A Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance - AccessSTEM

Does a postsecondary institution have to provide specific hardware or software (known as assistive technology) that an individual with a disability requests so that they can access information technology used on campus?

FeedsImporter — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 20:35:01 +0000

Title II of the ADA (which covers public postsecondary institutions) requires that public institutions must give "primary consideration" to the requests of the individual with a disability when determining what type of auxiliary aid and service is necessary (28 C.F.R. §35.160(b)(2)). For example, a student might request that the institution purchase a specific kind of assistive technology, such as screen enlargement software, as an individual accommodation so the student could access the web for educational activities. While the postsecondary institution may be required to provide an accommodation, it does not necessarily need to provide the individual's requested aid or service if an alternative is generally regarded by knowledgeable experts as effective in the context in which it will be used. (OCR 09-97-2002.RES)

AccessComputing Mentors Application

FeedsImporter — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 21:51:11 +0000

Acesscomputing_Mentor_Application.pdf

Shape the future... be an AccessComputing Mentor.

The AccessComputing electronic mentoring community provides an opportunity for students interested in increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing to communicate via email and during program activities with mentors and other students. Your role as an AccessComputing Mentor is a mix of friend and teacher. Your goal is to inspire and facilitate personal, academic, and career achievements in the DO-IT participants for whom you mentor. These mentees are college-capable students with disabilities pursuing challenging computing degrees and career fields.

Do you have what it takes to be an AccessComputing Mentor?

The relationships you develop with your mentee become channels for the passage of information, advice, challenges, opportunities, and support. AccessComputing Mentors offer mentees these opportunities:

Information
Mentors share their knowledge, experiences, and wisdom.
Contacts
Mentors provide valuable opportunities by facilitating academic, career, and personal contacts.
Challenges
Mentors stimulate curiosity and build confidence by presenting new ideas, opportunities, and challenges.
Support
Mentors encourage growth and achievement by providing an open and supportive environment.
Goal Setting
Mentors help mentees discover talents and interests and define and attain their goals.
Advice
Mentors guide mentees in reaching academic, career, and personal goals.
Role Models
By sharing stories of achievement with mentees, mentors can become role models.

How do AccessComputing Mentors and mentees communicate?

Mentors and mentees are not matched one-to-one but rather communicate through the use of large group email-based discussion lists. Frequent email communication combined with personal contact at AccessComputing-sponsored events, facilitates personal, academic, and career achievement.

AccessComputing Mentors are subscribed to several electronic discussion lists:

doitsem - A public forum to discuss STEM issues pertaining to individuals with disabilities.
mentors - A discussion list for mentors.
AccessSTEM - A forum where mentors with academic and/or professional backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields engage with mentees who are studying, teaching, and working in STEM.
disability-specific lists - Where mentors and mentees each participate in special interest groups to discuss issues related to a specific disability area.

For more information about DO-IT’s mentoring community, consult Opening Doors: Mentoring on the Internet.

Eligibility

College students, postsecondary faculty, and professionals from a variety of challenging academic and career fields are encouraged to apply.

How to Apply

Submit the AccessComputing Mentor Application online or print the form and send in by postal mail, fax, or email. Because safety is of particular concern for young people using the Internet, all Mentor candidates are asked to complete and return a Criminal Conviction & Civil Finding History Questionnaire. Once we receive your completed application, we will follow-up via email on the next steps for the background check and signing the AV release digitally.

About AccessComputing

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering and DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) at the �r�� lead the AccessComputing Project for the purpose of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers nationwide.

For further information, to be placed on the mailing list, request materials in an alternate format, or to make comments or suggestions about DO-IT publications or web pages, contact:

�r��
Box 354842
Seattle, WA 98195-4842
accesscomp@uw.edu
www.uw.edu/accesscomputing/
206-685-DOIT (3648) (voice/TTY)
888-972-DOIT (3648) (toll free voice/TTY)
509-328-9331 (voice/TTY) Spokane
206-221-4171 (fax)

AccessComputing Leaders

Dr. Richard Ladner, PI
Dr. Elaine Schaertl Short, Co-PI
Dr. Raja Kushalnagar, Co-PI
Dr. Stacy Branham, Co-PI
Dr. Brianna Blaser, Associate Director
Dr. Amy Ko, Senior Personnel
Terrill Thompson, IT Accessibility Team Manager
Kayla Brown, Program Coordinator
Lyla Crawford, Internal Evaluator

Acknowledgment

AccessComputing is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #CNS-0540615, CNS-0837508, CNS-1042260, CNS-1539179, CNS-2137312. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

What is Hire Heroes USA?

FeedsImporter — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 20:15:01 +0000

Hire Heroes USA was formed in 2007 by representatives from Seattle area corporations who wanted to help veterans and military family members find corporate workforce jobs. Each year, Hire America's Heroes hosts an annual symposium to "share best practices and success strategies for sourcing, recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, and retaining America's transitioning service members and military veterans."

According to the Hire Heroes USA website, the first symposium in November of 2007 "attracted over 400 attendees and brought together 60 major employers, 120 men and women in uniform, representatives from 11 states outside of Washington, and a number of government representatives and non-profit organizations." The symposium events have grown larger every year.

Hire Heroes USA has also partnered with the Soldier and Family Assistance Center (SFAC) part of the Warrior Transition Battalion (WTB) at Fort Lewis, Washington. The WTB serves over 800 wounded warriors in recovery at Madigan Army Medical Center.

To find out about success stories and job placements, visit the Hire Heroes USA website.

What are some ways to provide note-taking accommodations for a student with a disability?

FeedsImporter — Wed, 27 Oct 2021 20:05:01 +0000

Some students with disabilities have difficulty taking notes. For example, a student with an auditory processing problem may take few or unclear notes. Physical and hearing impairments may also limit speed and make note-taking difficult. A note-taking accommodation is intended to provide information that the student would have gotten on his own, if it were not for his disability. Common ways to provide note-taking accommodations include the following:

Guided notes
Instructor lecture notes
Copies of notes by a designated note taker
Audio recordings

Guided notes are outlines, provided by the instructor, with spaces or blanks that the student can fill in during the lecture. Copies of presentation overheads might also serve as guides for note-taking. Guided notes encourage student participation during class and minimize the amount of writing required to keep up with the information being presented. Students should consider using a laptop computer and note-taking software for note-taking. Teachers could then provide outlines electronically.

An instructor can provide their lecture notes to a student prior to the lecture. This allows the student to concentrate on the information given and participate in discussions. For some students, it is helpful to refer to these notes during the lecture.

Copies of notes, from a designated note-taker or volunteer from the class, can be written on NCR (no carbon required) paper, photocopied or shared electronically. While these methods are easy to use, the legibility or clarity of the notes may limit their usefulness. These notes are also the writer's interpretation of the lecture, which may not match what the student needs to help her remember key concepts. For these reasons, it is better if the student can take some notes for herself.

Audio recording is the most accurate and complete way to capture class information, except in situations where the lecture format is highly visual, as it might be in math or science classes (math problems on the board or demonstrations in science). Recordings are also time-consuming to review and not useful for a person with a hearing impairment.

Upon request, most colleges provide note-taking services for students with documented disabilities. K-12 teachers might consider having a designated note-taker in each of their classes for the benefit of anyone who needs notes because of an absence or a disability. Collaborative learning techniques, such as Think/Pair/Share and Jigsaw, can help students grasp key concepts and ensure that notes are complete. Having students summarize their thinking verbally or in a journal may also be useful.

Contact the special education department or disability services office at your school for assistance in providing note-taking accommodations and to get NCR paper for note-takers.

20 Tips for Teaching an Accessible Online Course

FeedsImporter — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 08:15:01 +0000

20_Tips_Designing_Courses.pdf

I taught the first online learning course at the �r�� in 1995. My co‑instructor was Dr. Norm Coombs, at the time a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. We designed the course to be accessible to anyone, including students who were blind, were deaf, had physical disabilities, or had multiple learning preferences. Norm himself is blind. He uses a screen reader and speech synthesizer to read text presented on the screen. We employed the latest technology of the time—email, discussion list, Gopher, file transfer protocol, and telnet (no World Wide Web yet!). All online materials were in a text-based format, and videos, presented in VHS format with captions and audio description, were mailed to the students. When asked if any of our students had disabilities, we were proud to say that we did not know. Why? Because no one needed to disclose a disability since all of the course materials and teaching methods were accessibly designed.

Technology has changed dramatically since I first taught online, but the basic principles that can guide the design of accessible courses have not. The term UD was coined by Ronald Mace, an architect, product designer, and wheelchair user whose work led to the creation of the Center for Universal Design (CUD) at North Carolina State University and its seven principles of UD. UD is defined as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." The UD definition, principles, and guidelines were created to make any application accessible, usable, and inclusive and, thus, are a logical choice to underpin practices that ensure that online courses meet the needs of potential students with a wide variety of characteristics that include those related to gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, marital status, age, abilities, interests, values, learning preferences, socioeconomic status, and religious beliefs.

For a history of UD, the basic principles of UD and those that later evolved to address issues specific to the design of learning activities and IT, consult my book Creating Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education: A Universal Design Toolkit and other resources presented in the Center for Universal Design in Education, which is hosted by DO-IT Center at the �r��—where DO-IT stands for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology. For resources specific to applications of UD to online learning, including accessibility checkers, legal issues, technical details, and promising practices, consult AccessDL.

A statement about how students can request disability-related accommodations should be included in the syllabus. Then instructors can apply the 20 tips I list below, as they begin to work toward making their online courses more inclusive. The complementary video, 20 Tips for Instructors about Making Online Learning Courses Accessible, may be viewed online, along with a tutorial for further background and directions for implementing these tips.

Tips

Nine tips for course materials follow. Consult Accessible Technology at uw.edu/accessibility for details on the design, selection, and use of accessible IT as well as accessibility checkers that help you identify accessibility problems in materials you use or create:

Use clear, consistent layouts, navigation, and organization schemes to present content. Keep paragraphs short and avoid flashing content.
Use descriptive wording for hyperlink text (e.g., “DO-IT website” rather than “click here”).
Use a text-based format and structure headings, lists, and tables using style and formatting features within your Learning Management System (LMS) and content creation software, such as Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint and Adobe InDesign and Acrobat; use built-in page layouts where applicable.
Avoid creating PDF documents. Post most instructor-created content within LMS content pages (i.e., in HTML) and, if a PDF is desired, link to it only as a secondary source of the information.
Provide concise text descriptions of content presented within images (text descriptions web resource).
Use large, bold, sans serif fonts on uncluttered pages with plain backgrounds.
Use color combinations that are high contrast and can be distinguished by those who are colorblind (color contrast web resource). Do not use color alone to convey meaning.
Caption videos and transcribe audio content.
Don’t overburden students with learning to operate a large number of technology products unless they are related to the topic of the course; use asynchronous tools; make sure IT used requires the use of the keyboard alone and otherwise employs accessible design practices.

Eleven tips for inclusive pedagogy follow; many are particularly beneficial for students who are neurodiverse (e.g., those on the autism spectrum or who have learning disabilities). Consult Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction for more guidance.

Recommend videos and written materials to students where they can gain technical skills needed for course participation.
Provide multiple ways for students to learn (e.g., use a combination of text, video, audio, and/or image; speak aloud all content presented on slides in synchronous presentations and then record them for later viewing).
Provide multiple ways to communicate and collaborate that are accessible to individuals with a variety of disabilities.
Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate what they have learned (e.g., different types of test items, portfolios, presentations, single-topic discussions).
Address a wide range of language skills as you write content (e.g., use plain English, spell out acronyms, define terms, avoid or define jargon).
Make instructions and expectations clear for activities, projects, discussions and readings.
Make examples and assignments relevant to learners with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds.
Offer outlines and other scaffolding tools and share tips that might help students learn.
Provide adequate opportunities to practice.
Allow adequate time for activities, projects, and tests (e.g., give details of all project assignments at the beginning of the course).
Provide feedback on project parts and offer corrective opportunities.

These tips apply to both synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Additional tips for synchronous presentations (e.g., speak all content presented visually, turn on the caption feature of your conferencing software, do not require students to have their cameras on) can be found in Equal Access: Universal Design of Your Presentation.

Acknowledgments

DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the success of individuals with disabilities. This publication was partially funded through DO-IT’s AccessCyberlearning project that is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant #1550477). Any questions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. More information about DO-IT can be found at uw.edu/doit.

Are Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles curricula accessible to students with disabilities?

FeedsImporter — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:15:01 +0000

Many different curricula are used to teach Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles (CSP). Most of these curricula are not fully accessible to students with disabilities, largely because the programming tools that they utilize are not accessible to students who are blind or visually impaired and typically use screen readers to access content presented on the screen. Screen readers can read text aloud to users but cannot interpret content presented in images.

AccessCSforAll developed an accessible version of the AP CSP curriculum that uses the Quorum programming language, which is designed to be accessible to students with disabilities. The accessible curriculum is based on the Code.org curricula.

For more information about accessible K-12 computer science education, consult the following knowledge base articles:

AccessCSforAll is funded by the National Science Foundation (grant #CNS-1738252 and #CNS-1738259) and led by the �r�� and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Its purpose is to increase the successful participation of students with disabilities in K-12 computing courses.

What is XML and how does it relate to accessibility?

FeedsImporter — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 05:15:01 +0000

XML is short for Extensible Markup Language and is a specification from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is a meta-syntax, used to define new markup languages. XML's key benefits are its extensibility (XML-based languages can be extended with new custom tags) and its portability (XML-based languages can be used across different platforms and devices).

XML can be good for accessibility. Many markup languages based on XML have been developed, or are currently under development, that are eliminating accessibility barriers. It should be noted, however, that the existence of a markup language that supports accessibility does not in and of itself make accessibility happen. It provides the foundation for accessibility, but only works if software tools (such as web browsers and assistive technologies) support it.

The following are a few examples of XML-based markup languages that can, or do, have a positive impact on accessibility:

MathML—Provides a standard logical structure for the communication of mathematical expressions, allowing them, for example, to be displayed on web pages and read by screen readers.
Timed Text Markup Language (TTML)—Provides a standard markup language for synchronizing text with media; for example for captions and subtitles
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)—A language for describing two-dimensional graphics. SVG includes a number of accessibility features. For details, see SVG Accessibility Support, an appendix within the SVG specification.
Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML)—A markup language for structuring interactive voice response applications. In order to make these applications accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing, the language provides a mechanism for including text alternatives to audio content.
Comics XML—A simple markup language for comics, created by Jason McIntosh.

What makes information and communication technology inaccessible to people with disabilities?

FeedsImporter — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 05:15:01 +0000

Information and communications technology may be inaccessible to people with disabilities if it provides only one way for users to gain access to or manipulate information. For example, people who are blind cannot read instructions presented only in a visual format; people who are deaf cannot understand content that is presented only aurally; people who are color-blind cannot discriminate between color-coded options; people with specific physical limitations cannot use a software application that requires use of a mouse; people who use wheelchairs cannot operate a copy machine if the controls are positioned too high or too far for them to reach from a seated position. Many of these barriers can be lowered or eliminated when technology environments are developed from an approach called "universal design."

For more information, see the Knowledge Base article What is universal design?

What are examples of accessible information and communication technology in education?

FeedsImporter — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 05:15:01 +0000

Computers, multimedia, software, electronic communication, the web, and other information technologies are common in educational institutions today. The ability to access and use this technology has become essential to full participation of students in academic and other school-related activities. For most educational institutions, accessibility is commonly addressed as an afterthought and on an individual basis, often making it difficult, time-consuming, and costly to provide adequate access. A better approach is to consider the needs of all possible users in the planning phase, when considering the role that technologies will play in an educational entity's future. This approach, known as universal design, results in a technology-enhanced learning environment that benefits all users, including those with and without disabilities. For more on universal design, see the DO-IT Knowledge Base article What is universal design?

If an educational entity's technology environment has been established with a universal design process, all students and staff can participate in and benefit equally from the activities of that entity. Below are a few examples:

Accessible web pages allow students with disabilities to access information; share their work; communicate with peers, teachers, and mentors; and take advantage of distance learning options.
Accessible instructional courseware allows students with disabilities to participate side by side with their peers in computer labs, classrooms, and online as they complete assignments; collaborate with peers; create and view presentations, documents, and spreadsheets; and actively participate in simulations and all other academic activities.
Accessible multimedia, including captions and audio descriptions, is accessible to all students, including those with visual or hearing impairments, and is more easily understood by students for whom the video is not in their first language or who learn best or otherwise benefit from multisensory input.
Accessible telecommunications and office equipment make communication and educational administrative functions accessible to everyone, including those with mobility, visual, and hearing impairments.

How do learning management systems differ on accessibility?

FeedsImporter — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 23:15:01 +0000

Learning management systems (LMS) such as Blackboard, Canvas, Desire2Learn, and Moodle allow instructors to provide online courses within the context of a consistent standard interface. One accessibility benefit of using an LMS is that many students with disabilities have the greatest success in accessing web content when it is presented using a consistent layout. If an educational institution standardizes on a particular LMS package, students at that institution will likely encounter the same online course interface for many of their classes throughout their academic career.

Most major LMS vendors have worked extensively on the accessibility of their products, and some of the details about their accessibility support is available through their websites:

However, the accessibility of the LMS interface is only part of the solution. Even in a fully accessible LMS, an instructor or course developer can easily create an inaccessible course by creating inaccessible pages within the course that don't include proper heading structure or that include images without alt text. They can also break accessibility by uploading inaccessible PDFs or other digital documents, videos that lack captions or audio description, and other inaccessible course materials.

Also, most LMS products support the addition of plugins, including many widely available plugins that work across products via the Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard. An instructor or course developer can introduce accessibility problems to an otherwise accessible course by choosing to use a plugin that is not designed with accessibility in mind.

The potential for introducing accessibility problems to online courses underscores the importance of all instructors and course developers receiving at least a basic education on technology accessibility. The �r�� addresses this need by providing a website titled Getting Started with Accessibility. Also, tools such as Blackboard Ally and University of Central Florida's Universal Design Online Content Inspection Tool (UDOIT) check accessibility of content that's added to a course and provide feedback to the author, helping them to better understand accessibility, fix the current problems, and create more accessible content in the future.