Equity & Universal Design

EDER 677

Dr. Qing Li

Internet is everywhere… Next generation – digital natives Equity, accessibility becomes more

important Equity:

Have & have not’s Gender Age

Access

Accessibility

making products and services available to, and usable by, everyone

Moulton, G., Huyler, L., Hertz, J., & Levenson, M. (2002). Accessible technology in today’s business: Case studies for

success. Redmond, Washington: Microsoft.

Website access 50% population overall uses the Web 76% persons with disabilities

i.e. “76 percent of American with disabilities are online compared to 50% of the American population overall”

But….98% of existing Websites are inaccessible

McGrane, S. (2000). CNET Special reports: Is the Web truly accessible to the disabled? Available online at:http://www.cnet.com/specialreports/0-6014-7-1530073.html

Accessibility meets usabilitytechnology for most of us makes

things easier, but for the disabled, makes things possible

Cardinali, R., & Gordon, Z. (2002). Technology: Making things easier for all of us - for the disabled making things possible. Equal Opportunities International, 21(1), 65-79.

Universal Design A new paradigm Rooted in architecture – Dr. Ron Mace

from North Carolina State University, an architect and wheelchair user, wanted to incorporate universal accessibility into all structures.

Universal Design Greater usability/accessibility, particularly

for people with disabilities Also yields great rewards to typical user

E.g. curb cuts – wheelchair- People with luggage,

stroller, inline skaters From these beginnings, the idea of Universal

Design for Instruction has evolved.

Mainstream technology originally designed for disabilities

Typewriter 1808 the first typewriter was

built by Pellegrino Turri for his blind friend Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzono.

He wanted her to be able to write love letters legibly.  For more information please access

Example 2

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922 ) Bell was born into a family specialising in elocution: both his father

and his grandfather were authorities on the subject, and before long he himself was teaching people how to speak.

1872: Alexander Graham Bell, at age 25, seeks to make speech visible to people who are deaf (try to transmitting speech electronically, with the intention of teaching the deaf to speak by putting these sounds together ).

This led to the invention of the microphone, speaker, telephone, speech recognition, speech synthesis, stereophonic recording…

Example 3 (necessity is the mother of invention)…Computer American Census predict 1890 more than 62 million

Americans Herman Hollerith, a man with a

learning disability, designed a system that processed information so that human beings would not have to.

punched cards - first computer to process information.

allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. Twenty-eight years after Hollerith

[1896] founded the Tabulating Machine Company it becomes known as International Business Machines (IBM). 

Example 4 1972: E-Mail Vinton Cerf developed the host level

protocols for the ARPANET. ARPANET was the first large-scale packet network.

Cerf, hard-of-hearing since birth, invented email to communicate with his deaf wife via text messaging.

He integrated e-mail as part of the functionality of ARPANET, the precursor to Internet.

Example 5 (1972) Personal Digital Assistant (PDA): The

first "Personal Digital Assistant" was developed in support of enabling persons who are deaf to send and receive messages through the use a SMALL hand-held, alphanumeric communications device attached to a modem and a telephone.

Scanner: Ray Kurzweil invented the first flatbed scanner for the blind.

More examples… Electronic curbcuts http://ideal-group.org/ecc/

Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning calls for

Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,

Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know,

Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.

Kinash, 2006

Digital curb-cuts Metaphor – used by researchers

(e.g. Coombs and Banks (2000)) Opitz’ Examples: Images:

effective in providing alternative examples or explanations of content.

adding text tag to the image enables a visually disabled person to read the textual description to the learner, describing the attributes of the image.

Also allows us a more detailed explanation of the image.

More Examples Sounds can also be used, but captions or alternative text

benefit the deaf and those with hearing by providing a written script to follow and to refer back to at a later date.

Easy-to-read content benefits all learners by ‘chunking’ the information into blocks of important information that can be easily read and understood by any audience. (p. 12)

Opitz, C. (2002). Online course accessibility: A call for responsibility and necessity. Educational Technology Review, 10(1). Retrieved May 8, 2003, from, http:// www.aace.org/pubs/etr/issue2/optiz-x1.cfm

Principles for Universal Design Instruction Equitable Use Flexibility in Use Simple and intuitive Perceptible information Tolerance for error Low physical effort Size and space for approach and use A community of learners Instructional Climate (newly added)(Scott, McGuire, Shaw, 2001)

Assistive Technology

any item, piece of equipment, or product system whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilitiesIndividuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA) 20, USC, Chapter 33, Section 1401 (25) US

Assistive Technology for Learning (ATL)

ATL ranges from ‘low-tech’ such as a pencil grip to ‘high-tech’ such as a screen-reading program.

Task Assuming that your institution needs to change

one course to encompass the principles of Universal Design or consider your final project (focus solely on the online content)

What are some design changes you will implement? What types of disabilities would be the most difficult to

accommodate? How can the existing online communities aid in

universal design? How would these principles have changed your rubric

for the “ideal” website? What other considerations need to be made for these

types of learners? How can these principles help everyone?

Resources: Universal Design Education Online CAST-Universal Design for Living Facultyware-U of Connecticut Do-It-U of Washington EASI Ideal Group