AccessSTEM

A study conducted by KC-BANCS Alliance, an NSF-funded alliance to increase the number of individuals with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), looked at the perceptions of self-efficacy of students with disabilities in STEM fields. They found that successes in STEM classes and having opportunities to apply what they’d learned had positive effects on students’ overall sense of self-efficacy.

Multimedia presentations can be inaccessible to people who are unable to hear the audio content. The solution is to provide captions, a text version of the audio content that is synchronized with the multimedia presentation.

The technical standards and specifications for captioning video are well established and documented. For additional information relevant to online multimedia, consult the AccessIT Knowledge Base article What is the difference between SMIL and SAMI?

Since 2005, Professor Richard Ladner from the University of Washington in Seattle has introduced tactile graphics to his undergraduate computer vision students. Traditional computer vision classes introduce students to image analysis and interpretation of three-dimensional information from two-dimensional image data. Traditional topics also include image segmentation, motion estimation, object recognition, and image retrieval. Dr.

Georgia Boatman, a teacher at Southgate Elementary School in Kennewick, Washington, wanted to increase student participation in her classroom, particularly that of students with disabilities. In collaboration with DO-IT's AccessSTEM project, she acquired an interactive learning tool the Classroom Performance System (CPS) using funds from an AccessSTEM minigrant.

The term "Community of Practice" (CoP) is used to describe a group of practitioners who share common concerns and interact regularly to improve their services and other practices. Members of a CoP identify problems in their field, propose changes, plan activities, share resources, and discuss topics of mutual interest.

Administrators at Purdue University look for ways to raise awareness of web accessibility issues and to educate employees on how to create websites that are accessible to individuals with a broad range of disabilities. They have focused efforts through a campus-wide Web Accessibility Committee (WAC). WAC members represent both academic and administrative units across campus. Most are web developers and all are strong supporters of accessible web design. WAC members have:

The Think Tank: Serving Veterans with Disabilities was hosted on March 26, 2008 by the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Center at the University of Washington in Seattle as part of The Alliance for Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (AccessSTEM) project.

The Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) is the world's largest organization dedicated to the study of how humans interact with interactive technologies. In 2011, the SIGCHI Executive Committee began discussing ways to become more inclusive of researchers and practitioners with disabilities.

A growing number of postsecondary institutions are developing policies and implementing support solutions for assuring that their web content is accessible to people with disabilities. One of these institutions is Ohio State University, whose Web Accessibility Policy and Minimum Web Accessibility Standards went into effect on June 30, 2004. Ohio State is particularly noteworthy in that they have a strong tradition of providing web accessibility support services to their faculty, staff, and teaching assistants.

Michigan Virtual University (MVU) was established in 1998 by Michigan Governor John Engler and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It is a private, not-for-profit organization. MVU is a central access point through which academic and commercial organizations can offer online education and training.