Accessible Web-based Distance Education: Principles and Best Practices

I really like this article from Laurie Harrison at the Unversity of Toronto because of the emphasis on Universal Design Principles. While it is a bit dated (it looks like all of the references were pulled in July of 1999), the ideas expressed are solid and provide a good basic overview for someone new to the ideas of universally designed distance education.

The idea of universal design is vital in promoting the develpment of accessible distance education resources. Unfortunately, too many developers still ignorantly lump all types of users with disabilities together and then dismiss their content as being irrelevant to “that population.” Idiots. When people realize that standards based markup that separates content from presentation in accessible ways benefits EVERYONE then maybe we’ll see widespread change happening. The good news is that it is already happening to some degree and we’ll only see more of it in the next few years.

On a sidenote, I’m getting my tonsils out in a couple of hours, so it may be a week or two before I post again. I’ll have plenty of time to think while recovering (and I’ll be on some pretty heavy painkillers), so maybe I’ll have some interesting thoughts to share when I come back.

I have run across a few links recently that I wanted to pass on. Some of these have been around for awhile, but just recently came on to my radar screen.

First, a couple of sites with training materials/curriculum for accessible web design:

• Advanced Training Course Overview from James Allen, Rob Sartin and James Craig for the Accessibility Internet Rally. and
• The Curriculum for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 developed by the W3C-WAI.

Then a couple of links pages:

• AccessibleNet.org has a tremendous collection of accessibility resources categorized nicely, each category with it’s own RSS Feed. Be sure to check out the Training and eLearning category.
• Also, a solid collection of links to courseware accessibility materials from the Special Needs Opportunity Windows Project.

George Siemens blog pointed me to this list of 2003 Websites for Learning that I enjoyed. That page points to the Youth and Education Section of the Visionary Design Awards for 2003 recognizing sites designed with accessibility for persons with a visual impairment in mind. This list has also been discussed at length at accessifyforums.com.

Lastly, if you haven’t seen this yet, the W3C-WAI has a great document on the Business Benefits of Accessibility Web Design

Enjoy!

If you haven’t come across this website yet, it’s a great place to start, Accessibility in Distance Education from the University of Maryland University College.
From their homepage:

The Accessibility in Distance Education (ADE) Web site focuses on helping faculty develop accessible online learning materials for people with disabilities. It is divided into five major sections, targeting common accessibility questions.

The five major categories that they mention are What is Accessibility, Legal Issues, Understanding Disabilities, How-To and Best Practices.
While there are many great resources specific to distance education here, much of the site addresses accessibility issues in general.