Presented at EDUCAUSE Annual Conferences and Web Accessibility

Curriculum, instruction, and pedagogy, when linked with good assessment strategies, provide excellent measures of teaching and learning effectiveness. Technology enables the use of universal design principles to address different learning styles and rates and methods of expression. The session will discuss the importance of accessible design concepts regarding assessment tools and instruments.

Compliance guidelines for S508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act are much discussed yet seldom fully implemented in higher education online course environments. Accessibility mandates are often perceived as too complex and difficult to implement on the course development level on a day-to-day basis. As the number of higher education students with identified disabilities increases, the essential elements of universal design for learning can empower both instructors and learners. This seminar will equip course designers and instructors with practical, easy-to-implement strategies for ensuring that course materials are accessible to all learners.

This meeting will provide a forum to discuss issues related to IT accessibility. Anyone who plays a role in managing, developing, deploying, or supporting IT in a higher education environment shares the responsibility for ensuring that IT is accessible to students and employees with disabilities and is encouraged to participate. This is the new group’s first meeting, so the opportunity is ripe to help define the group's goals and objectives and influence its direction.

Working in pairs, participants will be led through an informal usability test based in part on Steve Krug's excellent script in "Don't Make Me Think" (www.sensible.com). One participant (the "user") will leave the room while the other participant (the "owner") is interviewed about the site's overall goals and key user tasks (apply for admission, find a news release, find out who teaches Chemistry 101, and so forth).

When the user returns, he or she will be asked to "think out loud" while using the site and attempting the tasks defined by the owner, who will be able to watch and listen but not comment. After a discussion with both participants about the experience, the roles will then be reversed. In addition to live user feedback about their sites, participants (and observers) will learn a simple but effective method for improving their sites--and their own Web development skills.