accessibility / UDL

In need of a live transcription app so I can talk to my dad, who is hard of hearing [Christian]

On 07/20/2020, in accessibility / UDL, biology, communications, Daniel S. Christian, Google, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, tools, by Daniel Christian

A paramedic has found an innovative way to communicate with hard of hearing patients while wearing a face mask. pic.twitter.com/vGB6kIvTWp

— NursingNotes (@NursingNotesUK) July 17, 2020

From DSC:
My dad is hard of hearing and the issue continues to get worse, though his hearing aids do help some. I’ve been looking for an app that could take what’s being spoken — in real-time — and write it out for him on a device (iPad, iPhone, other). But the WiFi network is not available at the retirement home where he’s at. So this needs to work off of a cellular connection. If you know of some solid apps in this regard, please leave a note in the comments section. Thanks!

Items mentioned in a video I saw the other day, but may have different applications:

Big (letters start big and get smaller)
Live Transcribe (Android only)
The American Sign Language (ASL) app
Cardzilla
Ava

Several resources re: accessibility

On 07/19/2020, in accessibility / UDL, Apple, Augmented Reality (AR), Canvas - and other Instructure-related items, colleges, communications, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, education technology, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learner profiles, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, Mixed Reality (MR), new media literacies, online learning, online media, productivity / tips and tricks, society, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, trends, universities, usability, user experience (UX), Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, web design and production, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

3 items from re: accessibility from BOIA.org:

BOIA.org also has a nice blog, and an accessibility checker:

Some other resources:

General Accessibility Design Guidelines from Instructure/Canvas
Accessibility & Usability Resource Site (AURS) from Quality Matters

Addendums on 7/23/20:

7 Steps to Making Your School’s Website Accessible to All — from thejournal.com by Ali Arsan
With districts around the country relying on their websites to convey essential information to their communities, accessibility is more important than ever.

Reopening schools: A Getting Smart webinar recap [gettingsmart.com]

On 06/27/2020, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, blended learning, collaboration, communications, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, health, hybrid learning, K-12 related, online learning, student-related, surviving, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Reopening schools: A Getting Smart webinar recap — from gettingsmart.com by Getting Smart Staff

“We must ensure that people who are furthest from educational justice have their learning needs met. You will then meet the needs of all learners.” – Kelly Niccolls

The 2020 Kessler Foundation National Employment & Disability Survey: Recent College Graduates

On 06/25/2020, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, career development, colleges, community colleges, higher education, neurodivergent/special needs, universities, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The 2020 Kessler Foundation National Employment & Disability Survey: Recent College Graduates — from kesslerfoundation.org; with thanks to Nicky Miller for this resource

Per Nicky:

In a nutshell, this first-of-its-kind survey revealed factors that help people with disabilities find employment, including the importance of higher education, advisory services and networking. Also discussed in detail, are myths and barriers that people with disabilities often face. Learn about our survey, visit: www.kesslerfoundation.org/kfsurvey2020

To highlight factors in our survey, we’ve interviewed three young adults with disabilities, who share their college to work experiences. They discuss in detail the ups and downs of their academic and employment careers. Watch here: Webinar Part 2 – The ADA Generation and the Workplace: Recent College Graduates with Disabilities Speak Out

In some cases throughout the years, people with disabilities were told they shouldn’t further their education, and in other instances, they are discouraged from working. This survey dispel these ideas. People with disabilities are conquering barriers and broadening their education.

COVID-19 Intensifies Need to Tackle Digital Accessibility — from campustechnology.com by By Glenda Sims
More learning content than ever before has migrated online, bringing accessibility concerns to the forefront. Here’s how higher ed institutions are making progress toward equitable access.

Excerpt:

Accessibility lawsuits in education are not new. However, with colleges and universities undertaking their own digital transformations (moving more content and services online), lawsuits targeted at equitable access to physical facilities (like bathrooms) have logically expanded to digital offerings for students relying on assistive technologies to access them. The current COVID-19 crisis is likely to exacerbate this, as more learning content than ever before has migrated online in these unprecedented times. Persons with disabilities will demand nothing less than completely equitable access, particularly when it comes to their safety. While many higher ed institutions still have much to do for their accessibility initiatives, there have been many promising developments…

Remote Therapy for Special Needs Students Finally Viewed as Viable Option [Schaffhauser]

On 05/20/2020, in accessibility / UDL, education, K-12 related, neurodivergent/special needs, remote teaching and learning, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

Remote Therapy for Special Needs Students Finally Viewed as Viable Option — from thejournal.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

“If there is a silver lining to this terrible virus, it is that out of necessity school districts have become more open to remote learning,” noted CEO Geneve Milne in a blog post. “This is a really important evolution because now school districts that have struggled to recruit speech language pathologists are likely to be more comfortable offering teletherapy to their students. This will help ease the lack of trained, licenses speech-language pathologists available to districts and help districts be more prepared when external forces keep students away from their special needs educator.”

10 Tips for Supporting Students with Special Needs in #RemoteLearning — from jakemiller.net by Jake Miller

Excerpt:

How can we support learners with special needs in remote learning?

While, certainly, some educators are doing great things to support these students, from my observations, this has taken a backseat to other elements of remote learning. And these students NEED OUR HELP.

Unfortunately, I am not an expert in special education, accessibility features or assistive technology. I am, however, skilled at asking other people to share their expertise. ? So, in episode 40 of the Educational Duct Tape podcast and in the 4.8.20 #EduDuctTape Twitter Chat I asked educators one simple question:

How can we support learners with special needs in remote learning?

And they DELIVERED. I mean, the awesome suggestions and resources, all from a perspective of support rather than judgment, POURED in. And so, here they are.

Accessibility-related features from Apple

On 04/26/2020, in A/V -- audio/visual, accessibility / UDL, adult learning, Apple, assistive technologies, colleges, community colleges, digital audio, education, education technology, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), innovation, interactivity, interface design, IT in HE, K-12 related, law schools, learning, multimedia, neurodivergent/special needs, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, psychology, remote teaching and learning, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, technology (general), tools, United States, usability, user experience (UX), user interface design, vendors, voice recognition / voice enabled interfaces, youth, by Daniel Christian

Accessibility-related features from Apple

Special education and accessibility resources for remote learning [Microsoft]

On 04/26/2020, in accessibility / UDL, assistive technologies, education, education technology, health, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), K-12 related, languages and translation, Microsoft, neurodivergent/special needs, online learning, online media, platforms, psychology, remote teaching and learning, youth, by Daniel Christian

Special education and accessibility resources for remote learning — from education.microsoft.com

Excerpt:

For special educators, diversity demands they provide inclusive, accessible learning environments that inspire confidence and encourage independence differently for each student. Learn about how to create a personalized and engaging remote learning experience for all of your students through the resources provided in these pages.

These resources are intended for all educators, but will be especially helpful for educators and support staff who work in the following areas: special education, assistive technology, blind and visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language pathology, early childhood special education, behavior, counseling, school psychology, language interpretation, literacy, autism, and many other areas that assist students who need specially designed instruction.

Educating all learners during COVID-19: An alliance emerges to provide support for virtual special education services [Dene Poth]

On 04/23/2020, in accessibility / UDL, education, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, neurodivergent/special needs, parents/guardians, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, virtual K-12 schools, youth, by Daniel Christian

Educating all learners during COVID-19: An alliance emerges to provide support for virtual special education services — from gettingsmart.com by Rachelle Dene Poth

Excerpt:

One group that is developing a supportive space for educators looking to support students with disabilities during this time is the Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA), a group dedicated to equity and aimed at providing resources that students with disabilities need. The EALA is a collaborative project between a number of education groups to curate education resources specifically for schools that serve the nearly 7.5 million special needs students in America. Lauren Morando Rhim, co-founder and executive director of founding partner the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, explains the motivation for the project: “We’re already seeing schools finding creative and innovative ways to ensure teachers and students with disabilities can engage in teaching and learning remotely—our goal is to help educators share those strategies broadly with their peers.”

Why education is a ‘wicked problem’ for learning engineers to solve [Koenig]

On 04/03/2020, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, accessibility / UDL, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, computer science, cost of getting a degree, data related items, digital learning, education, education technology, emerging technologies, engineering, experimentation, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, morals/values, more voice more choice more control, new business models, personalized/customized learning, platforms, science, smart/connected TV, social learning / networks, society, STEAM-related, student-related, teaching & learning, technologies for your home, technology (general), tools, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Why education is a ‘wicked problem’ for learning engineers to solve — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

So, back to the wicked problem: How do we make education that’s both quality education and at the same time accessible and affordable?

“Now, we are building a new technology that we call Agent Smith. It’s another AI technology— and we’re very excited about it—that builds [a] Jill Watson for you. And Agent Smith can build a Jill Watson for you in less than 10 percent of the hours.”
…
So one question for online education is, can we build a new set of tools—and I think that’s where AI is going to go, that learning engineering is going to go—where AI is not helping individual humans as much as AI is helping human-human interaction.

Huge ethical issues and something that learning engineering has not yet started focusing on in a serious manner. We are still in a phase of, “Look ma, no hands, I can ride a bike without hands.”
…
Technology should not be left to technologists.

Concept3D introduces wheelchair wayfinding feature to support campus accessibility — from concept3d.echoscomm.com with thanks to Delaney Lanker for this resource
System makes wheelchair friendly campus routes easy to find and follow

Excerpt:

Concept3D, a leader in creating immersive online experiences with 3D modeling, interactive maps and virtual tour software, today announced the launch of a new wheelchair wayfinding feature that adds a new level of accessibility to the company’s interactive map and tour platform.

With the new wheelchair accessible route functionality, Concept3D clients are able to offer a separate set of wayfinding routes specifically designed to identify the most efficient and easiest routes.

Concept3D’s wayfinding system uses a weighted algorithm to determine the most efficient route between start and end points, and the new system was enhanced to factor in routing variables like stairs, curb cuts, steep inclines, and other areas that may impact accessibility.

Also see:

Wayfinding :: Wheelchair Accessible Routes — from concept3d.com

6 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2020 [Kelly, Burns, Frazee, & Perez]

On 02/13/2020, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), bots, business side of he, career development, change, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, data related items, digital learning, digital video, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, future of higher education, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, IT in HE, learning ecosystem, Mixed Reality (MR), tools, trends, United States, universities, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

6 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2020 — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly with:

Bridget Burns, Executive Director, University Innovation Alliance
James Frazee, Chief Academic Technology Officer and Associate VP, Instructional Technology Services, San Diego State University
Ernie Perez
Director, Educational Technology, Digital Learning & Innovation, Boston University

This year’s top issues in education technology reflect the bigger picture of a student’s pathway from individual courses all the way to graduation and career.

Topics include:

1) Workforce Readiness
2) Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots
3) Extended Reality (XR)
4) Video and Accessibility
5) Predictive Analytics and Advising
6) Industry Partnerships

A two-part series from Educause re: inclusive design/accessibility [Gonzalez & O’Neil]

On 02/10/2020, in accessibility / UDL, adjunct faculty, blended learning, colleges, community colleges, elearning, faculty, higher education, law schools, more voice more choice more control, online learning, participation, pedagogy, universities, by Daniel Christian

A two-part series from Educause regarding inclusive design/accessibility — with thanks to Ray Schroeder for his posting on this out on LinkedIn.

Part I: A Taxonomy of Inclusive Design: On Disclosure, Accessibility, and Inclusion — from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez and Kristi O’Neil
Part II: Moving a Taxonomy of Inclusive Design from Theory to Practice
— from er.educause.edu by Lorna Gonzalez and Kristi O’Neil

An excerpt from Part II:

The previous two definitions have tried to articulate the idea that students carry intersecting invisible circumstances with them into the classroom. Whether or not students disclose their circumstances—or whether faculty members invite students to disclose them—does not determine their existence. From this perspective, inclusion means designing and teaching for variability. Faculty can practice inclusive pedagogy by following universal design principles and offering multiple options for representation, engagement, and expression:

Options are essential to learning, because no single way of presenting information, no single way of responding to information, and no single way of engaging students will work across the diversity of students that populate our classrooms. Alternatives reduce barriers to learning for students with disabilities while enhancing learning opportunities for everyone.4

In a Nutshell …
Inclusive pedagogy can be an act of intention—something that is initiated before and during the course design process—rather than being an act of revision or omission.

Learning Ecosystems

In need of a live transcription app so I can talk to my dad, who is hard of hearing [Christian]

The 2020 Kessler Foundation National Employment & Disability Survey: Recent College Graduates

System makes wheelchair friendly campus routes easy to find and follow [concept3d]

A two-part series from Educause re: inclusive design/accessibility [Gonzalez & O’Neil]

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