Current Campus Situation

Inaccessible Content and Delivery Mechanisms The vast majority of content and delivery systems are either wholly or partially inaccessible. – Textbooks, e-books, simulations, PPT presentations, software, apps, multimedia. – Instructor- and student-generated content. Retrofits are often difficult or impossible, particularly in a timely manner.

Image Based Content Most STEAM content is published as images, even when it appears to the eye to be text. – Includes math, charts, graphs, diagrams. This content starts life as real text and data. Challenges include getting content creators to learn how to handle this content appropriately. Adding alt tags afterward is often insufficient, albeit better than nothing.

Lack of Standards Good, comprehensive standards don’t yet exist for production of accessible STEAM materials. Users never know from one document to the next how they will be presented. Quality and accuracy of content varies widely.

Lack of Consistency in Technology Different AT, even in the same “class”, may render content differently. Different versions of OS, browser, and other technology also often render content differently or not at all. Result is users having to utilize a wide variety of technology and AT to get even part of the content that their peers get. That technology can stop working at any time.

Cognitive Load and Time Users with disabilities must learn all the same content and technology as their peers, often with workarounds, plus a large number of supplementary technologies and renderings of content. Most AT requires more time to use than directly accessing content without AT.

Consumption vs. Production of Content Production here means that a user can also write or otherwise create content in a format that others can interact with. – Be able to write/type in a foreign language. – Be able to write/manipulate math or other symbolic language (chemistry, etc.). A user may be able to read a textbook, but can they do their homework assignments? Will the professor understand or accept what they have produced? Can a prof WD create materials?

Assessment Issues Design: does the instrument assess knowledge mastery, or is something else getting in the way? Production: – is it born accessible or not? can we retrofit it accurately and in time? Administration: – comparable to peers? – requiring normal or different AT?

Strategies for Improvement Get faculty involved with asking for accessible materials from commercial vendors. Incorporate accessibility into all purchasing procedures, not just the high-dollar items that require a contract. Educate institutional content creators (faculty, etc.) in how to create accessible documents and media, or direct them to resources. Collaborate with faculty education resources to reduce design barriers and increase usability.

DIAGRAM The DIAGRAM Center is a research and development project funded by the Benetech Global Literacy Initiative. Image Description Guidelines and Tools MathML Cloud: tool for creating and publishing accessible math content.

DO-IT The DO-IT program offers information and resources for educators and students. The Faculty Room can be a good introduction for some instructors: ccesscollege/faculty-room/overview ccesscollege/faculty-room/overview

NCDAE National Center on Disability and Access to Education Offers resources and information on improving accessibility.