Information Technology Accessibility in Education Projects (2001-2006)

The thirteen (13) projects listed below were supported by the Education Leadership Initiative - ELI of the Southeast ADA Center (formerly known as Southeast DBTAC) through an Information Technology in Education Accessibility Initiative to facilitate the widespread use of universal design and improve access to information technology across educational environments in the U.S. Southeast region.

Campus Survey, Training, & Handbook on Accessible Information Technology

• Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), located in the Appalachian region of North Carolina, involved a council of students with disabilities in the planning phases of its project to identify and discuss barriers to information technology that they experienced; these insights played an important role in barrier-removal efforts.
  
  
• In response to student concerns, a Handbook on Disability Services and Information Technology (IT) Accessibility for Faculty was published, which addresses common concerns about students with disabilities, access to information technology, and provides additional resources.
  
  
• BRCC worked with the North Carolina Assistive Technology Program (NCATP) to assess barriers to information technology on campus. Barriers identified in this evaluation included:
  • Access issues in computer labs, such as lack of clear floor space for students who use wheelchairs and lack of Braille signage.
    
    
  • Data tables in web sites that lacked appropriate headers and code that would make them to accessible to students who use screen readers and other text-to-speech technology.
    
    
  • Lack of "skip navigation" links in web sites which would allow users to skip over repetitive links and directly access the content of a web page.
    
    
• The NCATP and BRCC sponsored training sessions to discuss accessible web design with faculty, staff, and administration.
  
  

Barriers for Mobility-Related Disabilities in Distance Education

• The East Tennessee Technology Access Center (ETTAC) partnered with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) to track the experience and investigate access issues for students with mobility-related disabilities in distance education.
  
  
• Students participating in the project had various disabilities, including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, low vision, and cerebral palsy (some in combination); ranged from 21 to 55 years old; mostly lived in rural communities outside of Knoxville (64%); and had little or no previous computer experience.
  
  
• Students participating in the project identified the following barriers to distance education:
  • Format and types of online tests offered;
  • Too much text per screen;
  • Not enough options for font size and background color;
  • Lack of an online dictionary for some web sites to help explain problematic words;
  • Lack provision of electronic textbooks;
  • Content too disorganized - lacked headers and transitions;
  • Web addresses that were not a distinct, descriptive hyperlink.
  
  
  
• ETTAC worked to be a part of future special projects workshops at UTK related to accessibility, and to continue identifying barriers to accessibility of online courses. ETTAC also participated in identifying new accessibility standards on all online courses in the University of Tennessee system.
  
  

Web Accessibility Rally

• The Georgia Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities & Butler New Media partnered to offer a statewide event, the Georgia Accessibility Rally (GAR), in which students with disabilities from high-school high-tech programs across the state competed to redesign their school web site for accessibility. For more information:
  • Accessibility Rallies: A Promising Practice for Promoting Accessible Web Design - Georgia Accessibility Rally (GAR)
  • Georgia schools that participated in the rally include:
    • Albany Westover High School
    • Valdosta High School: High Tech and Vocational Instruction
    • Columbus Northside High School

Web Page Accessibility Office

• The Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET) at Georgia Southern University (GASU) created a "Web Page Accessibility Office" on campus to serve as a central repository for tools, techniques and other resources used to make web pages accessible to individuals with disabilities.
  
  
• The project created a fully accessible web site, Web Page Accessibility Office @ Georgia Southern University, that provides information about information technology access including: overview of access barriers, tools for identifying barriers, tips for removing barriers, and links and resources for faculty and staff.
  
  
• The project also provided training for Georgia Southern faculty and staff, including an innovative online video training program Web Page Accessibility Training (Movie Series) from GASU.
  
  
• The Georgia Southern project worked to retrofit these faculty and staff web sites for accessibility:
  • Academic Advisement - GASU
  • Student Services Center - GASU
  • Dr. Susan Trimble, GASU Faculty
  • Dr. Rosemarie Stallworth-Clark, GASU Faculty
  • Dr. Michael McKenna, former GASU Faculty
  • Dr. Prentis Price, former GASU Faculty

Barriers for Learning Disabilities in Distance Education

• The Regents Center for Learning Disorders at Georgia State University conducted a study on the barriers that students with learning disabilities face when accessing information technology, specifically distance education.
  
  
• The study involved several students at Georgia universities with various types of learning disabilities who used varying levels of assistive technologies to help access information technology services. The students used a WebCT course, as well as content developed by the Regents Center.
  
  
• The students participating in the study: ranged from age 19 to 37; many had difficulties with reading, written expression, and math skills; and some were also diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
  
  
• During the process, the students used several interactive online teaching tools and activities, such as a frog dissection program, video presentations, quizzes, questionnaires, and discussion boards.
  
  
• Students experienced difficulties in reading sites where they could not control the color and font size of text (vs. web sites that use cascading style sheets which allows visitors to control color and font size options).
  
  
• Additionally, students with learning disabilities were much less likely to have the computer literacy skills needed to access the information technology.
  
  
• Researchers recommended that web designers keep their designs simple and uncluttered, avoid the use of distracting pop-ups, and provide clear and detailed instructions on using web sites.
  
  

Statewide Policies for Accessible Information Technology in K-12

• The Kentucky Assistive Technology Services (KATS) project worked with the Kentucky Department of Education and other stakeholders to develop model policies for information technology access for K-12 schools across Kentucky. School districts across Kentucky were encouraged to adopt this policy and comply with Kentucky state laws requiring information technology access.
  
  
• KATS worked with an advisory committee of stakeholders in Kentucky to develop a policy that could be replicated throughout the Southeast region. Members of the advisory committee included staff of the Southeast ADA Center (formerly Southeast DBTAC), Kentucky education officials, and representatives from the AccessIT Project at the University of Washington.
  
  
• KATS completed work on a survey that was sent to I T coordinators at school districts across Kentucky. The survey, developed in connection with the advisory group, measured the knowledge of K-12 I T managers on I T access in education. The survey began the evaluation process for the project, as well as gathered valuable data about existing policies and future training needs.
  
  

Faculty Training for Designing Accessible Information Technology

• The North Carolina Partnerships in Assistive Technology (PAT) launched a project with East Carolina University (ECU) with the goal of making ECU a model institution for information technology accessibility.
  
  
• PAT sponsored a two-day training for ECU professionals in designing accessible information technology. The result of the training was greater awareness among I T staff of access issues.
  
  

State Education Technology Plan with Accessible Information Technology

• The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDOE) redrafted its state educational technology plan as scheduled and in accordance with the Federal law that requires states to periodically adopt and update their state educational technology plans, which include the state's goals for including technology in classroom education.
  
  
• As a part of the updating process, South Carolina became the first state in the Southeast region to require access to information technology as part of its state educational technology plan.
  
  
• Among other items, South Carolina education agencies, school districts, educators and students will increase their capacity to design web pages and web-based instruction that are accessible to students with disabilities. The plan also adopted the Section 508 standards as an accessibility goal.
  
  
• The SCDOE worked with the Southeast ADA Center (formerly Southeast DBTAC) to develop a captioned video to instruct local school districts about the need to provide access to information technology for students with disabilities.
  
  

Quick Reference Guide for Accessible Information Technology

• The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) developed Accessible Information Technology Resources: A Quick Reference Guide for Educators , to provide valuable information about products, services and guidelines to help educators improve access to information technology resources for students with disabilities. (To view the PDF file: download free Adobe PDF Reader.)
  
  
• The Southeast ADA Center (formerly Southeast DBTAC) worked with SREB to distribute this flyer throughout the Southeast region.
  
  

Accessibility Coaches for Teachers

• The Special Technology Access Resource Center (STAR) in Jackson, Tennessee worked with Lambeth University students and teachers in the Jackson-Madison County School System to improve knowledge about assistive technology and information technology access. 72 students and 120 teachers received training through this initiative.
  
  
• The STAR Center conducted a series of trainings for teachers throughout the Jackson-Madison County School System which revealed that many teachers did not have the necessary technology background to impact information technology access at their school system.
  
  
• The focus of the program shifted to identifying and training "accessibility coaches" at each campus. These coaches were recruited from those teachers and district staff who had a knowledge of information technology and who could have a greater impact on information technology access at their schools.
  
  
• At the end of the program, each school had an accessibility coach available to provide ongoing support and technical assistance for district schools.
  
  

Accessible Information Technology Training: Web Course & CD

• The Office of Academic Technology at the University of Florida developed a free online course that covers concepts, policies, and techniques for implementation of Access to Information Technology Web Course. Topics covered in this course include:
  • Barriers, Assistive Technologies, & Alternative Access Strategies
  • Accessibility in Law and Policy
  • Accessible Web Design
  • Accessible Web Structure
  • Accessible Web Formats
  • Tools for Accessibility
  • Finding Additional Resources on Web Accessibility
  
  
  
• This project also created and distributed the CD-ROM of this online training widely through K-12 schools in Florida. Copies of this CD-ROM are available upon request from the Southeast ADA Center (formerly Southeast DBTAC).
  
  
• Additionally, the project provided extensive training to new University of Florida faculty members on accessible IT issues and created a web site to further reference the campus accessibility policies and training materials, Accessibility Resources: Academic Technology Office at University of Florida.
  
  

Education Leadership Academy for Accessible Information Technology

• The Disability Resource Center at the University of Georgia, in collaboration with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, sponsored two conferences known as the "Education Leadership Academy for Accessible Information Technology" for teams of university administrators, I T staff, and disability services coordinators:
  • May 12, 2003: Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Athens, Georgia
    
    
  • September 19, 2003: Knoxville Hilton, Knoxville, Tennessee
    
    
• 98 attendees from all over the Southeast Region heard presentations on the need for accessible information technology, policy ideas for achieving the goal, and demonstrations of assistive technologies. 98% of the attendees rated the conferences as being very satisfactory.
  
  

Access to I T in School-to-Work and One-Stop Vocational Training

• The Center for Disability Resources at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine sponsored a program with a One-Stop Center and a local school district in Columbia, South Carolina.
  
  
• The first phase of the project involved students with learning disabilities who were transitioning from school to work. The One-Stop Center worked with the school district to ensure its programs and technology offered full accessibility for the students. Of the 15 students who participated, all but one gained employment.
  
  
• The second phase of the project involved evaluation of information technology barriers faced by people with disabilities attempting to access services at the One-Stop Center. The school district conducted an evaluation of the One-Stop Center, and the Center for Disability Resources conducted an evaluation of the school district.

Contact for More Information:

Southeast ADA Center
Toll-Free: 1-800-949-4232 (voice/tty)
Phone: 404-541-9001 (voice/tty)
Fax: 404-541-9002
Email: ADAsoutheast@law.syr.edu