CyberLearning 2016

[Update:  The conference was postponed due to the blizzard that struck DC the day before -- when the planning team was scheduled to arrive from the West Coast.  I don't have a new date yet for the re-scheduled event, but I'll leave this up and then see what revisions will be appropriate when the event takes place.]

I'm posting this on Friday January 22.  Sunday, the 24th I'm scheduled to fly to Washington, DC to attend the CyberLearning 2016 conference.  Today and tomorrow, the East Coast, and in particular Washington, DC are supposed to be hit by a major (for them) blizzard.   I'm hoping air travel will be back on track Sunday and the conference will go on as scheduled.  The organizers have put together a website for participants to provide updates on their travel plans.  Since this is a significant gathering of National Science Foundation CyberLearning Principle Investigators the conference planners want this event to be a success.  I'll know more by Sunday.

I'm posting my slides early because I want the participants in my session to be able to have them as we talk.   One of the first things I want to have the brave ones do, is to use one of the accessibility sites on slide 6 to check their project/organizational website.  That should be the start of some interesting discussions.

Meeting Your Civil Rights Accessibility Obligations from Raymond Rose

My Persepctive on: The Center for Innovative Research in CyberLearning

Meet Raymond Rose 

CIRCL perspectives offer a window into the many different worlds of various stakeholders in the cyberlearning community–what drives their work, what they need to be successful, and what they think the community should be doing.

 http://circlcenter.org/meet-raymond-rose/

January 25-26 I'll be at the CyberLearning 2016 conference in Arlington VA. The keynotes will be live streamed, and  you can register for them here.

The slides for my session will be up on this site later this week.

Useful Paper: A step-by-step guide for making online classes accessible

A paper,  Applying Universal Design for Learning in Online Courses: Pedagogical and Practical Considerations in the Journal of Educators-Online is a good resource.  It was written by Cindy Ann Dell, Thomas F. Dell, and  Terry L. Blackwell, all from  Montana State University.

The Abstract:

Inclusion of the universal design for learning (UDL) model as a guiding set of principles for online curriculum development in higher education is discussed. Fundamentally, UDL provides the student with multiple means of accessing the course based on three overarching principles: presentation; action and expression; and engagement and interaction. Guidelines are also provided for incorporating UDL into an online curriculum for teaching both general and diverse populations including students with disabilities. 

Is one of the better pieces I've seen on the issues of making online courses accessible.  They only miss in not stating that all online courses must be accessible even if the instructor is unaware of any students in the class with a disability.  They still reference the Disability Services Office -- which is appropriate -- but don't explicitly state that all online courses need to be accessible as has been OCR position on this matter, as I've written before.

Looking for specific guidance for designing accessible online courses using UDL?  This article is a good place to start.

http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume12Number2/DellDellBlackwell.pdf

Equity Matters: Digital and Online Learning for Students with Disabilities

The national Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities (COLSD) recently released their 2015 annual publication Equity Matters: Digital and Online Learning for Students with Disabilities

While the PDF does not currently have an Executive Summary, I'm hoping they will produce on soon  The 150 pages include some very interesting information,which some COLSD staff have analyzed and hopefully will be included in the Executive Summary.  Almost half of the publication includes State and Territory Scans that look at policy questions related to online learning activities and students with disabilities.

(I'm a member of the COLSD Technical Working Group  but we had nothing to do with the publication.)