STLHESTLHEUniversity of OttawaJune 2004

EXPERIENCING THE RICHNESS EXPERIENCING THE RICHNESS of the UNIVERSITY MOSAIC:of the UNIVERSITY MOSAIC: from Diversity to Individualityfrom Diversity to Individuality

WHY WHY ddiiVeVeRRSSIIttYY IS IS IMPOSSIBLEIMPOSSIBLE with our current learning technologieswith our current learning technologies

Peter Paolucci Ph.D.Peter Paolucci Ph.D.STLHEJune 2004

DIGITAL ARCHITECTUREDIGITAL ARCHITECTUREImaginative Pedagogy for Educators

Peter Paolucci, Ph.D. Peter Paolucci, Ph.D.

Derek Allard, B.E.SDerek Allard, B.E.S

Christian Blanchette, Ph.D. Christian Blanchette, Ph.D.

THE PARTNERSTHE PARTNERS

DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE by MODULEDIGITAL ARCHITECTURE by MODULE

Political EconomyPolitical EconomyHistory of DEHistory of DE

AsynchronousAsynchronousDigital MediaDigital MediaNetworkingNetworking

ResearchResearchCultureCultureSynchronousSynchronous

ProjectProjectID / HCIID / HCIDataData

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CONSIDERCONSIDER

Using websites [or any interface] is 206% more difficult for users with disabilities … than for mainstream users (Jakob Neilsen: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040301.html)

“There is a silent and deeply-rooted antagonism raging in many educational institutions over these compliance standards and their implications.” (Paolucci, http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/7_1/2.pdf)

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http://www.w3.org

“Browser wars” and non-standard codes and interpretations have been a challenge ever since itsinception in 1994.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB THE WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUMCONSORTIUM

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http://www.w3.org/WAI/

PurposePurpose::

“a high degree of usability” for all

This objective is not consistent with the pragmatics ofcommercial interests which are driven by other factors(survival, profit, managing competition, efficiency, massMarketing, economies of scale, etc.)

WAIWAI

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– Aimed at physical as well as cognitive disability

– Not just about accommodating difference: accessible interfaces are better for all users, regardless of ability

PURPOSE OF WAIPURPOSE OF WAI

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3 STANDARDS3 STANDARDS

• Website content (ex: HTML, JavaScript)

• Web authoring tools (ex: Dreamweaver, Front Page)

• User agents (browsers) (ex: Netscape, MSIE)

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GUIDELINESGUIDELINES

CHECKLISTSCHECKLISTS

TECHNIQUESTECHNIQUES

STRUCTURE OF WAISTRUCTURE OF WAI

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PHYSICAL DISABILITIESPHYSICAL DISABILITIES

– Blindness – Low vision – Color blindness– Deafness and hearing disorders– Motor disability

– Muscle weakness / control– Involuntary movement (MS, Parkinson’s)– Lack of coordination – Paralysis

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– Dyslexia – Dyscalculia– ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)– Memory impairments – Mental health disabilities – Seizures – Age-related disabilities

COGNITIVE DISABILITIESCOGNITIVE DISABILITIES

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– Visual– Textual– Auditory– Textual + auditory– Visual + auditory– Tactile– Theory-to-applied– Applied-to-theory

VARIETIES OF LEARNERSVARIETIES OF LEARNERS

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– Alternative keyboards (switches) – Braille / refreshable Braille – Screen readers – Screen magnifiers – Sound notification

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIESASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

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– Speech recognition– Scanning (picks phrases at a time) – Speech synthesis – Tabbing through indexes

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIESASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

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Priority 1 [“A”]a)a) MustMust satisfy this checkpoint

Priority 2 [“AA”]a)a) ShouldShould satisfy this checkpoint

Priority 2 [“AAA”]a)a) MayMay address this checkpoint

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#priorities

CONFORMANCE LEVELSCONFORMANCE LEVELS

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THE DIALECTIC OF THE DIALECTIC OF STANDARDIZATIONSTANDARDIZATION

PROSPROSTraffic lights: everyone gets to

work alive

Flight paths: no planes collide

ISO standards (www.iso.org/)

Microsoft operating system means every machine the same and I know where things are (this is good)

CONSCONSOut of context become

stupid (ever wait at a red light when no one is around?)

Often competing standards emerge in early stages of development (ex: Beta and VHS tapes)

Predictability can be exploited (email viruses usually because of Microsoft email products)

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STANDARDIZATIONSTANDARDIZATION

Educators “standardize” in many waysEducators “standardize” in many ways

Content (for certification purposes) Delivery (one or a few methods) Testing (the usual range: m/choice, problem solving, research, etc) Duration of courses (by hour/day/week/term) Level of difficulty and intensity Even the seating orientation (classroom layouts) ! Certification (degrees/certificates/diplomas) Even our graduates are predictably standardized

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STANDARDIZATIONSTANDARDIZATION

Tyrannical or inclusive? Tyrannical or inclusive? Depends onDepends on

Intent Motive Receptiveness Whether the cost of conforming is

outweighed by the benefits gained

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FIRST PRINCIPLES OF FIRST PRINCIPLES OF STANDARDIZATIONSTANDARDIZATION

The W3 standardizes So does Microsoft/Web CT/Macromedia Differences?

– W3 is volunteer with a universal goal– Private sector is proprietary with a limited

goal– W3 puts users first: private sector puts

private sector (themselves) first (otherwise they won’t stay in business)

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ARPA NETARPA NET (1968)(1968)

CULTURE OF CONTROLCULTURE OF CONTROL

– Military, scientific, commercial– Ownership / control– Copyright / patents– Profit– Secrecy– The establishment

COUNTER CULTURECOUNTER CULTURE

– Hippies, intelligentsia, the educated, the affluent

– Communal and sharing– Benefits for all– Gift economy– Openness– Anti-establishment

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IMAGINEIMAGINE

– A car (let’s say a Ford) with the hood locked and sealed so that only Ford dealers could access your engine

– A car (let’s say a Chevy) whose gas tank only fits the hoses at Esso stations. In order to fill up at Sunoco you need a special $1000 adaptor for Sunoco stations, and another $1000 adaptor for Petrocanada stations, etc.

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SOFTWARESOFTWARE

CULTURE OF CONTROLCULTURE OF CONTROL

– Microsoft / WebCT / Dreamweaver

– Compiled source code

COUNTER CULTURECOUNTER CULTURE

– Linux / Mozilla– Open source code

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K.D. EASON’S K.D. EASON’S PATTERN OF USAGEPATTERN OF USAGE

He studied function/activity codes used by bank tellers (1984) Of a total of 36 possible codes, 4 codes accounted for more that 75%

of all the usage !!

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Number of Functions

% U

sag

e

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IMPACTIMPACT

We buy more than functions than we need (over selling)

The code is hidden (proprietary) and we cannot change it (inflexibility)

We use less than we pay for (waste)

We cannot comply with WAI until vendor decides when and by how much (vendor dependence)

We offer one course one way and fail to reach a variety of learners in a variety of ways (rigidity)

Content produced in one proprietary environment is not easily transported to another (vendor imprisonment)

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POST SECONDARY ?POST SECONDARY ?

CULTURE OF CONTROLCULTURE OF CONTROL

– Competing now with other institutions everywhere for students and faculty

– Rigid regulations for students, T&P, various certifications

– Dedicate departments to marketing, recruitment, and alumni for purposes of $$

COUNTER CULTURECOUNTER CULTURE– Some cooperative work

individually and institutionally

– Not always driven by profit

– Tenure protects and allows for freedom to express radical opinions (in theory at any rate)

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PUBLISHING MODELSPUBLISHING MODELS

OLDOLD

– Buy entire Norton Anthology in x2 volumes and use only a fraction of it

– Buy MSWord and use only part of it, leaving out (for example) autosummarize, thesaurus, grammar checker, etc

NEWNEW

– Go to website check off which authors I want and in what order they will appear in the anthology

– Or build my own anthologized kit

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ALTERNATIVESALTERNATIVES

1.1. ASP / PHP /shared appletsASP / PHP /shared applets• Could be shared amongst post secondary consortium• Needs institutional coordination, cooperation ad synchronization

in development so minimum duplication

2.2. XML/XSLXML/XSL• New Windows / Office 2005 (aka “Longhorn” is all XML based• We should be investing heavily in XML, both in

training/expertise and in developing XML solutions

3.3. Open sourceOpen source• The idea: take one / leave one• Gift economy and shared development and expense• Use previously-built libraries and code for free: leave your

improvements free for others to us

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OPEN SOURCEOPEN SOURCE

http://www.opensource.org/

Why Open Source Software http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

Free and Open Source Software: a feasability study (Sweden) http://www.statskontoret.se/pdf/200308eng.pdf

Perceived disadvantages of open source models http://eu.conecta.it/paper/Perceived_disadvantages_ope.html

Open Forum on Disadvantages of Open Source http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=1250

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ONLINE FUNCTIONS ONLINE FUNCTIONS

BroadcastBroadcast – Website and/or notification board– Listserv or some kind of automatic email notification– File sharing (images, sound, text, video)

CommunicationCommunication – Synchronous (chat, instant messaging, video chat)– Asynchronous (threaded discussion, blog)– White board, smart board– Ability to record and archive all communcations

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ONLINE FUNCTIONS ONLINE FUNCTIONS

Tracking capability – Student usage, frequency, performance

Test /Self-Study Question Generators– for performance enhancement or measurement

Easy front-end Access – Browser only or simple client software installation

Back-end Performance– Can tap into other databases (SQL or XML-compliant)

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KEY FUNCTIONALITIES KEY FUNCTIONALITIES

Login authentication (id + pwd)

Create/modify acct info (instructor or support)

(De-)assign permissions (instructor or support)

A threaded discussion area that allows for:– Sorting by date– Sorting by Cc and Bcc as well as urgency– The use of true font faces and colors– Sorting by userid– Sorting by subject– Sorting by a combination of these other sorts– Sorting by any combination of these other sorts inside a thread

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KEY FUNCTIONALITIES KEY FUNCTIONALITIES

Search postings by date heading contents of to:, from:. Cc: field s the from: field, the "cc:" field, the "bcc:" field body of the message as many directories, courses as possible in as many places as possible

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KEY FUNCTIONALITIES KEY FUNCTIONALITIES

Login authentication (id + pwd)

Create/modify acct info (instructor or support)

(De-)assign permissions (instructor or support)

A threaded discussion area that allows for:– Sorting by date– Sorting by Cc and Bcc as well as urgency– The use of true font faces and colors– Sorting by userid– Sorting by subject– Sorting by a combination of these other sorts– Sorting by any combination of these other sorts inside a thread

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EXAMPLEEXAMPLE

Derek Allard’s threaded discussion forum (asp)http://www.darkhorse.to/edtalk/

– 40 hours work so far– Many functionalities already built– Why can’t we do this and free ourselves

from the limitations of proprietary software?

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