accessible learning: virtual barriers, second life, and beyond
DESCRIPTION
Accessible Learning: Virtual Barriers, Second Life, and Beyond. Andrew Wright Director of Academic Technology Assistant Professor of CIS [email protected] cislab1.cbpa.louisville.edu/wright/. Marilyn Greenwell Web Accessibility Coordinator Communications & Marketing - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Accessible Learning: Virtual Barriers, Second Life, and Beyond
Andrew WrightDirector of Academic Technology
Assistant Professor of [email protected]
cislab1.cbpa.louisville.edu/wright/
Marilyn GreenwellWeb Accessibility CoordinatorCommunications & Marketing
www.louisville.edu/web/accessibility/
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Introduction
– Andrew Wright• Faculty in Computer Information Systems
since 1994• Director of Academic Technology since 2004
– Marilyn Greenwell• Web Accessibility Coordinator, University of
Louisville since March 2006• Webmaster for whas11.com (5 years)• Webmaster for Clear Channel Louisville’s 8
radio stations and two news networks (5 years)
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Agenda
• Demonstration of the latest instructional technology tools
• Awareness-raising exercise• Common accessibility issues• Legal responsibilities• Discussion with participants on
developing best practices• Conclusions
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Demo of Latest Instructional Tech Tools
• Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs)–
• Lecture & Screen Capture Tools– – Adobe Presenter/Connect Pro (formerly
Macromedia Breeze)– (REMOVED - requires
password access)
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Awareness Raising Exercise
• Consider using tools as a student with vision or hearing impairment– Review lecture segments with window
minimized or audio muted• Can you still understand what’s going on?
– Try exploring a MUVE without vision• Consider using tools as a student with
motor skill impairment– Tablet PC’s and inking can be challenging
Types of DisabilitiesProviding Accommodations
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Blindness or Low Vision
Vision Issues include• Low Vision
– Persons with low vision but need scalable fonts and good contrast
• Blindness– Requires screen readers, need
alternative text or longdesc to describe images used on site
• Color Deficiency (color blindness)– Requires good contrasts &
certain color spectrums
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Hearing Loss or Deafness
Hearing Issues include• Deafness
– Requires captioning or textual transcripts to fully use sites
• Hard of Hearing– Often requires amplification
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Tab
Motor Skill Impairment
• Motor Skills Issues include many conditions that limit one’s ability to use conventional mouse and/or keyboard
• Best suggestion is to make sureyour site can be easily navigatedwith keyboard
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Cognitive Issues
Cognitive Issues include– Learning Difficulties
• Dyslexia• Attention Deficit
– Memory Difficulties• Easily the least
understood• Recommendations are
slowly appearing
Unintentional BarriersDID I DO THAT?
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Visual Barriers
Visual Barriers include, but are NOT limited to: IMAGES• Images used to convey
information (such as a diagram of the heart)
• Text in a graphic (i.e. a graphic that says “HOME” or “Artistic font text in an image”)
• Graphic image of detailed information (i.e. maps, organizational charts, diagrams)
• Video that has no transcript or captioning with narrative
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Visual Barriers
Photosensitive Epilepsy• For some, blinking text or images are annoying in general,
but, they can also cause photosensitive epileptic seizures• Avoid flashing text and images
– Novelty of <blink> tag wore off long ago– Annoying at best, dangerous at worst
• If you feel you need these “exciting” graphics to make your site compelling, perhaps you need to re-think your content
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Visual Barriers
Other Visual Barriers include, but are NOT limited to:• “Downloadable” files that require
specific software or plug-ins• Inconsistency in navigation or
content placement • Lack of adequate Color Contrast • Headings that are not designated
as headings (BOLD CAPS vs <h1>)
• Careful selection of fonts, sizes and styles
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Sound Barriers
Sound Barriers include, but are NOT limited to:• Background sounds in video or
audio• Video or Podcast that has no
transcript or captioning with narrative
• “Downloadable” files that require specific software or plugin to hear
• Auditory stimulus of any kind that does not provide an alternative
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Physical Barriers
Physical barriers include but are NOT limited to:• Require excessive mouse-clicks
to accomplish task• Require joystick or mouse for
tracking elements• Provide very small amount of
“real estate” as the click-target• Require text input in a short
amount of time (i.e. chatrooms)• Unable to navigate with
keyboard (tab)
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Cognitive Barriers
Cognitive barriers include but are NOT limited to:• Lack of white space or contrast• Content that is not clear and concise• Animations or elements that distract
or require downloads, specific software or plugin
• Inconsistency in content placement• Headings that are not designated as
headings• Require text input in a short amount
of time
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
You May Have Noticed
• Some barriers overlap and affect different disabilities
• What can be an advantage for some, may be a disadvantage for others
• It may be best to provide more than one method of acquiring the information
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
KY Post-Secondary StudentDisability Statistics (Fall 2004)
Identifying as disabled Requesting accommodation0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
27542306
1449
885
Total KCTCSTotal Universities
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Legal Responsibilities
• It’s The Law– Rehabilitation Act
• Section 504• Section 508
– Americans with Disabilities Act– Kentucky Statutes KRS 61.6980 – 61.988
• It’s the RIGHT thing to do
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Discussion
• Is there a contradiction presented by proponents of MUVEs that claim “unique learning opportunities” afforded by the immersive multimedia environment while also claiming the ability to provide equivalent alternatives to visually-impaired students?
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Discussion
• Does restricting access to content (like putting it behind Blackboard) change the responsibility to make it accessible to students with varying abilities?
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Discussion
• More broadly, is there an ethical dilemma created when tools that enhance the learning experience for the general student population inadvertently limit the learning opportunities for students with special needs?
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Discussion
• Can we develop best practices and guidelines for teaching in this new (virtual) world?
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Conclusions
• These emerging instructional technology tools offer great potential for improved learning BUT also present challenges to users with different abilities
• It is essential to consider how students with different needs may be accommodated– Consider from the start or you may find
that you don’t have time to prepare accommodations while you are exploring this new world
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Conclusions
• Exploration of these emerging tools can and should occur– We can’t ignore the benefits these tools
may bring our students BUT we shouldn’t leave anyone out of these benefits, either
• Think critically about the benefits these tools offer and the support needed to provide accommodations– Weigh these out and strike a balance
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
Conclusions
• If you have multimedia content, be prepared to caption it– Options
• Use student workers to caption• Outsource
– Professional services like Caption Colorado• Automated Software
– Speech recognition systems like DocSoft• Assistants can help navigate and provide descriptive
audio– Is this “equivalent”?
• Prepare alternate assignments• Be flexible as you explore
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
CRS Conference Nov. 15, 2008
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
References and Resources
• Emerging Instructional Technology Tools– MUVEs
• Second Life: secondlife.com• River City: muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject• Play2Train: www.play2train.org• There: www.there.com• Multiverse: www.multiverse.net
– Screen & Lecture Capture• Camtasia Studio: www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp• Adobe Presenter: www.adobe.com/products/presenter• Tegrity: www.tegrity.com• DyKnow: www.dyknow.com• Echo360: www.echo360.com
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
References and Resources
• Resources– Captioning
• Caption Colorado: www.captioncolorado.com• DocSoft: www.docsoft.com
– Articles and Sites• 2007 Horizon Report: www.nmc.org/horizon/2007/report• MUVE Teaching Tips: campustechnology.com/articles/57065_2• The Why and How of Web Access.: net.educause.edu/LIVE087• Terra Nova Blog: terranova.blogs.com• Muve Forward Blog: muveforward.blogspot.com• MUVEs for Education: www.cited.org/index.aspx?page_id=159• Access. Of MOOs: www.utexas.edu/research/accessibility/
research/summary/swat/swat_moos.html
2008 KY Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:Challenging Students to Think Critically and Learn Deeply
References and Resources
• Resources– Articles and Sites
• Access and Democracy in SL: kestrell.livejournal.com/343509.html
• SL for the Visually Impaired: lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/educators/2007-May/009036.html
• Accessibility Resource Center in SL: infoisland.org/2007/06/04/libraries-on-the-muve-healthinfo-island-to-provide-accessibility-resource-center-in-second-life
• WebAIM: www.webaim.org• DO-IT: www.washington.edu/doit
Accessible Learning: Virtual Barriers, Second Life, and Beyond
Andrew WrightDirector of Academic Technology
Assistant Professor of [email protected]
cislab1.cbpa.louisville.edu/wright/
Marilyn GreenwellWeb Accessibility CoordinatorCommunications & Marketing
www.louisville.edu/web/accessibility/