1. Making Everyday Materials Accessible for All Learners
Welcome!
Making Everyday Materials Accessible for All Learners
Module 1: Introduction to Accessible Educational Materials and Technologies
The webinar will begin shortly
Material for this webinar is available for download at the following page of the AEM Center website:
@AEM_Center

2. View Closed Captions Select the Closed Caption button
Captions will appear along the bottom of your screen
@AEM_Center

3. Contribute to the Conversation
To use the text chat:
Open the chat panel
Choose “all panelists and attendees” from the dropdown above the text entry field
Twitter users, please tweet out to #aem4all
@AEM_Center

4. Materials and Recording
Material for this webinar is available for download at
The link to the recording will be available within a week at the same web page.
@AEM_Center

5. Making Everyday Curriculum Materials Accessible for All Learners
Module 1: Introduction to Accessible Educational Materials and Technologies
Cynthia Curry, Director of the AEM Center, CAST
Luis Pérez, TA Specialist, AEM Center, CAST

6. About the AEM Center
What is our mission?
What services do we offer?

7. AEM Center Mission and Goals
To build the capacity of
States and districts,
Higher ed institutions,
Workforce development agencies,
Publishers and edtech developers,
Families
and other stakeholders to increase the availability and use of high-quality accessible materials and technologies that support improved learning opportunities and outcomes for learners with disabilities.

8. Three Levels of Technical Assistance (TA)
Universal
Targeted
Intensive

9. Goal: Identify best practices that can be scaled up by other states
Best Practice Cohort
Goal: Identify best practices that can be scaled up by other states

10. Definition of AEM What does accessibility mean?
What makes materials and technologies accessible?

11. Chat Question 1
What does accessibility mean to you?

12. Two Meanings of Accessibility: Equity of Access
Equity of Access Access to the devices and consistent high-speed broadband access is essential for digital instructional materials implementation.
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

13. Two Meanings of Accessibility: Accessibility for All
Accessibility for All Students Providing accessibility for all students must be a consideration when acquiring, developing and implementing digital instructional materials.
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

14. U.S. Department of Education/Office for Civil Rights

15. Accessible Materials and Technologies
Information or content
Designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable by the widest possible range of learner variability regardless of format
Print, digital, graphical, audio, video
Accessible Technologies
Hardware of software that delivers the material
Usable by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities
Directly usable without assistive technology (AT) or usable with it
accessibletech.org
@AEM_Center

16. Digital Material-Technology in Accessible Harmony
Students read accessible ebooks on accessible tablets with built-in options for access:
Screen reader
Text to speech
Display customization
Bluetooth-enabled
Closed captions
Video description
@AEM_Center

17. Chat Question 2
What accessible materials and technologies have you experienced?

18. The “Why” of AEM Why is AEM important?
What are the legal requirements?

19. Students with Disabilities
There are 6.5 MILLION students in the US receiving special education services
That’s 13% of all public school students source: NCES, May 2016
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

20. Population High School Students with Disabilities
There is a significant high school graduation gap between students with disabilities and students without
65.5% vs. 84% source: NCES, 2017 And students with disabilities enroll in college at half the rate of their peers without disabilities and graduate at a lower rate.
1 in 5 students have a learning or attention disability (e.g., dyslexia, ADHD):
@AEM_Center

21. Students with Disabilities with Bachelor’s Degrees
16.4% of adults with disabilities have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 34.6% of adults without disabilities source: U.S. Department of Labor, 2015
Educational Attainment in the United States:2015
Camille L. Ryan and Kurt Bauman
March 2016
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

22. People with Disabilities in the Workforce
There is a significant workforce gap between people with disabilities and people without
20.2% vs. 69.1% source: U.S. DOL, June 2018
U.S. Department of Labor- Office of Disability Employment Policy
Unemployment rate: 7% vs. 3.4%
Image: CC BY 2.0
Daniel Ramirez Workforce 2011 Job Blaisdell Center
@AEM_Center | #aem4all

23. Laws and Legal Issues Where did AEM come from?
What does the IDEA say about AEM?
What is the difference between AIM and AEM?

24. When AEM was AIM (IDEA 04) Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM)
IDEA provision requires state and local education agencies to ensure that printed textbooks and related core instructional materials are provided to learners with print disabilities in specialized formats in a timely manner.
Legal requirement is placed on state and local education agencies. IDEA cannot place requirements on publishers.

25. AIM Becomes AEM in 2015
AIM expands from specialized formats to include digital materials and technologies
“Accessible educational materials” means print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are required by SEAs and LEAs for use by all students, produced or rendered in accessible media, written and published primarily for use in early learning programs, elementary or secondary schools to support teaching and learning.
CFDA Z, Footnote #10

26. AEM Includes AIM AIM IDEA Specialized formats of print materials AEM
2015
Print AND digital materials and technologies

27. The “Who” of AEM
Who needs AEM?
What are some examples?

28. Who Uses Accessible Materials and Technologies?

29. Key Question to Consider
Can the learner access and use the same materials and technologies selected for the general education curriculum to support learning?
@AEM_Center

30. Bailey’s Story

31. Tour of Our Website About AEM AEM in Action AEM and the Digital Shift
AEM State Contacts and SEA Information

32. Challenge for Later
Locate Your AEM State Contact information on our website Remember: Our website has a robust search feature

33. Upcoming Office Hours Week 3: July 26th, 4 PM ET
Week 5: August 9th, 4 PM ET
Connection information to be sent by .
@AEM_Center

34. Next Module
How to Make Your Documents Accessible August 29th, 4 PM ET (1-hour webinar)
@AEM_Center

35. Chat Question 3
What will be your first step to learn more about accessible materials and technologies?

36. Connect with the AEM Center
us at
Call us at
Follow us on Twitter
@AEM_Center
Like us on Facebook
@AEMCenter

37. Thank you for participating!
Evaluation
Thank you for participating!
Please take a few moments to complete a brief survey, which is intended to gather information about the quality, relevance, and usefulness of the webinar you just attended.
Your responses are completely confidential and are important to our continuous improvement efforts.