Access through Adaptive Computer Technology and Website Design

Course Management

This page is divided into two areas. The first is a few scenarios that address issues when developing accessible on-line course information and the second is a presentation of student requests for accommodations.

On-line Class Development Scenarios

Web Designer A

John is a web designer for the Housing Office and has been given the responsibility of making sure all of the Housing sites are accessible. He explored the differences between 508 and W3C compliance found at JimThatcher.com and decided that 508 did not address enough of the equal access issues and decided to redesign the web sites using W3C Priority 1, 2, and 3 guidelines.

John proceeded to check his site with the Bobby Checker because it provided explanations and recommendations for inaccessible areas of his page. He then combined his HTML skills with the results from the Bobby Checker and accessibly re-designed the Housing page.

Web Designer B

Janice uses a software program to design the Anthropology website and has learned through student complaints that their site is not accessible. Her first step was to use the Bobby checker but was confused with the results because she only has basic knowledge of HTML. She was happy to learn about a program called A-Prompt because when she runs it, the program provides a picture of the different parts of her web page and asks for descriptions for each. When it was complete, the Anthropology web page passed accessibility checks.

Web Designer C

Professor Chen has received some feedback from his students that the Web CT page had some accessibility issues with it. The page would not read correctly with screen readers and new windows kept popping up. With some research, Professor Chen learned that it was impossible to create a fully accessible page when using certain options that Web CT offers such as an image or picture. However, he did find that when he followed the guidelines listed at Web CT Access issues, he was able to create a more accessible version. Professor Chen is currently considering designing his own page or researching other services that offer more accessible options.

Web Designer D

Professor Kostner works with the Chemistry department and is interested in creating an accessible page for his research class. He wants to have a page that will provide equal access to all students and would like to design it accessibly from the beginning. As a solution, he decided that Creating Accessible On-line Instructional Materials was the resource he needed and has successfully created an accessible site for his students.

Accommodation Scenarios

Student A

Betty is a student with a reading disability. She is excited about the art program in which she is enrolled in but fears the English requirement because of all of the "books" she will have to read. She claims that she has to read something about twelve times before she understands it but can repeat anything she has ever heard.

Betty was happy to learn about a combination of programs that allow her to process written material in her dorm room. She already had loaded on her computer an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program (OmniPage) that came with her scanner. This program converts her text based materials into an electronic document. Her next step is to use a program called Read Please to read the electronic document with a voice that she likes. Betty is now very relieved with her new found reading independence.

Student B

Rick is a student with quadriplegia and is dependent on his personal aids for daily living. His love for writing drew him to the English Department but he was experiencing difficulty completing assignments on time. He types about three words per minute with his mouth stick and was considering dropping some classes because "there is too much typing".

With some minimal time invested, Rick has learned how to control his computer with his voice. He surfs the internet, e-mails his mom, and even types his English papers with a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking. He claims that this program has really "leveled the playing field" because he can control his computer "just as fast as any other student."

Student C

William is a student with Cerebral Palsy and is becoming frustrated with school. Specifically, his frustrations stem from the need to access so much information from a computer (e-mail instructors, register for classes, research library). He reports that his eyes have a spasticity that causes the things he sees to blur or disappear. He has tried magnification, but to no avail. He is happy with his typing ability and doesn't think that voice input is for him.

With some trial and error, William found that the JAWS screen reading program works really well for him. He says he likes it because any time he is having trouble with losing his vision, he just has the program read his document to him.

Student D

Joan is a congenitally blind cane user who is adept with Braille and screen readers. She has enrolled in a computer programming class and claims that the screen reader is not detailed enough to pick up the nuances of the program language. She explains that if one letter or symbol is incorrect in her code, the program she made will not work.

As a solution, she found that a refreshable Braille display provided her with the individual character detail that she needed. Her keyboard now rests on top of the display where she is capable of processing computer text by running her fingers over the different lines of braille.

Student E

Oswald is a student with a visual impairment and uses books on tape and is adept with his screen reader. He says that he does not like having fifty tapes for one book and states that they are very hard to navigate. As an example, he asks you to find the review questions at the end of chapter twelve in the pile of tapes he just dumped on your desk. He wants to know if there is any way he can access the books just as fast as a sighted reader.

As a solution, we use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program to convert all of his books into an electronic format and place them on one CD. Reading materials are divided with separate folders for each book and separate documents for each chapter. Oswald can now find any page in his books just as fast as any other student. He reports that he uses the find command to not only locate individual pages but also topics he is looking for within a book.

Administratively, we were happy to have found this solution because we have found that we were paying a reader to read about ten pages per hour. Our text conversion workers are capable of doing ten times better than that with computer technology. Not only is our turn around time much better, but we also save on hours paid.