1. The Utah State Instructional Materials Access Center (USIMAC) Partners in Bridging the Accessibility Gap Vali Ann Kremer July 21, 2010

2. Before the Bridge In January, 2009 the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind provided: Three Braille transcribers and one Braille proofreader to transcribe student materials for the entire State of Utah.

3. Recognizing a bridge is needed Meet Molly –Lack of timeliness –Lack of resources Meet Sam –Lack of options –Lack of quality and consistency

4. Building the Bridge Signed on to the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). Created a contract between the USOE and textbook publishers requiring NIMAS files be submitted to the NIMAC. Applied for and received one of thirteen grants awarded from the AIM Consortium.

5. Building the Bridge Creation of the USIMAC, a collaboration between: –The Utah State Office of Education & –The Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind Access to the NIMAC –Becoming an Authorized User

6. Crossing the Bridge Other commonly-used sources: APH RFB&D BookShare Some Basic Utah Statistics Number of NIMAS files downloaded142 Number of Accessible Materials produced in 2009277 Number of Accessible Materials produced in 20101153 Total Number of Students Receiving Services from USIMAC236

7. Reaching our Destination Some Challenges Braille transcription software still does not convert NIMAS files easily. Student access to accessible devices. Tactile graphics take an enormous amount of time. –Students do not always know how to read them. –Teachers want too much information on them. –Transcribers often don’t know how to produce them – lack of national standards.

8. Reaching our Destination Stepping into the Future Provide equal access for all students. Provide high-quality and consistent accessible material. Provide on-going training to teachers and administrators. Provide new opportunities for student accessibility by offering new formats such as e-Books and Math ML.

9. Reaching our Destination Putting it all together Molly and Sam receive their books just like everyone else on the first day of school! + + + “Bridging the Accessibility Gap!” Molly plus SamplusThe USIMAC Equals:

10. Hollie Fletcher, Director ERC/USIMAC (801) 629-4731 / hollief@usdb.orghollief@usdb.org or Vali Ann Kremer, Coordinator, USIMAC (801) 629-4796 / valik@usdb.orgvalik@usdb.org Contact Information for the Utah State Instructional Materials Access Center