NIMAS Technical Assistance Center Update

Chuck HitchcockMay 6, 2008

NIMAS: What Teacher Education Faculty Need to Know about the National Instructional Materials Standard

NIMAS Donut

Electronic Textbooks: One foundation for the Implementation of UDL.

NIMAS TA Center GoalsSupport the efficient production of baseline

NIMAS files and the conversion of these files into alternate formats

Facilitate the creation of flexible distribution systems to ensure improved availability and timely delivery of accessible materials

Raise awareness of key stakeholders regarding the benefits and availability of accessible digital materials

NIMAS Implementation Advisory CouncilChuck Hitchcock, Chair

Chief Officer, Policy and TechnologyDirector, NIMAS Technical Assistance Center, CAST, Inc.

John Churchill, Senior Vice PresidentOperations, RFB&D

Jeff Diedrich, DirectorMichigan Integrated Technology Supports

Jay Diskey, Executive DirectorSchool Division, Association of American Publishers

Bill East, Executive DirectorNational Association of State Directors of Special Education

John Eisenberg, Severe Disabilities/Assistive Technology SpecialistOffice of Special Education Instructional Services, Virginia Department of Education

Jim Fruchterman, President & CEOThe Benetech Initiative/Bookshare.org

Nicole Gaines, NIMAC ManagerAmerican Printing House for the Blind

Diane Cordry Golden, DirectorMissouri Assistive Technology

Vicki Hershman, State Project DirectorPATINS Project

Jennifer A. Hill, Government Relations DirectorThe Association of Educational Publishers

Bonnie Jones, ex officio, Project Officer; Education Research AnalystNIMAS Centers; Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education

Linnie Lee, Exceptional Children Assistive Technology ConsultantDivision of Curriculum Development, Kentucky Department of Education

Charles Mayo, ManagerDistribution, Accessibility & Finance, Instructional Materials & Educational Technology, Texas Education Agency

Donna McNearRum River Special Education Coop

Richard Robison, Executive DirectorFederation for Children with Special Needs

David Rose, ex officio, Principal InvestigatorNIMAS Development and Technical Assistance Centers, CAST, Inc.

Mary Ann Siller, National Project ManagerProfessional Development Department, American Foundation for the Blind

Skip Stahl, ex officio, Project DirectorNIMAS Development Center, CAST, Inc.

Joy Zabala, AIM Project ManagerAssistive Technology & Leadership

Ruth Ziolkowski, Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) Representative; PresidentDon Johnston, Inc.

http://nimas.cast.org/center/council/index.html

Recent NIMAS TA Center Activities New NIMAS Implementation Advisory Council New NASDSE Policy Brief New Website Resources Recent Collaborations: NIMAC, B4E, RFB&D, AIM Consortium,

CIMAP, ATIA and AFB TA: SEAs, Publishers and Conversion Houses Presentations, Webinars, Teleconferences: approx. 100 since

January of 2005 Product Development (next slide) Collaboration with AT Product Developers Solicit Updated Information from the Field: Surveys Maintain a public list of SEA NIMAS Coordinators

NIMAS TA: Recent Products NIMAS Conversion Tool – Open Source Code

http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/conversion_tool.html

Recent Math ML Support by Design Science DAISY/NIMAS Structure Guidelines – TA/Dev, gh and DAISY Cons.

http://www.daisy.org/z3986/structure/

Creating NIMAS Files w/ Best Practices section http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/creating_nimas.html

NIMAS File set Exemplars – nine including .opf http://nimas.cast.org/center/exemplars/index.html

Accessible Textbooks in the Classroom II, by Skip Stahl http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/accessible_textbooks_ii.html

Math Resources http://nimas.cast.org/about/resources/math_resources.html

Accessible Materials Timeline – next slide

NIMAS TA CenterPurpose: provide support to publishers and states to ensure

the successful implementation of NIMAS.

Works closely with:

NIMAS Development CenterPurpose: provide national leadership to further the development

and maintenance of NIMAS and support its implementation.

And with:

NIMAS Center Partners

http://nimas.cast.org

NIMAS Website MetricsUnique visitors: 3,480 in March 2008, 38,682 for all of 2007Average of 1.5 visits to the site by each visitor Page views: 15,243 in March 2008 Links to NIMAS site from other sites: 220 links in March 2007Visits by other countries: 147 in 2007

Google Search Data – page count

NIMAS                     884,000

 

NIMAS SEA               81,300

 

NIMAC                       56,100   

 

NIMAS access           37,200

 

NIMAS student          31,000

 

NIMAS LEA               18,100

NIMAS disability           6,590

 

NIMAS textbook           5,480

 

NIMAS NIMAC             4,190

 

NIMAS OSEP               1,800

 

NIMAS OSERS               770

UDL and NIMAS

NIMAS

http://www.cast.org/publications/UDLguidelines/version1.html#p2_g5.1

UDL Editions

Issues of Note Time consuming title-by-title assignment by AUs to national AMPs

Support anticipatory access to NIMAS filesets for OSEP funded AMPs Considerations

K-12 NIMAS access only – not new but emphasized by publisher orgs. Attention to evidence (or assurance) that book was purchased

Need method for obtaining filesets for product development and testing Which populations with print disabilities are included?

IDEA 2004 supports only students with IEPs Which LD populations and how best certified?

How to legally support students with print disabilities that don’t qualify What about Section 504 students or a blind student that needs no plan? Conflict: copyright, IDEA 2004 regulations and civil rights Limited development of a “market model” to date

Publisher Issues Meaning of “Adopt NIMAS” by SEAs – some need phase-in period Meaning of the word “publish” – on or after July 19, 2006 Student populations that qualify

Need to increase level of importance to SEA Sped Administrators Ongoing need for research regarding specialized formats and learning

NIMAS Technical Assistance Center Update

Questions?