traveling the road with accessible educational materials and assistive technology joy smiley zabala,...
TRANSCRIPT
Traveling the Road with Accessible Educational Materials and
Assistive Technology
Joy Smiley Zabala, Ed.D.
Director of Technical AssistanceCAST and the National Center on
Accessible Educational Materials for Learning
PART TWO:What do we know about
Accessible Educational Materials?
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AEM Center Goal
To build the capacity of states, districts, postsecondary institutions, families, publishers, and other stakeholders to increase the availability and use of high-quality accessible educational materials (AEM) that support improved learning opportunities for students with disabilities in Part C, K-12, higher education and workplace environments.
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Materials are Materials
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Instructional=
Educational=
Learning
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Ongoing Collaborators
AEM Center at CAST + =
Learning Ally
Benetech B4E
NIMAC at APH, and APH
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IDEAAccess to Materials
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IDEA Fed. Reg. Section 300.172
Provisions require state and local education agencies to ensure that textbooks and related core instructional materials are provided to students with print disabilities in specialized formats in a timely manner.
Legal requirement is placed on state and local education agencies. IDEA cannot place requirements
on publishers
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Specialized Formats of Printed Materials
• Braille, large print, audio, and digital text
• Exactly the same information as the printed materials
• Only the presentation
of the material is different
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A Four-Step Process for Decision-Making
1. Establish need for instructional materials in accessible format(s)
2. Select format(s) and features needed by a student for educational participation and achievement
3. Commence steps to acquire needed format(s) in a timely manner
4. Determine supports needed for effective use for educational participation and achievement.
AIM Navigator at http://aem.cast.org
Lesson Learned…
The need or preference for instructional materials in accessible formats goes well beyond well beyond print and students with identified disabilities.
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Accessible Educational Materials…
• Are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable by the widest possible range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphical, audio, video)
• Content may be “designed to be used as print” and require retrofitting
• Content may be “designed to be used digitally” and difficult to retrofit if not accessible from the start
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Lesson Learned…
When thinking about accessible digital materials, it is important to understand that content and delivery technology are two sides of the AEM coin and both require careful consideration and selection.
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• The information is the content
• Technology is the delivery system that the student uses to perceive and interact with the content
Two Sides of AEM Coin
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Sources of Accessible Formats of Print-based Materials
There are multiple sources for acquiring accessible versions of printed materials but most sources do not deal
all types of AEM and some cannot be used to provide materials to for all students
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Multiple Sources of Accessible Materials
• NIMAS source files from the NIMAC: Printed materials. Use constrained by copyright AND IDEA
• Accessible Media Producers: Printed materials. Use constrained by copyright restrictions (Bookshare, Learning Ally, APH, etc.)
• Locally Produced: May have constraints and certainly require significant human resources
• Free Sources: No limitations, but may not be the same as used by others
• Commercial Sources: Purchase for anyone, use with anyone!
Lesson Learned…
As the publishing industry “goes digital” the most promising sources of AEM for widespread use are:• accessible digital learning materials developed by
publishers and made available for purchase• accessible open educational resources (OERs)
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Many of the digital educational materials and their delivery systems are not currently accessible!
but here’s a problem…
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White paper. Center for Online Learning and Students with Disabilities
http://centerononlinelearning.org
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Purchasing Accessible Learning Materials
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The PALM Initiative
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Purchase
Accessible
Learning
Materials
Lesson Learned…
Purchasing materials designed from the start with rich options that increase their accessibility and make them more widely usable is beneficial in many ways.
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Benefits of purchasing accessible materials• Supports inclusion
All students use same materials at the same time
• Benefits all students’ learning All have access to supportive features and scaffolds
• Benefits teachers Easier to plan and teach
• Reduces complexityEliminates eligibility questions
• Reduces costly accommodationsNo need for different sets of materials or to provide accommodations for inaccessible materials
Created Accessible from the Start
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As exciting, inviting digital materials are being developed, publishers are not hearing much of a
demand for accessibility or broad usability!
and here’s another problem…
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Lesson Learned…
Asking a commercial publisher or a creator of OERs if their digital materials are “accessible” often leads to answers that are not very enlightening.
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What does “accessible” mean?
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Chris Bugaj
http://attipscast.com
The Moving Target of Accessibility
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Think about a student who is deaf or hard of hearing
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Accessibility is increased with…
• Captions for multimedia presentations • Transcripts of multimedia presentations • Simultaneous sign language input • Alternatives for sound cues • Amplified sound and noise reducing earphones
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Think about a student with low vision
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Accessibility is increased with…
• Compatible screen magnification software • Flexible formatting such as fonts, font size, contrast
and colors Text-to-speech software can be used• Audio formats provided• Logical order to content that is easily
understandable
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Think about a student who is blind
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Accessibility is increased when…
• Screen reader software can be used• Refreshable braille device with speech compatible
can be used• Transcripts of multimedia presentations are
compatible with refreshable braille devices• Alt text for images is provided• Logical order to content is easily understandable
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Think about a student with a physical disability
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Accessibility is increased when ...
• Navigation is mouse-free and all functionality is available from the keyboard or other devices
• Visual focus provides guidance
• Alternative input devices or programs are compatible such as voice recognition or visual keyboards when writing is required
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Think about a student who has a learning disability, dyslexia, ADHD, autism or other cognitive disability
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Accessibility is increased when...
• Formatting can be changed to meet preferences
• Text-to-speech software and supported reading software are compatible
• Access location supports and progress bars are available
• Time limits for responses can be extended• Logical order to content that is easily
understandable
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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/wai
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WCAG 2.0, Level AA Principles
• Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable
• Understandable: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable
• Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including AT
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Section 508?DAISY?WCAG 2.0?
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Accessibility for the Rest of Us
Show me!
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Seek out and purchase materials that:
• Can run on a variety of devices
• Are developed in device-agnostic file formats (e.g., accessible HTML, Microsoft Word, PDF, ePUB)
• Have content represented in multiple ways (e.g., video captions, alt text, text and image descriptions that can
be voiced, digital braille)
“Show me” Indicators of Accessibility
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Seek out and purchase materials that:
• Are compatible with other technologies (e.g. assistive technology, screen readers, refreshable braille, text-to-speech, and human-voice reading)
• Have rich navigation alternatives (e.g., keyboard shortcuts/mapping or screen gestures)
• Have location supports such as page numbers and/or progress bars
“Show me” Indicators of Accessibility
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Seek out and purchase materials that:
• Have mathematical, scientific, and music symbols, formulas, and notations represented in multiple ways (e.g., explained with text alternatives, MathML)
• If writing is required, keyboard entry is supported by alternatives (e.g., word prediction, on-screen keyboards, voice input)
“Show me” Indicators of Accessibility
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Electronic Digital Rights Management (DRM) built into materials
MUST NOT prevent access
to built-in accessibility features
or necessary assistive technologies.
and another thing….
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And about those tests…
Commonly Used Supports
Scaffolds, access supports and accommodations provided to students during instruction should be available during assessment as long as they do
not violate the construct(s) being assessed.
If technology or any other support/accommodation is commonly used in education and life, why would it be
unavailable in assessment?
Tool/System Transparency
If a student is unfamiliar with available tools or with the way the tools are presented, the cognitive and
physical attention required to deal with the tools take cognitive attention away from the task.
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Are available tools for the assessment those that are commonly used by THE INDIVIDUAL STUDENT who is
expected to use them in high stakes assessments?
The Dilemma of Multiple Constructs
When more than one construct is being assessed and the inability to successfully deal with one construct
blocks the way for assessing the others, consideration should be given to
accessing the constructs separately.
Is the assessment designed to confirm what we already know a student cannot do or to determine what she CAN do?
System/Tool Interoperability
Interoperability across platforms and tools (hardware and software) is critical to a flexible system that can be effectively and efficiently
used across the widest possible range of student diversity and variability.
Avoid writing one particular “solution” into a system.
One size never did fit all.
Assessment Guides Instruction
What is available in assessment has great influence on what is made available
and used during instruction.
Curriculum Instruction
Assessment
Decision-making Responsibilities
Students, educators, families and others need support to build their familiarity with the strengths and challenges of various accommodations and
their capacity to select among them.
Do decision-makers know their roles and how to go about considering the barriers lowered – and possibly raised – by
various support options?
Where can we learn more or get help when we need it?
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AEM Resources
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The AEM Center Web Site
Knowledge, Tools, and Supports at Your Fingertips!
http://aem.cast.org
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Examples AEM Resources
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• Simply Said” Video
• All About AIM section
• AIMing for Achievement Article Series
• Accessible Instructional Materials: AIM Basics for Families
• Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM): A Technical Guide for Families and Advocates
• And much, much more
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AT Resources
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The SETT Framework
Brief Articles
SETT Scaffolds
http://www.joyzabala.com
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AT Resources
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QIAT
Visit the QIAT website
Join the QIAT List
http://qiat.org
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Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress,
in every society, in every family.
Kofi Anan
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