Accessible Open Educational Resources Ohio’s Scaffold to the Stars Stephen R. Acker, OhioLINK/The Ohio Board of Regents Ken Petri, The Ohio State University

Agenda Open Educational Resources (OER)- hybrid digital and print learning objects Ohio’s Scaffold to the Stars- a curricular tool that builds modules from OER Building accessible OER course packs – Iterative processes – The special case of math content Summary and next steps

OER and instructional content OER is gaining traction as individually contributed and “pro-packaged” (Flat World, Connexions, CK-12) materials. – In general, pro-packaged materials are addressing accessibility needs – In general, individually-created OER are less often accessible Lack of creator knowledge Lack of creator production skills

Ohio’s Scaffold to the Stars An Educause Next Generation Learning Challenge project Modular math and statics resources Tagged to Learning Objectives in a sequence of math courses Value-rated by students and faculty Described with accessibility metadata field Delivered through Drupal/HTML5 Platform

Building multiple modular curricula Each learning objective can be served by more than one learning module since the resources are offered at no cost in digital format Parallel curriculum of accessible content can be customized to serve learning needs and requirements Non-accessible content can also be converted to accessible format when alternatives don’t exist – MathJax

Stitz-Zeager LaTex and MathJax Ken demo

Google Analytics

Funnels – Web pathways toward goals Can be access- device or access-network triggered Multipath funnels – Different (comparable?) paths toward goals Goal (actionable end page of a web funnel) – Buy, request information, test-ready Conversions – User actions at goal Percentage or number of users who purchase, info seek, practice test) Revise based on feedback loop – Intelligence events and automatic alerts

Educause/I2 digital textbook pilot- Phase 2 Phase 1 Educause/I2 pilot offered deeply discounted digital text on CourseLoad platform Student uses and accessibility evaluated and found lacking Contest between “author’s voice” and “audience ears.” – Parallel curricula of equal effort/equal outcomes necessary.

Additional Resources OER and accessibility Partner Community – California State University, MERLOT, Open CourseWare Consortium, and the National Federation of the Blind are founding members

Contacts Stephen R. Acker, Research Director – Ohio Digital Bookshelf-OhioLINK/The Ohio Board of Regents – Ken Petri, Director – Web Accessibility Center- The Ohio State University –