101 et seq. (West 1993). Retrieved June 1, 2004, from http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/statute.html

OCR Finding

Have you heard of Section 508?

(Section 508 Rehabilitation Act 1973)

Have you heard of ADA?

(Title II, ADA of 1990)

* “The use of the Accessibility Standards by OCR does not imply that conformance to Section 508, WCAG, and/or other electronic and information technology standard is either required or sufficient to comply with either Section 504 or Title II. Rather, OCR’s limited application of the Accessibility Standards served only as an investigative line of inquiry, assessing the designated website against specific technical requirements, which may indicate potential compliance concerns under Section 504 and Title II.”

*OCR Compliance Review: Docket #15-11-5002 *Boilerplate from OCR Compliance Reports

Section 508• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (U.S.

Department of Education, 1998), – requires that electronic and information technologies that

federal agencies procure, develop, maintain, and use – be made accessible to people with disabilities, both

employees and members of the public, – unless it would pose an undue burden to do so.

• The Vocational Rehabilitation Act Amendments (1998)– mandated the U.S. Architectural and Transportation

Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) to develop accessibility standards for electronic and information technology to which federal agencies must comply

• Section 508 directly applies to federal agencies. – Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Chapters 206 and 213

• Electronic Info Resources Accessibility Policy/DIR

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

• Perceivable– Text alternatives– Time-based media alternatives– Content can be presented in different ways– Easier for users to see and hear content

• Operable– Keyboard functionality– Time constraints removed– Sensitivity to seizure-inducing design– Easily navigate and find content

• Understandable– Text content readable and understandable– Web pages are predictable in appearance and operation– Help users avoid and correct mistakes

• Robust – Maximize current and future user compatibility– Including assistive technologies

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Accessibility Requirements• Development of

– Policies• Program and Information Access• Accessible Technology

– Procedures• Course Development Guidelines

– Guidelines/Standards• Section 508 Standards• W3C Guidelines• Institutionally Designed Standards

– Dissemination

• Provision of– Ongoing Training

• Staff • Instructors

– Technical Support– Enforcement/Reward– Evaluation/Revision

Burgstahler, S. (2002). Distance Learning: Universal Design, Universal Access. AACE Journal, 10(1), 32-61. Norfolk, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/17776.

OCR Finding

5 Steps

• Design EVERY class/course/website as if will have people with disabilities using it, (and it will).

• Metatag EVERY graphic with a useful description.– What is justification for Eye-Candy?

• Provide alternate presentations of ALL multimedia.– Caption or transcript all video

• Judicous use of color• (K-12) Create an Online Education Special Education

Policy – Vendor’s statement of accessibility for compliance is not

protection.• You need to review and insure accessibility

#1

Basic Design:

UDL is great, but not enough

#2

• Pay attention to color (color blind)

#3

Graphics

• Alt Tag EVERYTHING

• NO Eye candy

#4

• Captioning/Transcripts ARE NOT A LUXURY

#5

Everything needs to be accessible: inside and outsidethe LMS

More..

• Use Alternate Presentations

• The course content must be accessible without a mouse.

• Do NOT trust vendors word on accessibility. – 6 different vendors materials cited by

OCR.

Resources

• CynthiaSays.com

• https://amp.ssbbartgroup.com/express

• NCAM.wgbh.org

– MAGpie

– CC for FLASH

• www.adobe.com/accessibility.html

• http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509623.pdf

More Resources…

• http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/NACOL_EquityAccess.pdf

• Are Today’s Administrators Prepared, Distance Learning, A Magazine for Leaders Vol7 #2, 2010

Buy or Buildfrom 2009 Sloan Consortium Report on K-12 Online Learning

• Administrators typically rely on outside online providers, including post secondary institutions, independent vendors, and state virtual schools;

• Eighty-three percent of districts use multiple providers;• The reliance on outside providers are due to shortages

of qualified teachers in high need specialized areas, such as, STEM subjects;

• Districts have inequities in state funding; and• A lack of foundation exists to determine quality in

online providers, online content, or online pedagogy.

(Sloan Consortium, 2009)

Contact Information

• Raymond Rose

– ray@rose-smith.com

– 512.791.3100