MIT Open Learning Salon: Accessibility in Open Education
MIT OpenCourseWareKey Moments
Open education prioritizes accessibility for all learners, especially those with disabilities, through flexible content design and supportive processes.
Key Insights
Accessibility in open education is an extension of its expansive nature, ensuring inclusion for individuals with disabilities.
Digital learning environments allow for proactive, flexible design of accessible educational materials, unlike traditional settings.
Video content can be made accessible through captions, interactive transcripts, and adjustable playback speeds.
Learners needing accommodations are encouraged to communicate their needs, with processes in place for timely and appropriate responses.
The pandemic increased awareness of digital access issues, making the importance of accessibility more tangible for everyone.
Creating accessible content is a collaborative effort involving academic teams, support staff, and a shared responsibility for inclusivity.
THE JOURNEY INTO ACCESSIBILITY
Mary Ziegler's involvement in accessibility began serendipitously in 1990, coinciding with the Americans with Disabilities Act. An injury led her to utilize voice recognition software, which not only enabled her to continue working but also opened her eyes to the empowering potential of assistive technology. This personal experience ignited a passion for accessibility, driving her career forward in ensuring equitable access to educational resources for all individuals.
EXPANDING INCLUSION THROUGH OPEN LEARNING
Open learning, by its nature, aims to expand educational access globally. Accessibility is viewed as a natural extension of this mission, specifically ensuring that this expanded reach includes persons with disabilities. The digital format of online learning offers a unique advantage by allowing for the incorporation of flexible options and accommodations upfront, rather than addressing them reactively in traditional, in-person settings.
FLEXIBLE CONTENT DESIGN FOR DIVERSE NEEDS
A key strategy in open learning is designing content with flexibility in mind to accommodate a wide range of abilities. Video, for instance, can be made accessible through features like captions, interactive transcripts, and adjustable playback speeds. These options empower individuals to engage with content in a way that best suits their needs, whether they have hearing impairments, dyslexia, or are non-native English speakers encountering specialized terminology.
ACCOMMODATION PROCESS AND LEARNER SUPPORT
While proactive design aims to cover many needs, MIT Open Learning recognizes that individual requirements can be complex. A formal process exists for learners to request accommodations. Although less than one percent of learners utilize this, it ensures dedicated support, particularly for needs like extended time on timed exams, which can be crucial for individuals with traditional disabilities, temporary injuries, or illness, thereby significantly impacting their ability to succeed.
THE PANDEMIC'S IMPACT ON ACCESSIBILITY AWARENESS
The global shift to remote learning during the pandemic did not fundamentally change MIT Open Learning's accessibility practices, as they were already specialists in this area. However, it did make the challenges of digital access more salient for everyone. When individuals experienced difficulties connecting or accessing digital resources, it provided a tangible understanding of the barriers persons with disabilities often face, thereby increasing broader awareness and empathy.
COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO ACCESSIBILITY
Creating accessible content is a shared responsibility within MIT Open Learning, involving an entire 'village' of academic teams and support staff. Mary Ziegler shares knowledge on making various content types accessible, from readings and images to discussions. This collaborative ethos ensures that accessibility is integrated into the development process from the outset, rather than being an afterthought, and involves strategies like using color-blind friendly palettes and providing detailed image descriptions.
ADDRESSING SPECIFIC ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES
Specific challenges, such as ensuring color distinguishability in visual materials like graphs, are addressed through tested color palettes that allow users with different color perceptions to differentiate elements. For images, detailed written descriptions are provided for learners who are visually impaired. This involves a structured process to help course teams identify the essential information the image conveys and articulate it clearly for non-visual access.
EMERGING TRENDS AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The field of accessibility is continuously evolving, influenced by trends in technology and the needs of users. Innovations in the gaming community, which has made significant strides in accommodating disabilities through custom controllers and inclusive game design, are being watched as potential influences on educational technology. Similarly, advancements in virtual and extended reality are prompting the development of new accessibility guidelines to ensure these immersive technologies are inclusive.
TOOLING FOR ACCESSIBILITY AND FUTURE GROWTH
Tools like color simulators and contrast checkers can help detect potential issues for users with color blindness. For STEM learning, academic efforts are underway to create accessible simulations for younger students, recognizing the importance of early support for students with disabilities. The growing number of professionals entering the accessibility field across all industries is a positive sign for the future of inclusive technologies and educational resources.
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND FACULTY ENGAGEMENT
Open learning acknowledges that learners use various assistive technologies, such as screen readers and voice recognition software, at home. While content is tested with these tools, learners are generally not provided with them. Regarding faculty pushback on development time, the goal is that accessibility is largely built into the platforms and development process, minimizing the burden on faculty, though specific tasks like image descriptions require ongoing attention and refinement.
FRAMEWORKS FOR UNIVERSAL DESIGN
Beyond the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is crucial in educational contexts. UDL encourages offering multiple means of content access and engagement, allowing for a richer, more inclusive learning experience. Authoring technical accessibility guidelines also support content creators, including those with disabilities, ensuring a broader spectrum of needs is considered in the creation of educational materials.
Mentioned in This Episode
●Software & Apps
●Organizations
●Concepts
●People Referenced
Common Questions
Mary Ziegler discovered accessibility at her first job at MIT in the 1990s after sustaining a repetitive strain injury. She used voice recognition software to continue working, which opened her eyes to the empowering field of assistive technology.
Topics
Mentioned in this video
A screen reading software mentioned as an example of assistive technology that individuals use.
Program Manager for Online Learning Accessibility at MIT Open Learning, and the main speaker.
Federal law passed in 1990 that Mary Ziegler mentioned as being enacted around the time she started her career in accessibility.
An international community that develops open standards for the web, mentioned for its work on VR accessibility guidelines and WCAG.
Annual Giving and Donor Relations Officer for MIT Open Learning and host of the event.
Mary Ziegler identifies MOOCs as a new frontier for accessibility due to their digital and flexible nature.
Guidelines developed by the W3C that are well-known among product builders for creating accessible products.
A framework that Mary Ziegler relies on, which allows for multiple means of accessing content in a learning context.
A screen reading software mentioned as an example of assistive technology that individuals use.
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