EASI WebMedia News
March 2001
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) webcasts regular interviews
with leaders in the fields of adaptive technology, education and the
Internet. Listeners have expressed an interest in knowing in advance what
will be the topics and guest for these webcasts. WebMedia news will give a
super brief look at the webcasts scheduled for the next month. Please
forward to friends whom you know are interested in these topics.
Interview Contents:
1 April 5, Dr. Fred Saba CEO of Distance-educator.com discusses distance
learning
2 April 12, Trey Duffy, President of AHEAD discusses the Association of
Higher Education And Disabilities and its conference this July
3 April 19, Dr. Axel Schmetzke librarian at U Wis Stevens Point discusses
the present inaccessibility of many distance education web pages
4 April 26, Mr. Doug Wakefield of the Federal Access Board is a rebroadcast
from Dec. 21 discussing the Section 508 standards for web design
5 How you can help enrich this resource on webcasts of interest to readers
6 Please see the announcement at the bottom on three EASI online training
workshops. Barrier-Free E-learning scheduled for May 7 follows up on the
April webcasts on distance learning. Two others start April 2 (Barrier-free
Information Technology and Barrier-free Advanced Web Design)
All interviews will be posted on the day announced accompanied by
transcriptions for the deaf. They will be archived for the indefinite future:
http://www.rit.edu/~easi
----------------
This is the first issue of WebMedia News and is sent as a sample. To
subscribe for this brief, monthly preview of EASI and other webcasts, send
e-mail to [log in to unmask] saying sub easipub (and include
your first and last name).
------------
1 April 5, Dr. Fred Saba CEO of Distance-educator.com discusses distance
learning
Dr. Saba is a professor at the San Diego State University where he has been
a leader in distance learning technologies for many years. Several years
ago, he founded Distance-educator.com with a web site,
www.distance-educator.com, which is one of the most thorough and most
reliable resources for information on distance learning. His company also
produces a daily newsletter with current highlights in this field. In the
interview, Fred notes that we are barely beginning to understand what
distance learning and how best to use it:
We have the rhetoric of personalizing instruction on the web, but I do not
think that we have even scratched the surface of that. And personalization
of learning is for everybody. People have different skills in different
areas. Not everybody has all the skills and not everybody is talented in
certain areas. And so therefore one of the challenges in the future would
be to make learning as personalized as possible. And we have not even
scratched the surface of that.
http://www.rit.edu/~easi
2 April 12, Trey Duffy, President of AHEAD discusses the Association of
Higher Education And Disabilities and its conference this July. AHEAD is
the leading organization of higher education staff who provide services to
students with disabilities. Trey also works in the DSS center at the
University of Wisconsin. In the interview, Trey comments on today's
crucial importance of providing students with disabilities access to
information technology:
The only thing I would add is that as an Association and as professionals
in this field, I do not think we see any greater issue or threat to the
equal access of students with disabilities than access to information
technology. And the impact that technology has on individuals,
particularly in education.
3 April 19, Dr. Axel Schmetzke librarian at U Wis Stevens Point discusses
the present inaccessibility of many distance education web pages. He
contends that universities should demand from vendors that they provide
accessible products and that they should have strong policies in place on
the subject:
I think one can somewhat manipulate the economic picture if more and more
institutions would simply demand from vendors that their products are
accessible. And I think that comes by the way to another part of my
strategy. Institutions at various levels need to put in place inclusive
policies, and that should be at all levels. It should be at campus level.
It should be built into distance education policies. It should be in
library web policies. And it should be built into collection development
policies.
4 April 26, Mr. Doug Wakefield of the Federal Access Board is a rebroadcast
from Dec. 21 discussing the Section 508 standards for web design.
Wakefield says that both industry and advocates for access were doing their
jobs which resulted in government having to set standards to help industry
know how to meet the needs of advocates:
You know the industry groups are doing their job. The advocacy groups are
doing their job. That is the way our system works. And industry's job is to
get the government off their back as much as possible. And the advocacy
groups job is to get as good an environment for themselves as possible. And
the government has to kind of walk down the middle and bring them both
together. And our system works when you say you must. If you say you
should, they may or may not.
5 We encourage our readers to submit announcements of coming webcasts that
relate to the topics of disabilities, education and the Internet. Send
information to Norm Coombs, [log in to unmask]
6. EASI is the premierre organization providing online training related to
adaptive technologies. We presently have 5 workshops and have more in the
works. They are all provided over e-mail and the web and provide frequent
interaction with instructors and colleagues. You can work largely at your
own pace, but you are not left on your own.
Barrier-free E-learning on accessible distance learning begins May 7. April
2 workshop on advanced accessible web design and also April 2 is a workshop
on how to make an entire campus's computer and information technologies
accessible. Full descriptions, costs and online registration are at
http://www.rit.edu/~easi
(Continuing education units are available.)
(The remainder of this newsletter is descriptions of these workshops.)
----------
E-learning is the hottest topic in education today. The number of colleges
offering such courses has double in one year. Colleges have never adopted
anything so rapidly before. With this headlong rush, almost no colleges or
universities have considered whether or not the systems they are using are
accessible for students with disabilities. Many are not, and all have at
least some significant difficulties for these students. A syllabus and
online registration are available at http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshops.htm
------------
Barrier-free Advanced Accessible Web Design
Do you want to use many of the web bells and whistles on your web site to
make it more exciting? Are you afraid to use them for fear that your site
will become inaccessible for users with disabilities? Do you want to have
your cake and eat it too?
Then EASI's new online workshop is for you:
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshop.htm
Begins April 2 and runs for 8 weeks (one lesson per week). Continuing
education units are available through the Rochester Institute of
Technology. This web URL will also provide registration costs and an
online registration form.
EASI has taught a basic online workshop about accessible web design for
half a dozen years to several hundreds of web designers. We now are adding
lessons on techniques for providing more sophisticated web features in an
accessible format. The workshop conforms to both the World Wide Web
Consortium's Web Access Initiative's guidelines and the Federal Access
Board's newly released Section 508 standards for accessible web design.
Barrier-free Advanced Web Design is a by-product of EASI's Barrier-free Web
Design workshop, which deals with newer technologies like multimedia, Java.
forms, plug-ins, frames and tables.
This is an eight week workshop and is best suited for the intermediate or
advanced Web developer. Some of the topics covered are:
Introductions and Overview of How People with Disabilities Use the Web
Walk a Mile in Our Shoes
General Design Principles
Images and Animations
Accessible Multimedia
Scripts, Applets and Plug-ins
Cascading Stylesheets
The Evolving Web
For more information, write the instructor, Richard Banks:
[log in to unmask]
------------
DO IT BECAUSE:
It's the right thing to do;
It makes economic sense;
It's the law;
And do it for YOURSELF!
Barrier-free Information Technology begins April 2 and lasts for four weeks.
You can do it anywhere and you can do it anytime. It is taught online
using the web and e-mail.
Barrier-free Information Technology is a workshop on making the computer
and information technology systems of any institution accessible to people
with disabilities.
Full syllabus and registration costs at http://www.rit.edu/~easi/workshop.htm
Computer and Information Technology is rapidly becoming integral to most
courses whether public school, college or business training. On one hand,
this holds the promise of enhanced independence for people with
disabilities. On the other hand, depending on the design of the particular
applications being used, it threatens to create needless barriers. Today's
distributed computer environment means that providing support for the
technology needs of people with disabilities is an institution-wide
responsibility. It requires extensive planning and cooperation across
several departments. This course is designed to provide the broad knowledge
of
technology, the law and of technological and pedigogical needs to
facilitate such institutional planning.
Lesson 1: Introductions and definitions:
Lesson 2: Reasons to Adapt Your Information and Computer Systems
Lesson 3: Computer input problems and solutions
Lesson 4: Computer output problems and solutions
Lesson 5: Compensatory Strategies and Disability Etiquette
Lesson 6: Access to print information
Lesson 7: Access to physical facilities and staff training
Lesson 8: Planning for an Accessible Campus or Institution
to subscribe to the monthly WebMedia send e-mail to
[log in to unmask] saying sub easipub (and include your first
and last names)
end of WebMedia
|
