November 7 , 2012

Exploring Universal Design and IT Accessibility in a Flexible Learning Space Susan Cullen, California State University, Northridge Greg Kraus, North Carolina State University Daniela Marghitu, Auburn University Sushil K. Oswal, University of Washington - Tacoma Terrill Thompson, University of Washington - Seattle #E12_SESS049

What is Universal Design? Universal design (UD), a concept that grew from the field of architecture, has recently emerged as a paradigm for designing instructional methods, curriculum, and assessment that are welcoming and accessible to students with a wide range of characteristics, including those related to race, ethnicity, native language, gender, age, and disability.

What is Universal Design? The Assistive Technology Act of 1998 provides a comprehensive definition of UD: “The term ‘universal design’ means a concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products and services that are usable by people with the widest possible range of functional capabilities, which include products and services that are directly accessible (without requiring assistive technologies) and products and services that are interoperable with assistive technologies.”

What is Universal Design? Beginning in 1997, product developers, architects, and engineers at the Center for Universal Design established seven UD principles to consider in the design of any product or environment. http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/

Why Should We Think of Universal Design in IT? Information technology is rapidly and fundamentally changing higher education. Colleges and universities are widely adopting new classroom and web-based applications and services without regard to whether these technologies are accessible to all users, including students with disabilities. For example, those with sensory disabilities (e.g., blindness or deafness); learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia); language or cultural differences, and so forth may all require different ways of approaching content. Others may simply grasp information quicker or more efficiently through visual or auditory means rather than printed text. Also learning, and transfer of learning, occurs when multiple representations are used, because it allows students to make connections within, as well as between, concepts. In short, there is not one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for representation is essential.

Why Should We Think of Universal Design in IT? The majority of IT products and resources used in higher education do not conform to accessibility standards. Not a single learning management system (LMS) is presently fully accessible to screen reader users.

Why Should We Think of Universal Design in IT? Every study indicates that a majority of college web pages fail to meet the accessibility standards. Consequently, students are excluded from participating fully in their education.

Why Should We Think of Universal Design IT? Higher education institutions have legal obligations to provide programs and services to all qualified participants, including those with disabilities. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 made it unlawful to deny or exclude qualified individuals with disabilities from programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance.

Why Should We Think of Universal Design IT? Further, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits disability-based discrimination in employment (Title I), programs and services provided by public entities (Title II), and places of public accommodation (Title III). These three titles of the ADA also apply to the institutions of higher education in varying degrees.

Why Should We Think of Universal Design IT? The institutions of higher education also have the ethical responsibility of providing learning opportunities to all. American Universities have always claimed to be the purveyors of enlightenment and cultural enrichment. We also need to become places of inclusion and accommodations.

What is Universal Design for Learning? Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that addresses the primary barrier to fostering expert learners within instructional environments: inflexible, “one-size-fits-all” curricula. Three primary principles, which are based on neuroscience research, guide UDL and provide the underlying framework for the Guidelines.

UDL Principles Principle I: Provide Multiple Means of Representation (the “what” of learning). Learners differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them. Learners with sensory disabilities (e.g., blindness or deafness); learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia); language or cultural differences, and so forth may all require different ways of approaching content. Others may simply grasp information quicker or more efficiently through visual or auditory means rather than printed text. Also learning, and transfer of learning, occurs when multiple representations are used, because it allows students to make connections within, as well as between, concepts. In short, there is not one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for representation is essential.

UDL Principles Principle II: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression (the “how” of learning). Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. Individuals with significant movement impairments (e.g., cerebral palsy), those who struggle with strategic and organizational abilities (executive function disorders), those who have language barriers, and so forth approach learning tasks very differently. Some may be able to express themselves well in written text but not speech, and vice versa. It should also be recognized that action and expression require a great deal of strategy, practice, and organization, and this is another are in which learners can differ. In reality, there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for action and expression is essential.

UDL Principles Principle III: Provide Multiple Means of Engagement (the “why” of learning). Affect represents a crucial element to learning, and learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn. There are a variety of sources that can influence individual variation in affect including neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, and background knowledge, along with a variety of other factors presented in these guidelines. Some learners are highly engaged by spontaneity and novelty while other are disengaged, even frightened, by those aspects, preferring strict routine. Some learners might like to work alone, while others prefer to work with their peers. In reality, there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners in all contexts; providing multiple options for engagement is essential.

Agenda Small group activity – Experiencing IT accessibility (10 min) Small groups report out (5 min) Lecture and Demonstration: Eight great questions to ask about accessibility (10 min) Group discussion: Where do we go from here? (15 min)

Small Group Resources Accessible University mock site http://uw.edu/accesscomputing/AU Video accessibility demo http://staff.washington.edu/tft/talks/edu12/video.html

Putting the Pieces Together How do you make this coherent to others? How do you build a system to ensure accessibility?

Bite-Size Portions Don’t try to tackle everything at once Break it down to manageable tasks Education Policy Procurement Workflows for procurement, development, content creation

Education Putting accessibility into your own words Eight Great Questions

Eight Great Questions Can you use it without a mouse? Have you divided up your content with headings? Can you view a text-only version and understand it Do you have transcripts for any audio or video? Do you use enough color contrast? Do your pages have a consistent look-and-feel? Do your images have appropriate text descriptions? Does each form input have an appropriate label?

Free Tools to Help Answer the Questions Keyboard (1) Headings Map (2) WAVE toolbar (2, 3, 7, 8) Juicy Studio Toolbar (5) Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (2) Mouse (8) Headings Map https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7203/ JuicyStudio Accessibility Toolbar https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/juicy-studio-accessibility-too/ Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/tools/web-evaluation-tools/

Policies Defining what needs to be done Defining who is going to do it What standard will you use? Defining who is going to do it

Give Them a Path to Follow If they know where to step, they are less likely to wander off the path IT Accessibility Quick Guides

Procurement How do you evaluate the accessibility of a product? What do you require from vendors? Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) How do you continue talking with vendors?

Resources IT Accessibility Policies and Practices http://www.educause.edu/library/accessibility-policies-and-practices EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group http://www.educause.edu/groups/itaccess ATHEN Access Technology Higher Education Network http://athenpro.org/ Accessible University http://uw.edu/accesscomputing/AU/ http://go.ncsu.edu/accessibleu IT Accessibility Quick Guides http://go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-quick-guide-pdf

Photo Credits Stéfan http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/sets/72157616350171741/ Creative Commons License

You're Invited to the Video Premier Tonight (Wednesday, Nov 7) Exhibit Hall Learning Theater 5:30-6:30 (during opening night reception)

Continue the discussion IT Accessibility Constituent Group Ongoing discussion via email list Other activities to promote IT accessibility http://www.educause.edu/groups/itaccess IT Accessibility CG Annual Meeting Open agenda, rich discussion Thursday, Nov 8 – Room 304 On Twitter: #E12_SESS049