as a Means to Involve Faculty and Increase Accessibility Subject Area Studies as a Means to Involve Faculty and Increase Accessibility

Presenters Phyllis Petteys - Accessibility Specialist, Disability Services Karen Sorensen - Accessibility Advocate for Online Courses, Distance Learning Angel Chesimet - Disability Counselor, Disability Services

What is a Subject Area Study? 1 term, deep-dive into the content, materials & way a subject is taught. 2 -3 faculty, each paid the equivalent of teaching 1 course Disability Services Distance Ed Accessibility / Instructional Technology End users Working together, recognizing that DL and DS are not subject area experts, and faculty are not accessibility experts. Outcomes Best practices report / resource posted on pcc.edu/access Presentation

Goals of SAS Increase awareness of accessibility Increase awareness of disability issues Faculty become advocates Share discoveries, tools, resources, and techniques with colleagues Benefits all students because it makes the learning environment richer Faculty video - Chris K.

To date at PCC, 4 SAS Math (Fall, 2012) Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, Computer Application Systems (Winter, 2014) Geography (Winter, 2016) Communications and Journalism (Spring, 2016)

Math Distance Ed + Math faculty + End user Takeaway - not all students who are blind learn math the same way, or have the same technology or Braille skills WeBWork the rule of four, a guiding principle in teaching math, when a concept or idea is introduced and discussed, communicate it in four ways: algebraically numerically verbally graphically The challenge is then how to present these concepts to students with disabilities

Continued advocacy by math faculty Faculty continue to promote WeBWork (an accessible, open source homework site) Continue to articulate the need for equally effective materials (such as tactile graphics) when needed A voice when talking to publishers Share findings and experiences at conferences Advocate for our students Leaders at the college as well as nationally by advocating for greater math accessibility

Computer Science, Computer Informations Systems, Computer Application Systems Faculty expressed doubt that a student who is blind could take their classes, but quickly saw, by watching end users use a screen reader. Realization that it may be the way the subject is taught, not the discipline itself that provides barriers to students (UDL). Faculty video (Marc)

Geography Geography tends to be a visual discipline, consisting of maps, technology such as GIS, photos, videos, histograms etc. We brought in a student who is blind and majored in Ecology at a four year college, who showed the faculty that an awareness of the world of spatial relationships is in no way limited to those who can see.

Social Geography Image Discussing an image: To describe factually or to interpret Think creatively Ask for different perspectives

Maps Princeton Braillists (https://princetonbraillists.org/): Tactile maps and atlases - VERY reasonably priced! We also looked at technology and tactile maps (Livescribe, IVEO) The Geography Study taught us that a good map does not try to show too many features This is the guiding principle of a tactile map but it works for other maps too

Communications/Journalism Prior studies had been math and science subjects. Brought in end users who are blind and end users who are deaf Looked at publisher content UDL solutions: Choices for assignments, Broaden existing assignments Faculty study member: Chris K.

Broaden course content Increasing disability studies concepts in their classes Instructors, in their classes, already looked at marginalized people in the media with a social justice lens, and now are prepared to include people with disabilities in the discussion Using UDL concepts create a richer learning experience for all students Faculty study member: Stacie W.

Conclusions Faculty come to the realization/awareness of what it means to make a course accessible Is the goal for students with disabilities to simply pass the class? Faculty realize that it may be the way the subject is taught, not the discipline itself that provides barriers to students

Basic steps for implementing SAS at your school Assemble a team Find the funding Faculty get paid the equivalent to course release from 1 course Payment comes from different sources Distance Education Subject Area departments Deans of Instruction Promote the study. Recruit!