Accessible Learning: Virtual Barriers, Second Life, and Beyond

Accessible Learning: Virtual Barriers, Second Life, and Beyond

Andrew WrightDirector of Academic Technology

Assistant Professor of CISandrew.wright@louisville.edu

cislab1.cbpa.louisville.edu/wright/

Marilyn GreenwellWeb Accessibility CoordinatorCommunications & Marketing

Marilyn.Greenwell@louisville.edu

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 CISandrew.wright@louisville.edu

cislab1.cbpa.louisville.edu/wright/

Marilyn GreenwellWeb Accessibility CoordinatorCommunications & Marketing

Marilyn.Greenwell@louisville.edu

www.louisville.edu/web/accessibility/