Anne Taylor, National Federation of the BlindGerry Hanley, California State University Chancellor’s

OfficeUna Daly, OpenCourseWare Consortium

Challenges and Strategies for Promoting Awareness of

Open and Accessible Educational Resources

March 11, 2014 1

Collaborate Window Overview

Audio & Video

Participants

Chat

Today’s Agenda

• Introductions• Open Education Accessibility Needs

and Goals• Making the 21st Century Campus a

Model of Accessibility• Accessibility, OER, and Improving

Services for Students with Disabilities• Q & A

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Welcome

Please introduce yourself in the chat window

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Una Daly, Community College

Outreach DirectorOCW Consortium

Gerry Hanley, Assistant Vice-ChancellorCalifornia State University,

Executive Director MERLOT

Anne Taylor, DirectorAccess Technology

National Federation of the Blind

Open Education

Accessibility Needs & Goals

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Una Daly, Community College Outreach DirectorOCW Consortium

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What are Open Educational Resources?

U.S. Dept. of Education

– Teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or repurposing by others. cc-by donkyhotey/flickr

adapted from Judy Baker cc-by license

What is an Open License?

• Free: Free to access online, free to print

• Open: Reuse, Revise, Remix, Redistribute

• Creative Commons: less restrictions than standard copyright but author retains full rights.

Examples

Includes –

• Course materials• Lesson Plans• Modules or lessons• OpenCourseWare (OCW)• Open textbooks• Videos• Images• Tests• Software• Any other tools, materials, or techniques used

to support ready access to knowledge

8adapted from Judy Baker’s ELI 2011 OER Workshop cc-by license

Characteristics of OER

• Digital– Easy to customize– Free distribution

• Open License– Reuse, Revise, Remix,

• No/Low cost– Expands access to education

Labeled for reuse by MrKCoolsPhotostream

DIGITAL +

ACCESSIBLEOPEN LICENSE

OER Conundrum

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Need for Accessibility

• ~1 billion worldwide have form of disabilityWorld Report on Disability, 2011

• Disproportionate affect on health, education, employment, and poverty World Report on Disability, 2011

• 11% U.S. postsecondary students report disability AIM Commission Report, 2011

• Many experience accessibility barriersAIM Commission Report, 2011

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• United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006)– Ratified by 141 countries

• United Kingdom Equality Act (2010)• Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)• Canadian Human Rights Act (1985)

Treaties and Laws

Diverse Learner Challenges

• Cognitive learning disabilities• Sensory or motor impairments• Language deficits• Lack of engagement

Kersti Nebelsiek CC-BY

Source: http://cast.org

OCWC Accessibility Goals

• Improve learning for all– Universal, inclusive design

• Help curriculum developers– Design OER to be accessible

• Empower faculty adopters– Evaluate OER and adapt for accessibility

• Build a Community of Practice– MERLOT, Inclusive Design Centre, NFB, Open Univ.

Used with permission from Virtual Ability, Inc

Design & Guidelines

• Universal Design for Learning– Providing multiple means of expression,

representation, & engagement

• Web Content Access Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0

• Perceivable• Operable• Understandable• Robust

http://www.cast.org/udl/ 15

Open Textbook Accessibility Reviews

Textbook: Collaborative StatisticsAccessibility reviewed by: Virtual Ability, Inc.

collegeopentextbooks.org merlot.org

OER, Accessibility & Strategic Alliances

http://oeraccess.merlot.org

Making the 21st Century Campus a Model of Accessibility

ByAnne Taylor National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute

About the NFB•Founded in 1940 - Oldest and largest organization of

blind people•Affiliates in each state, DC, and Puerto Rico•Special interest divisions (e.g. computer science)•Provides a vehicle for collective action by the blind•Drives innovation through the practical experience of

the blind

10/22/2008National Federation of the Blind

National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute• Leads the quest to understand the real problems of blindness and to

develop innovative education, technologies, products and services that help the world’s blind to achieve independence

• Only research and training institute developed and directed by the blind• Two important initiatives are:▫ Research, develop and support the commercialization of technologies

for meeting the needs of the blind▫ Improve nonvisual access to and use of information through innovative

technologies and Braille education

10/22/2008National Federation of the Blind

Changing the Accessibility Landscape in Higher Education

• Association of American Publishers▫ Participated in accessibility and meta-data working group -

https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/inclusive-publishing-horizon-introducing-aap-epub-3-implementation-project-white

• TEACH Act▫ https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-applauds-senate-introduction-teach-act

• Cloud productivity suites▫ Providing usability feedback

• AIM Commission▫ The Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities, established by

the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, has brought together government leaders, representatives from the publishing industry, individuals with print disabilities, representatives from institutions of higher education, and leaders in accessible technology. The Commission studied the current state of accessible materials for students with disabilities in postsecondary education and make recommendations to the U.S. Congress for improving access to and the distribution of instructional materials in accessible formats.

• Desire2Learn▫ NFB NVA Certified

• Inclusive Publishing▫ Two-day event geared towards accessibility in publishing▫ 160 attendees from 23 countries

• eBook Accessibility Symposium▫ Day-long event on best practices for creating accessible eBooks

• Blackboard▫ NFB NVA Certified

National Federation of the Blind

Changing the Accessibility Landscape in Higher Education• Reading Rights Coalition

▫ The Reading Rights Coalition is a collaborative effort by 30 nationally recognized organizations that represent those who can not read print. The member organizations of the Reading Rights Coalition believe access to the written word is the cornerstone of education and democracy; and that new technologies must SERVE individuals with disabilities, NOT impede them.

• American Library Association Resolution▫ “ ‘Effective communication’ requires that library materials and services provided ‘through library

websites be equally accessible to people with disabilities as to people without disabilities, unless doing so would constitute an undue burden or a fundamental alteration of the library program”

National Federation of the Blind

How to Make Your Campus Accessible to the Print-disabled?•Standards•Usability testing•Procurement•No reliance on VPAT

National Federation of the Blind

Accessibility Standards• World Wide Web Consortium Web Content

Accessibility Guidelines• United States Federal government Section 508

requirements• International Standards

▫ Ontarians with Disabilities Act ▫ EU Standard▫ Japanese standard

National Federation of the Blind

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines• Published by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative• Clear guidelines for developers to follow to ensure Web accessibility• Version 1.0 became W3C recommendation in 1999• Current version (2.0) effective Dec. 11, 2008• Four core principles for content

▫ Perceivable▫ Operable▫ Understandable▫ Robust

• Conformance Levels▫ A – very basic accessibility; will still present access issues for some groups▫ AA – Will allow most users to access content; minimum level recommended for compliance▫ AAA – most comprehensive accessibility; not recommended to attempt for an entire site

• Current version http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

National Federation of the Blind

Procurement• By purchasing and adopting only technologies that are accessible, you will ensure that

any future accessibility problems are minimal. Because procurement spans a wide range of areas, it is helpful to break these areas down in order to ensure that all are considered. The legal settlement between Penn State University and the NFB (http://accessibility.psu.edu/nfbpsusettlement) provides a comprehensive list of areas in which procurement practices must consider accessibility.

• You can find examples of other model procurement and accessibility policies and vendor contract language below▫ CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI):

http://www.csuci.edu/ati/sla/index.htm The Channel Islands site has an easy-to-follow 6-step process including links to procurement forms. Channel Islands is one of the smaller campuses, with enrollment at approximately 3700 students.

▫ CSU Sacramento:http://www.csus.edu/accessibility/procure.html Sacramento has also listed their procurement process steps, links to training resources, and procurement forms. Sacramento is a large campus with enrollment at approximately 29,000 students

National Federation of the Blind

Content creation• Training on▫ Document accessibility

Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/creating-accessible-word-documents-HA101999993.aspx

Powerpoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/creating-accessible-powerpoint-presentations-HA102013555.aspx

Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/creating-accessible-excel-workbooks-HA102013545.aspx

▫ Accessible graphics http://brailleauthority.org/tg/index.html

▫Multimedia accessibility http://ncam.wgbh.org/invent_build/web_multimedia

National Federation of the Blind

Contact Us

Anne TaylorDirector of Access TechnologyNational Federation of the BlindJernigan Institute200 E. Wells St.@Jernigan PlaceBaltimore, MD 21230Phone: 410-659-9314 ext. 2413ataylor@nfb.org

National Federation of the Blind

Accessibility, OER, and Improving Services for

Students with Disabilities

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Gerry Hanley, Ph.D.

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Academic Technology Services

Cal. State University, Office of the Chancellor

Executive Director, MERLOT

OER Week - March 11, 2014

Accessible Technology Initiative

Policy

Capacity/ Target High

Impact Areas

Procurement

Collaborate with vendors

Assessment

Connect

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The CSU Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI)

Launched in 2004

3rd Major Evolution

Launched in 2010

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Continuous Process Improvement with Strong

Executive Support

CSU FrameworkStrategies/Goals & Success Indicators

Make a Campus Plan

Work the Campus Plan

Annual Institutional Assessment

Empowering People Through “Ownership”• The ATI Goals and Success Indicators articulate the processes,

practices, and procedures that need to be in place for the sustainable removal of accessibility barriers.

• Collectively there are 22 Goals and 142 Success Indicators spread across three priority areas Web, Procurement, and Instructional Materials– They were developed through our shared governance process

that included diverse groups of CSU stakeholders coming together to share their accessibility expertise and knowledge

• Progress is measured by a set of status levels• Implementation efforts are based on a prioritization framework

that considers impact, probability, risk, and capacity. 32

FREE OER Services For All Learners Since 1997

www.merlotx.org

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CSU+MERLOT+Universal Design = Open For Uhttp://www.udluniverse.com/

OER, Accessibility & Strategic Allianceshttp://oeraccess.merlot.org

Exploring the OER-AccessibilityTeaching Commons

• Locating accessibility-specific resources, experts, organization on the OER Accessibility site– The Welcome page offers quick access to resource libraries

• Reviewing accessibility info during OER searches– Reviewing info on search results & resource details pages– Locating OER resources that provide accessibility information on

the Finding Accessible OER site• Joining the accessibility community• Adding accessibility information for OER resources• Reviewing accessibility info for MERLOT services

– Reviewing the Accessibility Policy page36

MERLOT Accessibility Goals/Objectives• Promote the use of accessibility info during OER selection

– Develop a standardized accessibility metadata framework– Display accessibility information within search results

• Leverage accessibility knowledge in the user community– Provide a way for users to contribute accessibility info

• Increase awareness, knowledge, and collaboration regarding accessible online teaching/learning– Build collections of accessibility resources, experts, organizations

• Provide comprehensive, up-to-date accessibility info for MERLOT services (digital library site and authoring tools)– Provide an accessibility policy, roadmap, compliance docs

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MERLOT Accessibility Checkpoints• Aligned with Section 508 and WCAG guidelines• Balanced between brevity and breadth of coverage• Tailored to common eLearning formats• 32 total checkpoints organized in 15 functional areas• Collectively represent baseline accessibility support by

addressing the most common, high-impact barriers• Easily validated using free or low-cost tools and

methods:– Firefox WAVE toolbar extension– Firefox Web Developer extension– Manual evaluation

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Structural Markup – Accessibility Overview• Criterion

– The text includes markup that allows for navigation by key structural elements (6A).

• Rationale– Headings allow those who are blind to understand the

structure of the page and easily navigate by sections.– Headings allow those with low-vision to apply their own

styles to more easily locate specific sections.

• Evaluation Steps1. In the WAVE toolbar, click the Outline button

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Structural Markup - Demonstration 1• DNA From the Beginning (Concept 1 links page)

Standard View

Evaluation View47

Structural Markup - Demonstration 2• Biology Tutorials for Cell, Metabolism and Genetics

Standard View

Evaluation View48

Images & Accessibility • Criteria– Non-decorative images have descriptive alternative text (11A).– Decorative images have null alternate text (11B).

• Rationale– Alternate text should describe non-decorative images so they’re

accessible to those who are blind or have visual impairments.– Decorative images should have null (alt=“”) alternate text so

screen readers can skip over unnecessary content.

• Evaluation Steps– In the Web Developer toolbar, select the Images submenu and

then select the Display Alt Attributes command

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Images - Demonstration 1• DNA From the Beginning (Concept 1 landing page)

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Images - Demonstration 2• Biology Tutorials for Cell, Metabolism, and Genetics (Figure 3

0)

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Ever Feel Like This?

Together We Can Make The World Accessible for All

Mass = MERLOT & Partner Communities

Mass = Accessible Digital World

Questions for Panelists

Contact Info:

Anne Taylor ATaylor@nfb.org

Gerry Hanley ghanley@calstate.edu

Una Daly, unatdaly@ocwconsortium.org

http://openeducationweek.org