MERLOT Voices

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Accessibility of Open Educational Resources

As the domain and practice of OER and other affordable resources (e.g., digital textbooks) rapidly develops, how do we proceed with the consideration of accessibility and universal design, so that all students benefit to the highest level possible?

As OER adopters or developers, who do we use accessibility and universal design as standards?

How do we advocate for greater implementation of accessibility and UD standards in the OER/affordability domain?

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Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on March 30, 2012 at 8:16am

The blog "Universal Design and the Use of Accessible Technology" has an interesting post on "Creative Commons and Accessibility of OER."

An interesting excerpt from the article: "With OER and CC licensing, we have another tool for accomplishing universal design in our curriculum and instruction. The need for converting a material to another format, whether it’s audio transcribed to text or a video to which audio description has been added, can now be defined by the student rather than copyright law. No accommodation or modification necessary."

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on April 16, 2012 at 3:00pm

Blind students should not be excluded from physics (or any) courses because of inaccessible textbooks. A good example of a text that is OER and designed to support students with disabilities in acquiring the necessary content, knowledge, and skills is "Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students." The modules in this text present physics concepts in a format that blind students can read using accessibility tools. These modules are intended to supplement and not to replace the physics textbook.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on April 30, 2012 at 1:46pm

As a device/platform, the iPad continues to provide strong accessibility, particularly with iOS 5 enhancements.  Many of these enhancements related to using text content, such as e-books.  Accessibility expert and "blind techie" Luis Perez provides a strong "Overview of new accessibility features in iOS 5" and what it means to users with disabilities.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on May 8, 2012 at 5:06pm

How the Blind Are Reinventing the iPhone!  At first many blind people thought that the iPhone would never be accessible to them, with its flat glass screen. But the opposite has proved true.  This is critical, as more textbooks go into the mobile and tablet platforms. 

For its fans and advocates in the visually-impaired community, the iPhone has turned out to be one of the most revolutionary developments since the invention of Braille. That the iPhone and its world of apps have transformed the lives of its visually impaired users may seem counter-intuitive -- but their impact is striking.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on May 25, 2012 at 3:35pm

Strong article by Skip Stahl (CAST.org) on "The Promise of Accessible Textbooks: Increased Achievement for All Students."  Particularly useful section on the benefits of accessible textbooks.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on June 14, 2012 at 7:58am

New "Making Ebooks Accessible" article by Jim Tobias (Inclusive Technologies) in American Libraries.  A good, basic break-down of who needs what.  Appropriate depth and breadth for sharing with those who are newer to the issues.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on July 26, 2012 at 4:42pm

Kurzweill Educational Systems launches "firefly app for the iPad, increasing access to digital content on the go for Kurzweill 3000 users.  Further information at http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurzweil-3000-firefly-ipad-app.html.

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on August 30, 2012 at 8:30am

Justice Department Settles with Sacramento, CA, Public Library Authority Over Inaccessible “E-Reader” Devices.  

“Emerging technologies like e-readers are changing the way we interact with the world around us and we need to ensure that people with disabilities are not excluded from the programs where these devices are used,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez. 

Critical as we move forward with new electronic materials and devices.  Full release @ http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/August/12-crt-1059.html

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on September 24, 2012 at 4:21pm

MERLOT.org advances their mission of accessibility and OER by creating an accessible, online community website  leveraging MERLOT’s open educational services.  For more, see http://oeraccess.merlot.org/

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on October 10, 2012 at 4:33pm

"Supporting All of Our Students with Accessible OER" webinar, October 30 by Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources - http://bit.ly/WT7YZ6

Permalink Reply by Brett Christie on February 5, 2013 at 3:26pm

Multiple OER Accessibility presentations at Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Conference, April 9-11, Las Vegas.

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