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BEST PRACTICES: CURRENT THINKING, NEW DIRECTIONS Norman Coombs [email protected] CEO EASI E-LEARNING HISTORY • • • • • • • • • Centralized mainframe and modem NJIT and Educational Information Exchange System DEC and VAXnotes Command prompt interface FTP and telnet No pictures; text only PC like a dumb terminal Lonely pioneers Users with Disabilities GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE • • • • • • • • GUI and the PC Development of multimedia Impact for users with disabilities: Blind Low vision Motor impaired Visual and cognitive processing disabilities Deaf and hard of hearing WORLD WIDE WEB • • • • • • Decentralized computing Hypertext interface Graphics, video, audio and text Information super highway Rules of the road WAI and 508 DISABILITY LEGISLATION – A decade ago, courseware vendors said that disability legislation did not relate to them and that colleges were not asking for accessibility. – Colleges were not sure whether such legislation related either to IT or to e-learning. DISABILITY LEGISLATION • Department of Education OCR routinely cites • Rehabilitation act 504 • Rehabilitation Act 508 • Americans with Disabilities Act COMPONENTS OF E-LEARNING • Courseware system or infrastructure created by professional Web programmers with the skill to enable them to create an accessible product • Course content created by faculty with minimal technical know-how and posted to the courseware COURSEWARE ACCESSIBILITY • All the major courseware vendors have made significant progress towards accessibility. • More work still needs to be done especially in areas like chat, discussion and whiteboard • Now it is time to go beyond the infrastructure and focus on improving course content accessibility MEDIUM OR THE MESSAGE • Special features of classroom learning • Special features of online learning • Using the medium to maximize the communication and the learning • Make the technology as transparent as possible • Best practice with limited tech skill UNIVERSAL PAGE DESIGN • • • • • • Good color contrast Maintain some white space Simple, clear design Avoid eye candy Avoid glitz for its own sake Every item on a page should contribute to the central message • Use simple, clear and consistent navigation UNIVERSAL CONTENT DESIGN • • • • • • • Modularize the content Use redundant communication modes Use simple, clear language Strive for short sentences and short paragraphs Use the active verb when possible Provide content previews and content summaries Provide frequent opportunities for interaction BE LEARNER CENTERED • Make the student an active participant in his or her learning • Avoid one-way information monologues • Focus on the information technology tools that promote interaction • When using communication modes that promote a monologue, divide that content into small modules TWO LEVELS OF TRAINING • Some content designers will have advanced Web design skill and will be able to understand the WAI and 508 standards to create advanced Web content • Most faculty will not have the skill and will need training to create simpler content that is still accessible CORE STANDARDS??? • • • • • • (a) images (b) multimedia © color (g & h) tables (k) Keep text pages updated (o) Ability to skip repetitive navigation COURSEWARE WIZARD • When faculty upload content to the courseware system, it should prompt for relevant accessibility features • After content is posted to courseware, its design should permit modification/repair for accessibility features AUTHOR TOOL WIZARD • Microsoft Office Word, Excel and Powerpoint are the most common authoring tools • Microsoft Office Accessibility Wizard • cita.disability.uiuc.edu/software/office/ • Subtitle Workshop caption tool • urusoft.cjb.net/ TIPS AND TRICKS • Until authoring and courseware systems have accessibility wizards prompting designer to integrate accessibility into content, there is a need to develop tips and tricks to help faculty who lack the skill to fully implement correct accessibility LEARNING PARADIGMS • Traditional education follows a linear, stepby-step progression predetermined by the teacher • The Web has multiple connections in all directions and is more holistic • Does the Web foster a lack of focus and hinder learning, or is it a new learning paradigm? CONCLUSION • Courseware systems (infrastructure) is becoming accessible but needs continuing work • Course content now needs to be the focus of elearning accessibility • Skilled designers need training on WAI and 508 • Most faculty need tools and tips to enable them to create accessible content without becoming Web experts