Deann Shillington, a special education teacher at Canfield Middle School in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho identified a need for intensive, direct instruction in basic skills to help improve her students' math performance. Ms. Shillington wanted to capitalize on the benefits that computer programs have to offer. In collaboration with DO-IT's AccessSTEM project, she acquired computers and a LCD projector.
Audio description is the term used to describe the process of providing descriptive narration of key visual elements in a video or multimedia product. This process allows individuals who are blind to access content that is otherwise accessible only through sight. In audio description, narrators typically describe actions, gestures, scene changes, and other visual information. They also describe titles, speaker names, and other text that may appear on the screen.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) includes elements called frames and inline frames (iframes), both of which can be used to add content to a web page from external sources. A common example is embedding a frame of audio or video content from another site. The strongest arguments against using frames have more to do with usability than accessibility.
Podcasts will pose a barrier to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing unless the information is made available in an accessible format. For audio-only podcasts, consider posting a transcript on your course website; this document will also be of value to students who are not deaf. Podcasts that include video can be captioned. Be sure to make transcriptions and captions available in a timely manner.
Google Apps is a free suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites. Google Apps Education Edition is a bundle of apps specifically marketed to education institutions. Whether Google Apps is accessible is a question of considerable debate.
Some individuals with disabilities require assistive technology (AT) in order to access computers. Although Apple has been criticized for the accessibility shortcomings of its Mac OS operating system, it made significant progress in improving accessibility with the release of Mac OS X, and has taken it upon itself to develop and provide AT that supports and ships with its OS, without additional cost to the consumer.
DAISY, which stands for Digital Accessible Information System, is a standard markup language used in creating accessible digital talking books. The standard allows users with print disabilities to efficiently navigate and access book content.
Video has played an important role in education for many decades. Now, in the form of computer-based multimedia, video is increasingly utilized in distance learning and other web-based educational applications. However, the audio portion of a video presentation is inaccessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing unless it includes captions. Captions are on-screen text descriptions that display a video product's dialogue, identify speakers, and describe other relevant sounds that are otherwise inaccessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Yes. MathML is the guideline adopted by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for the presentation of math content on the web. MathML was specifically created as a universally designed format for mathematical expressions, and it is supported by many assistive technology applications, such as screen readers.
Microsoft PowerPoint has become a standard format for creating and presenting visuals (e.g., slideshows) for presentations, including those used in educational contexts such as distance learning courses. A variety of approaches are used for delivering PowerPoint content online, each of which has strengths and weaknesses concerning accessibility.
