There's no question; online courses must be designed to be accessible. The three major standards organizations include access. Easier said than done! And, standards don't provide any real guidance on how to me the legal requirements, let alone meet the standards.

1. Try to find a circle, star, and/or square.
http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#
demonstration card

2. Try to find a circle, star, and/or square
in 3 seconds.
http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card Number 1

3. Try and find a circle, star, and/or
square in 3 seconds
http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card
Number 2

4. Try and find a doc, boat, balloon, or
car as shown on the demonstration
card.
http://colorvisiontesting.com/online%20test.htm#Test Card Number 3

5. Where would you go?
http://www.martin-missfeldt.com/images-pictures/speed-painting-videos/color-
blindness-visual-test.jpg

6. 5 Steps to Improving Access and
Equity in Online Classes
Ray Rose
Rose & Smith Associates
This work by Raymond Rose is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

7. Who are you?
• Government
• Non-profit
• K-12
• Higher Education
• For-Profit

8. What do you do?
• Course Instructor
• Course designer
• Program Manager
• Administrator
• Other

9. Why are you at this session?
• Curious
• Concerned
• Looking for assurance I’m already doing
everything right
• To hear those 5 tips.

10. Data to Consider
• 56.7 million people with disabilities in US
• 48 million (20%) in US have some hearing loss
• 11% of post-secondary students have a
disability

11. Quick Thoughts
• Do you wear glasses/contact lenses?
• If you answer yes, you realize that…
• You’re one step from having a disability
• Everyone can become disabled… and
probably will if we don’t die first.

12. Standards…
• K-12
– iNACOL
– Quality Matters
• Higher Ed
– Quality Matters
– SLOAN-C
• Everyone
– WCAG

13. SLOAN-C
Course Structure
4. Instructional materials are easily accessible
and easy to use for student
5 .The course adequately addresses the needs of
students with disabilities via alternative
instructional strategies and/or referral to special
institutional resources
From…
http://sloanconsortium.org/quality_scorecard_online_program

14. SLOAN-C
Faculty Support
1. Technical assistance specifically for online
course development and online teaching is
provided for faculty.
2. Instructors are prepared to teach online
education courses and the institution ensures
faculty receive training, assistance, and
support at all times during the development
and delivery of courses.

15. SLOAN-C
Student Support
10. Policy and process is in place to support
ADA requirements.

16. iNACOL
Quality Online Courses V2
User Interface
4. Rich media are provided in multiple formats
for ease of use and access in order to address
diverse student needs.

17. iNACOL
Resources and Materials
11. Student have access to resources that
enrich the course content.
Section B: Instructional Design

18. iNACOL
Accessibility
10. Course materials and activities are designed
to provide appropriate access to all students.
The course, developed with universal design
principles in mind, conforms to the U.S. Section
504 and Section 508 provisions for electronic
and information technology as well as the W3C’s
Web Content Accessibility guidelines
(WCAG2.0).
Section D: Technology

19. iNACOL
Teaching Standards
The online teacher knows and understands
legal mandates stipulated by the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the
Assistive Technology Act, and Section 508
or other similar guidelines/requirements for
accessibility
Standard F: Teacher Knowledge and Understanding

20. iNACOL
Quality Online Programs
* iNACOL currently developing standards for blended learning

21. Quality Matters
Accessibility
8.1 The course employs accessible technologies and
provides guidance on how to obtain accommodation.
8.2 The course contains equivalent alternatives to
auditory and visual content.
8.3 The course design facilitates readability and
minimizes distractions.
8.4 The course design accommodates the use of
assistive technologies.

22. Become Familiar with UDL
• Universal Design for Learning
– Multiple means of representation
– Multiple means of Action and Expression
– Multiple means of engagement
http://www.cast.org/udl/

23. Think Print disability
• Includes:
– Visual Print-disability
– Physical Print-disability
– Cognitive and/or Perceptual Print-disability

25. Have you heard of/are familiar with
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973?

26. 504 Basics
• Appoint 504 Coordinator
• Establish 504 Grievance Procedure
• Provide annual notice of Coordinator and
Grievance Procedure

27. Section 504
• Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(Vocational Rehabilitation Act, 1973)
– mandates that qualified people with disabilities have access
to programs and services that receive federal funds
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (Americans
with Disabilities Act, 1990)
– reinforced and extended Section 504
– prohibiting institutions from excluding and otherwise
discriminating against students with disabilities in public
programs and services,
– regardless of whether or not they are federally funded
• U. S. Department of Justice, 1996
– if qualified individuals with disabilities enroll in online
courses, these courses must be made accessible to them
Vocational Rehabilitation Act. (1973). Pub. L. 93-112, U.S. Code. vol. 29, § 701 et seq.
Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990. 42 U.S.C.A. § 12101 et seq. (West 1993). Retrieved June 1, 2004, from
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/statute.html

28. OCR Finding

29. Have you heard of Section 508?
(Section 508 Rehabilitation Act 1973)

30. Have you heard of ADA?
(Title II, ADA of 1990)

31. * “The use of the Accessibility Standards by OCR
does not imply that conformance to Section 508,
WCAG, and/or other electronic and information
technology standard is either required or sufficient
to comply with either Section 504 or Title II. Rather,
OCR’s limited application of the Accessibility
Standards served only as an investigative line of
inquiry, assessing the designated website against
specific technical requirements, which may indicate
potential compliance concerns under Section 504
and Title II.”
*OCR Compliance Review: Docket #15-11-5002*Boilerplate from OCR Compliance Reports

32. Section 508
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (U.S.
Department of Education, 1998),
– requires that electronic and information technologies that
federal agencies procure, develop, maintain, and use
– be made accessible to people with disabilities, both
employees and members of the public,
– unless it would pose an undue burden to do so.
• The Vocational Rehabilitation Act Amendments (1998)
– mandated the U.S. Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) to develop
accessibility standards for electronic and information
technology to which federal agencies must comply
• Section 508 directly applies to federal agencies.
– Texas Administrative Code, Title 1, Chapters 206 and 213
• Electronic Info Resources Accessibility Policy/DIR

33. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG) 2.0• Perceivable
– Text alternatives
– Time-based media alternatives
– Content can be presented in different ways
– Easier for users to see and hear content
• Operable
– Keyboard functionality
– Time constraints removed
– Sensitivity to seizure-inducing design
– Easily navigate and find content
• Understandable
– Text content readable and understandable
– Web pages are predictable in appearance and operation
– Help users avoid and correct mistakes
• Robust
– Maximize current and future user compatibility
– Including assistive technologies
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

34. Accessibility Requirements
• Development of
– Policies
• Program and Information Access
• Accessible Technology
– Procedures
• Course Development Guidelines
– Guidelines/Standards
• Section 508 Standards
• W3C Guidelines
• Institutionally Designed Standards
– Dissemination
• Provision of
– Ongoing Training
• Staff
• Instructors
– Technical Support
– Enforcement/Reward
– Evaluation/Revision
Burgstahler, S. (2002). Distance Learning: Universal Design,
Universal Access. AACE Journal, 10(1), 32-61. Norfolk, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/17776.

35. OCR Finding

36. 5 Steps
• Design EVERY class/course/website as if will have
people with disabilities using it, (and it will).
• Metatag EVERY graphic with a useful description.
– What is justification for Eye-Candy?
• Provide alternate presentations of ALL multimedia.
– Caption or transcript all video
• Judicous use of color
• (K-12) Create an Online Education Special Education
Policy
– Vendor’s statement of accessibility for compliance is not
protection.
• You need to review and insure accessibility

37. #1
Basic Design:
UDL is great, but not enough

38. #2
• Pay attention to color (color
blind)

39. #3
Graphics
• Alt Tag EVERYTHING
• NO Eye candy

40. #4
• Captioning/Transcripts ARE
NOT A LUXURY

41. #5
Everything needs to be
accessible: inside and outside
the LMS

42. More..
• Use Alternate Presentations
• The course content must be accessible
without a mouse.
• Do NOT trust vendors word on
accessibility.
– 6 different vendors materials cited by
OCR.

43. Resources
• CynthiaSays.com
• https://amp.ssbbartgroup.com/express
• NCAM.wgbh.org
– MAGpie
– CC for FLASH
• www.adobe.com/accessibility.html
• http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED509623.pdf

44. More Resources…
• http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/NACOL
_EquityAccess.pdf
• Are Today’s Administrators Prepared, Distance
Learning, A Magazine for Leaders Vol7 #2,
2010

45. Buy or Build
from 2009 Sloan Consortium Report on K-12 Online Learning
• Administrators typically rely on outside online
providers, including post secondary institutions,
independent vendors, and state virtual schools;
• Eighty-three percent of districts use multiple providers;
• The reliance on outside providers are due to shortages
of qualified teachers in high need specialized areas,
such as, STEM subjects;
• Districts have inequities in state funding; and
• A lack of foundation exists to determine quality in
online providers, online content, or online pedagogy.
(Sloan Consortium, 2009)

46. Contact Information
• Raymond Rose
– ray@rose-smith.com
– 512.791.3100