Washington state university distance education program

Simple steps can be taken to ensure that the course is accessible to those with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. People without disabilities also benefit when "universal design" is considered in the course development process. General principles include: the design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities; the design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities; the design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities; and the design can be used efficiently and comfortably, and with a minimum of fatigue.

When universal design principles are applied, products meet the needs of potential users with a wide variety of characteristics. Disability is just one of many characteristics that an individual might possess.

Others include height, age, race, native language, ethnicity, and gender. All of the potential characteristics of participants should be considered when developing a distance learning course.

Just as modern sidewalks and buildings are designed to be used by everyone, including those who use wheelchairs, distance learning designers should create learning environments that allow all potential students and instructors to fully participate.

The next sections of this publication provide examples of strategies for making distance learning courses accessible to everyone. Be sure to include a statement on all program promotional materials about how to obtain materials in alternate format and how to obtain disability-related accommodations.

The interactive video sessions, proctored examinations, and retreats for students in some distance learning courses require place-bound meetings.

In these cases, the facility should be wheelchair accessible, the furniture should be flexible enough to accommodate wheelchair-users, and accessible restrooms and parking should be available nearby. Standard disability-related accommodations, such as sign language interpreters, should be provided when requested. Instructors should speak clearly; face students when speaking to facilitate lip-reading; and read aloud and describe text and other visual materials for those who cannot see them.

Some distance learning programs employ real-time communication in their courses. In this case, students communicate synchronously at the same time , as compared to asynchronously not necessarily at the same time.

Besides providing scheduling challenges, synchronous communication is difficult or impossible for someone who cannot communicate quickly. For example, a student with a learning disability who takes a long time to compose her thoughts or a student whose input method is slow may not be fully included in the discussion. In addition, some communication software erects barriers for individuals who are blind.

Instructors who choose to use such tools for small group interaction should select chat software that is accessible to those using screen readers and plan for an alternate method of communication e. Text-based, asynchronous resources such as email, bulletin boards, and email-based distribution lists generally erect no special barriers for students with disabilities.

If a prerequisite to a course is for students to have access to electronic mail, the instructor can assume that participants with disabilities already have an accessible email program to use. Email communication between individual students, course administration staff, the instructor, guest speakers, and other students is accessible to all parties, regardless of disability.

Applying universal design principles makes web pages accessible to individuals with a wide range of disabilities. There are basically two approaches for making web page content and navigation accessible. Certain types of inaccessible data and features need to be avoided or alternative methods need to be provided for carrying out the function or accessing the content provided through an inaccessible feature or format.

For example, a distance learning designer can avoid using a graphic that is inaccessible to individuals who are blind, or he can create a text description of the content that is accessible to text-to-speech software. Students who are blind or who have specific learning disabilities that affect their ability to read may require that printed materials be converted into Braille, large print, or electronic formats. Making the content of printed materials available in an accessible web-based format may provide the best solution for students who cannot read standard printed materials.

Ideally, whenever a video presentation is used in a distance learning course, captioning should be provided for those who have hearing impairments and audio description that describes aurally the visual content should be provided for those who are blind. If a video publisher does not make these options available, the distance learning program should have a system in place to accommodate students who have sensory impairments. For example, the institution could hire someone local to the student to describe the visual material to a blind student or to sign audio material for a student who is deaf.

Real-time captioning developed at the time of the presentation or sign language interpreting should be provided for videoconferences when requested by participants who are deaf. Sometimes, online courses include telephone conferencing opportunities for discussion in small groups.

This mode of communication creates scheduling challenges for everyone. It is also inaccessible to a student who is deaf. Instructors who use telephone conferencing for small group discussions should allow alternative communication e.

Alternatively, a student who is deaf might be able to participate in a telephone conference by using the Telecommunications Relay Service TRS , where an operator types what the speakers say for the deaf student to view on his text telephone TTY and translates his printed input into speech, however this system might be too slow to allow participation in lively conversations.

Another accommodation approach involves setting up a private chat room on the web. A transcriptionist types the conversation for the deaf student to view. The student can also type his contributions into the chat room and they can be voiced by someone in the group who is monitoring the chat room.

Various options should be discussed with the student for whom the teaching tool is inaccessible. For example, people who cannot access graphics due to computer system limitations are in a similar situation as students who are blind.

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