----- Original Message -----
From: "geoff freed" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 4:11 PM
Subject: Access to Online Learning - Public Draft Released
IMS Releases Draft Specification to Improve Accessibility
of Online Learning
Spec developers seek public commentary
Boston, MA – April 30, 2003 – IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS) and
WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) today announce the
release of a Public Draft of Accessibility for Learner Information Package
(LIP) – a specification they have collaboratively developed through a grant
awarded by the U.S. Department of Education's "Learning Anytime Anywhere
Partnerships" (LAAP) program.
The specification is a model for describing and recording user preferences
for content, display, and control of interfaces for online learning, useful
for a wide range of users including those with disabilities. The goal of the
collaborative effort is to create a framework, adoptable by small and large
eLearning developers and content providers around the world, which serves
all users by making learning materials easy to access from any and all
"points of entry" (school, home, office, library or while using mobile
devices) after an initial, one-time recording of preferences by the user.
Depending on the user's choices, a learning system built according to the
Accessibility for LIP specification will allow users with disabilities as
well as users with situational challenges, such as a noisy environment, use
of older hardware, or low bandwidth, to customize and personalize settings
if the standard settings of a learning system are not ideal for them. Some
of the preferences that might be chosen by learners include:
- Display: Learners can indicate that they would prefer materials in a
format that can be read by a screen reader, that any audio alerts should
have a visual notification option, or that they prefer to have an overview
of the content before diving into the details.
- Control: Learners can save settings for voice recognition, onscreen
keyboards, or other input devices.
- Content: Learners can choose to "read" a video (through captioning) rather
than or in addition to hearing it, or indicate unacceptable color
combinations (such as red/green) that may be indistinguishable for them.
In addition, the new specification proposes a simple model for recording
authorization of accommodations for testing or assessment.
"Accessibility for LIP will permit learning systems to give each learner the
educational material they need, in a style that will be effective for them,"
said Andrew J. Imparato, President and CEO of the American Association of
People with Disabilities (AAPD). "I am excited to see this work released and
look forward to using tools that are built with it."
The Public Draft of the IMS Accessibility for LIP is a set of four
documents – both technical and narrative in nature. The full document set:
Accessibility for LIP Information Model, Accessibility for LIP Best
Practices and Implementation Guide, Accessibility for LIP XML Schema
Binding, and Accessibility for LIP Use Cases, is available for public review
and comment. Those interested in providing feedback or suggestions may
comment on any or all of the documents.
Public comment on the documents will be accepted for six weeks – from
Monday, April 28 through Monday, June 9, 2003. Accessibility for LIP is
available free of charge from http://www.imsglobal.org/accessibility/ in a
fully accessible HTML version and in a downloadable PDF version. Following
the public comment phase, the project team will incorporate revisions and
submit the document set to the IMS Technical Advisory Board for a vote on a
final version, which will also be made available at no charge from the IMS
web site.
The Accessibility for LIP work was supported by funding from LAAP and the
efforts and financial support of the following organizations: Department of
Education, Science and Training (AUS), Educational Testing Service (USA),
IBM (USA), Industry Canada (CAN), Open University (UK), Sheffield Hallam
University (UK), Thomson NETg (USA), UK eUniversities Worldwide (UK), and
the University of Toronto Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (CAN).
About IMS
The IMS Global Learning Consortium develops open technical specifications to
support distributed learning. All specifications developed by IMS are
available to the public without charge through the IMS website. IMS is a
non-profit organization supported by a worldwide consortium that includes 50
Contributing Members and 60 Developers Network subscribers. The IMS in
Europe foundation supports activities among European members. Information
about IMS specifications, on-going activities, and membership is available
at the IMS website http://www.imsglobal.org/.
About NCAM
NCAM and its fellow access departments at WGBH (The Caption Center and
Descriptive Video Service®) make up the Media Access Group at WGBH. WGBH,
Boston's public broadcaster, pioneered captioning and video description on
television, the Web and in movie theaters. NCAM is a founding member of the
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
NCAM works with standards bodies, industry, consumer organizations and
educators to develop and implement non-proprietary technical standards for
multimedia, advanced television, and convergent media that ease
implementation, foster growth and lay common groundwork for equal access to
new technologies. Visit http://access.wgbh.org for more information about
NCAM.
For more information contact:
Caroline Oldershaw, IMS Global Learning Consortium
608-233-3277 voice
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http://www.imsglobal.org
Mary Watkins, Media Access Group at WGBH
617-300-3700 voice
617-300-2459 TTY
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http://access.wgbh.org
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.
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