1. Accessibility Training for Online Educators Sheryl Burgstahler sherylb@uw.edu Hadi Rangin hadir@uw.edu

2. Sheryl’s First Online Course  First online learning course at UW, 1995  Co-instructor Dr. Norm Coombs  Title: Adaptive Technology for People with Disabilities  Technology: Email, discussion list, Gopher server, telnet, file transfer protocol  Mailed materials: publications, captioned & audio described VHS videos

3. Presentation objective  Compare and contrast two options for providing accessibility training to online learning instructors, content developers, & program administrators

4. Factors  Increasing numbers of learning opportunities delivered online & online tools  Increasing diversity on postsecondary campuses  legislation to ensure equal access for people with disabilities world-wide  civil rights complaints about inaccessible design of IT

5. A Goal for Online Learning  Courses & programs that are welcoming to, accessible to, & usable by all potential students, including those with disabilities

6. Stakeholders  Students  Instructors  Online course designers  IT technical & support personnel  Disability service providers  Campus leaders  Learning management system (LMS) providers

7. Most Common Accommodations for Online Courses at UW  Alternate testing –extended time, permission to use speech- to-text software like Dragon  Accessible instructional materials –audio books, accessible files –Avg 26k pages evaluated each quarter  Captioning –5.5 hours of video/wk = $10,395/quarter

8. Two Online Courses  Rutgers University  University of Illinois

9. Rutgers University  Instructor: Sheryl Burgstahler  Background  Target: Online instructors, course designers, program administrators  Format: Online, asynchronous, universally designed  LMS: eCollege  Length: 6 weeks, noncredit

10. Prerequisites, Rutgers  Low level of technical expertise required  Students are expected to engage about 2 hours per week

11. Student Objectives, Rutgers  Describe diversity, accommodations, potential IT/course access challenges & solutions, AT, UD, civil rights, legislation, accessible IT guidelines/standards  Describe accessible & usable design of online content (e.g., for content design, web pages, multimedia, file formats)  Be aware of roles & resources regarding the creation of accessible online courses

12. Instructional Strategies, Rutgers  Modules with overview content & links to videos & resources  Discussions—post message & respond to at least one other message  Joint development of webliography  Project, with extended time option

13. Evaluation, Rutgers  Students reported gains in knowledge about access challenges, legal issues, & making courses accessible  Students expect to apply what they learned  Challenges for instructor: –wide variety of technology skills of students –materials not available in accessible format –covering so much content in 12 total hours

14. University of Illinois  Universal Design for Online Learning  Instructors: Hadi Rangin, Marc Thompson  Background  Target: Instructors & Course Designers  Format: Online, asynchronous, universally designed  LMS: Moodle  Length: 8 weeks, 3 credits

15. Prerequisites, Illinois  Basic familiarity with Word, PowerPoint, & Adobe Acrobat applications &, ideally, with an HTML authoring tool  Plan to engage about 10 hours per week

16. Students Objectives, Illinois  Describe UD principles for online learning, how people with disabilities access IT, & potential accessibility/usability issues  Discuss basic course considerations & best practices for distance learning  Discuss UD practices for the web  Create usable & accessible content in HTML, Word, PowerPoint & PDF

17. Instructional Strategies, Illinois  Modules with overview content & links to videos & resources, including “OPTIONAL” content  Discussions—post message & respond to at least one other message  Hands-on experiences in developing accessible content  Project

18. Evaluation, Illinois  Students reported gains in knowledge  Students demonstrated skills in making courses accessible  Students expect to apply what they learned  Challenges for instructors: –addressing issues related to wide variety of tech skills –students who do not engage 10 hours/week

19. Lessons Learned  Model UD in the delivery of the course  An asynchronous mode offers flexibility  Tailor instruction to specific stakeholders & consider offering multiple short courses  Assign projects relevant to student roles  Make expectations clear RE linked resources  Expect variability in student technical expertise & give adequate individual support

20. Resources  Sheryl Burgstahler, sherylb@uw.edu  Hadi Rangin, hadir@uw.eduhadir@uw.edu > AccessDL www.uw.edu/doit/programs/accessdl