Making Online Teaching and Learning Accessible Satellite Event

I’m back among the living and came across what looks to be an exciting event on the Disabled Student Services in Higher Education Listserv yesterday. Working with the PBS Adult Learning Service, the University of Maryland University College is producing a live telecast titled:

Untangling the Web: Making Online Teaching and Learning Accessible

From the description, the areas that the telecast plans to cover are:

• How students with disabilities are navigating the Web, and how
  inaccessible course content impacts the work of faculty and staff
• How to address accessibility problems posed by courseware, course
  management systems, multimedia, and use of audio and video in online
  courses
• What kind of collaborative models have been developed to help faculty
  and staff meet the challenge of online accessibility
• How to develop institutional coordination policies in your campus or
  organization
• What faculty and staff development programs can do to enhance
  understanding of disability and technology
• What role good teaching plays in improving online accessibility
• How Universal Design and Universal Design for Instruction can inform
  the process of ensuring online accessibility

It is still 3 months away, but looks to be an exciting event.

On another note, I have recruited Jeff Coburn to share with us some of his accessibility wisdom on Curb Cut Learning. Jeff is our web specialist at the Institute for Community Inclusion and he is the guy I go to when I’m stumped with an accessibility question or am trying to figure out a new technology. Welcome Jeff.