Introduction
Accessibility Policy and Guidelines - 1
Accessible Web Site Design in the High School Curricula - 2
Introduction to Information Technology Curricula for blind/vi - 3
Equivalent availability of hardware and software - 4
Conferencing/Distance Learning for blind/vi students - 5
Printable version | District Powerpoint presentation download
This document refers to“Recommendations to the District” section of the presentation to the Hillsborough County School District. The purpose is of this document is to list the resources and background of each of the areas addressed in the presentation.
Most of the references and background material was gathered from AccessIT.com.
The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT) was funded by a 5-year grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education through September, 2006.
AccessIT's Knowledge Base, Web Design and Development Curriculum, Information Technology in Education Accessibility Checklist, and Accessible University Mock Site continue to be available online and managed and updated by AccessComputing, a project funded by the National Science Foundation (grant #CNS-054061S) and led by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and DO-IT at the University of Washington.
DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs such as those in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. Primary funding for DO-IT is provided by the National Science Foundation, the State of Washington, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Have an accessibility policy/guideline document and checklist against Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 508 Access Standards.
It is unlikely that electronic resources in educational institutions, libraries, and other organizations will be accessible to students and employees with disabilities without the establishment of specific policies and/or procedures. As technology applications become ubiquitous and multimedia is the norm, an ad hoc approach to accessibility becomes increasingly less effective.
Include accessible web design and website maintenance in the Introduction to Web Development curriculum.
Most of the references and background material in this section was gathered from AccessIT.com.
The AccessIT Web Design & Development I course curriculum is a project-based introduction to web design developed for use in secondary schools, grades 9-12. The curriculum emphasizes standards-based and accessible design, is cross-platform and vendor-neutral, and is freely available for teachers to use in their own classrooms. The curriculum was designed by a team of high school web design teachers in Bellingham, Washington, working in collaboration with the National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT), with input from web design teachers nationwide, as well as from professionals working in careers related to the design and development of web content.
Create an Introduction to Information Technology program for the blind/vi students outlined in the slide “Required “Competitive” IT Skills”
A great article on why this initiative is so important "7 in 10 blind Americans unemployed, but technology opens workplace"
Blind and visually impaired students need to be competitive for job and career opportunities. The technology in the past five years now allows the blind/VI student to be competitive. Yet, as the article above states, "7 of 10 of the blind and visually impaired persons are not employed". There needs to be an increased emphasis in the school systems to ensure that these students are thoroughly trained in the use of the latest assistive technology and with the programs and applications available on the PC and Internet.
The goal of the initiative are for each student to Increase the college or technical school entrance and employment of the blind and visually impaired.
This website will document the efforts of the initiative to be used as a template for other chapters and school systems. All the resources that were reference and used are either documented in this site or have links to them. The "workshop Modules" listed below are classroom scripts informally developed to educate the students to become IT proficient. They are, at this moment, a guideline and proposal. The intent here is to show the content that is deemed necessary to include in the courses.
See the "Distance Learning" section below on the formal courses presented by the Hadley School for the Blind. These courses are free to students 14 and above.
The purpose of this module is to introduce the student to Information Technology. What is it? How it is used? IT’s ubiquitous nature throughout our lives, business and industry. Information Technology is then described on how it is used used/developed within companies. The various types of careers are generally described.
The purpose of this session is to answer the question "What is a program?". The Ruby programming language is an easy to use and learn programming language. It is an interpretive, interactive language that allows statements to be entered an executed as the student enters them. The results are displayed immediately. This will allow easy "hands-on" teaching of how to enter and execute a simple program. An added advantage of Ruby lends itself readily to JAWS, increased font size and magnifying needs.
The purpose of this session is to introduce the student to the Internet. The following will be introduced and discussed:
The purpose of this session is to introduce the student to the Email application. The screen reader application. NVDA, is used to demonstrate and teach the basic Email functions . The following will be introduced and discussed:
The purpose of this module is to introduce the student to two of the major methods of gathering information on the Internet: Mailing Lists (e.g., Groups, Forums) and Search Engines (e.g.,Google, Yahoo)
The purpose of this module will be to introduce the student to basic functions of MS Word and Excel.
As part of the policy, address the assurance that blind/vi students have equivalent availability of hardware and software.
Educational entities often struggle with questions as to which file formats are best for distributing online materials. Traditionally, online documents have been delivered primarily using HTML. However, a growing number of documents in education are distributed in other formats, such as Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) and Microsoft Word. Whether these file formats are accessible is not a simple question with a yes or no answer. For guidance in making this determination, see the AccessIT Knowledge Base articles Is PDF accessible? and How accessible are Microsoft Word documents? See also, Which states have accessible textbook laws and what do they say about file formats?
The following is article in AcessIT.
“Designing a school computer lab to be accessible to all students?”
As increasing numbers of people with disabilities pursue educational opportunities that require computer use, accessibility of computing facilities becomes even more critical. Making a computer lab accessible requires that attention be devoted to the physical accessibility of the lab facility, as well as to the accessibility of the available technology. Assistive technology (AT) should be available for students who need it. However, AT alone does not make a computer lab accessible. Computer hardware and software must be compatible with AT and must be accessible to all users, whether they interact with technology using sight, sound, or touch.
You can make computer labs can be made accessible by employing principles of universal design. Universal design means that rather than design your facility for the average user, you design it for people with a broad range of abilities. Keep in mind that individuals using your lab may have learning disabilities or visual, speech, hearing, or mobility impairments.
Individuals from each of these groups will need access to the facility, equipment, software, electronic resources, and printed materials. There is no federal standard that covers all of these areas, but there are many legislative mandates that apply to aspects of computer lab access for people with disabilities. These include but are not limited to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Telecommunications Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Rehabilitation Act. A good starting point for information about disability-related federal legislation is the U.S. Department of Justice's publication A Guide to Disability Rights Laws [1].
Another excellent resource is DO-IT's publication and accompanying video Equal Access: Computer Labs [2]. This publication includes a checklist with dozens of specific recommendations regarding planning, evaluation, policies, and procedures; facility and environment; lab staff; computers, software, and assistive technology; and information resources.
Investigate the use of “conferencing”/Distance Learning for group instruction of blind/vi students via the Internet/internal network.
DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs such as those in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. Primary funding for DO-IT is provided by the National Science Foundation, the State of Washington, and the U.S. Department of Education.
The Hadley School for the Blind does offer distance education courses to eligible students age 14+. In many cases these courses, if completed successfully, earn Carnegie Units, a form of credit that is transferable to local high schools. Many visually impaired students have done this, in agreement with their districts, to add credit to their local program.
Hadley also offers technology related courses. The list follows. Details can be found in the High School Program area of Web site: www.hadley.edu. The courses are offered tuition-free to high school students.
Technology
Access Technology: Beginnings
Word Processing
Internet Basics
Internet: Beyond the Basics
Using Excel
There are course offerings at Carroll Tech, the technology arm of the Carroll Center for the Blind in Massachusetts. They provide a variety of access technology specific distance education course. There is a reasonable fee. Their site is at: www.carrolltech.org.
Dawn E. Turco
Senior Vice President
The Hadley School for the Blind