Accessibility to Technology

Image via Wikipedia

Now that you've finally made it to the summer, it's time to get to that list of things you want to do.   If you're like me, you have a number of ideas and projects for education that have been sitting on the back burner.  One topic I'll be pursuing is the accessibility of technology for people with disabilities.

I have to admit that this is an area I haven't considered in my fervor to integrate technology.  It is, however, an issue that I've noticed more and more in the material I come across.  Like this article in Campus Technology entitled "Department of Ed Expands on Accessibility Issue in Ed Tech",  most point out that education is meant to be provided to everyone no matter what form it takes.  Web content providers, such as myself, need to take this into account as we publish our material for use in the classroom.  W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium lists some areas to consider:

• alternative text for images
• keyboard input
• transcripts for podcasts

I believe the first item is most relevant to what I provide with RealWorldMath.org.  I have embraced the visual content of Google Earth as a prime feature of my work, but I haven't considered how someone who is visually impaired would be able to complete the tasks.  I could be wrong.  There could be more issues that I need to address and so that is why I plan on learning more.  The W3C site seems to be a good place to start.

Please share your thoughts or send me resources to accomplish this.  If you like, I can post a follow up entry in the future.

On a different topic, I am gearing up for the ISTE 2011 convention in Philadelphia.  I have a poster session on Wednesday, June 29 from 11am-1pm.  If you're attending the convention I hope you take time to stop by and say hi.

Related articles

• The Future of Computer and Internet Use in Schools (education.com)
• Why Accessibility? Because It's Our Job! (blogs.sitepoint.com)
• Department of Ed Expands on Accessibility Issues in Ed Tech (hollymccracken.wordpress.com)

Current trends

As promised, after reviewing materials and notes from the summer, I have formed some opinions on what I deem to be the current IT trends. Most of this is based on the websites, software packages, and presentations that I picked up on at the 2010 ISTE convention in Denver.

Several movements are emerging or have emerged for Education in the Web 2.0 environment.

1. Greater proliferation of quality online educational content by amateurs and professional developers.
2. Increased amount of IT usage and studies of its effectiveness.
3. Learning systems or online curricula have been designed for online or interactive whiteboard use. Conceivably, these could take the place of textbooks and include standards-based materials for each state. Many learning systems follow a multiple-choice format and are intentionally directed towards standardized test preparation.
4. Packaged administrative solutions for districts or schools with online communication, engagement, and management.
5. There is a pedagogical dilemma that exists between many technological solutions versus best education practices.

My award for best of show at ISTE 2010 is SAFARI Montage. This is a visual instruction package that allows teachers to incorporate video-on-demand instructional material from publishers such as National Geographic, NASA, PBS, The History Channel, Scholastic, Schlessinger Media, BBC Worldwide, Disney Education, and much more. Teachers have the ability to format multimedia lesson plans using a combination of text, video excerpts, and live-video feeds. The content can be played on computers in the classroom or at home, as well as on interactive whiteboards. The system allows for the integration of a document camera for presentations, and classroom camera feeds for district-wide productions, video conferencing, or distance learning. What I liked best about SAFARI Montage is that it didn't push a designed curriculum but rather presented itself as resource tool for the teacher to format his or her own lesson designs. I would be very excited if I was a teacher on the receiving end of this package.

Most likely, I'll be adding to this post so please revisit it in the future.