It Takes an Ecosystem

How Brightspace and our partners aremaking education accessible to every learner

Our Speakers

Sheri Hutchinson – Readspeaker Ph.D., Business & LMS

Implementation Manager

Art Morgan – Automatic SyncVP of Partner Development

AGENDA

1. Accessibility Policy and Trends 2. Solutions for Vision and Learning Disabilities3. Solutions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing4. Getting Buy-in for Accessibility on Campus

Vision and Learning Assistance

Accessibility Laws

• 36 Million Americans with Hearing Loss

• Dyslexia 15% of the US population

• 12% Age Related Vision Loss • Web Accessibility Laws

protect the civil rights of people with disabilities. 

Quality Learning Experiences

Improved accessibility not only better reaches your learners with disabilities, but improves experiences for all. Improving accessibility can also provide a competitive advantage.

Universally designed products and tools improve the quality of content. Access to content via mobile devices is essential in our connected society.

ADA Compliance is part of our connected lives

Assistive Technology

Assistive technologies include:•Screenreaders•Mobility devices like scooters•Mobile apps•Smart Pens•Glasses•Magnifiers•Braille •Speech-to-text technology•Closed captions•And more!

Technology

The web and assistive technologies are opening up access to information and opportunities to populations who were excluded before- by circumstance, or by other means.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee W3C Director Inventor of the World Wide Web

Learn More: Webaim.org

The power of the Web is in its universality.Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Ghost Voices: Using-Text-to-Speech Technology to Improve the Quality of Learning Online

Visual and Learning Disabilities and Assistive TechnologyAssistive Screenreaders are frequently used to assist those with low vision, low literacy, or learning disabilities to more easily access text.

Assistive Screenreaders are often difficult to operate, require a download, have limited voice change options and may not be customizable.

ReadSpeaker is a text-to-speech tool to bring text-based lectures, Docs, PDF’s, or Articles to life and portable voice content. • Can be downloaded as an MP3 for portability. • View who and how often content is accessed.

Robot Voices are Ghosts of the Past Today with ReadSpeaker

Mobile FriendlyEasy to UseCost EffectiveHigh Quality VoicesCustomizable

Universal Design for High Quality

Considerations for UDLAccessible and Universal

Design for Online Content

Multitaskers Low vision Dyslexia Cognitive Disorders English Language Learners Literacy Improvement First Generation Students Low Income

Adaptive and User-Centered• Change Highlighting and text font colors• Speed up or Slow Down Reading• Increase text visibility

Bi-Modal LearningImproved Learning ResultsSupports Accessibility Motivates LearnersIncreased Literacy

TextAid Integrating Enterprise Highlighting & Text Reader/Writer On Any Device

• Select New Text Button• Paste Text• Click Listen• Read OCR Text Images• Read Highlighted Text• Upload Files to your Library

“I’m a Reader!”

Solutions for Reading Fatigue & more

Online text-to-speech allows a diverse and connected user access to learning from anywhere.

40+ languages and 120+ voices• Enterprise Highlighting allows users to listen to text content and even

download as an MP3 for portability and multi-tasking.• docReader enables viewing and listening for online PDFs, Word

documents, and more on any device. • TextAid to read, write, research and study all in the same tool

designed for struggling readers and language learners.• speechCloud API to add voice to mobile apps. • formReader provides vocal assistance to users filling out online forms.

Solutions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Video Accessibility Background•Estimated percentage of adults* who are:

• Deaf: 2%+ • Hard of hearing: 13%+

• Easiest/broadest solution is closed captioning• Consistent with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles• Increased comprehension and retention for all learners• Viewer flexibility• Enables indexing, searching, clipping• Caveat: There is a cost/quality trade-off for captioning

Source: http://libguides.gallaudet.edu/content.php?pid=119476&sid=1029190

Video Accessibility Solution

Quality Captions with One Click

Video Accessibility Resources• Details on accessibility regulations: http://bit.ly/1zfLbYp• Captioning Guide Whitepaper: http://bit.ly/1EtbpNM• AST’s research on accuracy and comprehension:http://bit.ly/1Dc7IHJ

• AST’s blog: http://www.automaticsync.com/captionsync/category/blog-all/

• AST’s video gallery: http://www.automaticsync.com/captionsync/about-automatic-sync/video-captioning-gallery/

Getting Buy-In for Accessibility on Campus

5 Tips for Getting Campus Buy-in

1. Recognize that accessibility is a civil right2. Understand how diversity accelerates innovation3. Highlight the return on investment for all learners4. Remind people of the myth of “separate but equal”5. Point out that this is an ongoing process

More details: http://er.educause.edu/articles/2016/1/accessibility-as-a-civil-right

John BakerPresident and CEO of D2L

Accessibility is an organization-wide mandate and a critical element in all of our research and development efforts. We are committed to ensuring that we are the industry leader in this very important field.”

It’s not just a requirement- it’s the right thing to do.

Questions?