Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Disability Resource Center empowers students to unlock their full potential

The DRC maps pathways to associate’s and bachelor’s degrees and provides multiple assistive technologies to help students with disabilities thrive.

From a very young age, Susan Gjolmesli knew that she wanted to be a teacher. Owing to a genetic condition, she suffered from visual impairment, and because protective laws for disabled people were still decades away, she was plagued by discrimination and was consistently belittled or ignored by potential employers.

“They were very negative, and I never secured a teaching position,” she said. “I was deflated and demoralized and went away from that, in essence, because I was green as grass and had very low self-advocacy skills.”

Years later, after raising her son, opening a commercial greenhouse, and gaining experience working for several blind advocacy groups, Gjolmesli was well-equipped with confidence. She was committed to ensuring that other students with disabilities would not suffer the way that she had.…Read More

How accessible are Google Apps?

NC State University provides Google Apps Accessibility Usage Guidelines.

Technology, often associated with helping to make life easier and more accessible, isn’t always as usable for some as others, accessibility researchers say. And with Google Apps quickly becoming a go-to solution for schools and colleges nationwide, it’s critical to know exactly how accessible these apps are for students with disabilities.

The Access Technology Higher Education Network (ATHEN), a professional association whose purpose is to collect and disseminate best practices in accessible technology for colleges and universities, has performed a number of functional tests on various Google applications, including Google Docs, GMail, and Calendar.

And though researcher and technology accessibility specialist Terrill Thompson at the University of Washington says that many improvements have been made, these efforts largely have targeted screen reader users and have not considered people with other types of disabilities.…Read More

Ed-tech accessibility could hinge on Congressional action

Recent lawsuits have focused on the use of eReaders in higher education.

Advocates for blind college students commended a federal report recommending steps for improving ed-tech accessibility on campuses—but without prompt attention from Congressional lawmakers, the laundry list of suggestions won’t become policy in much of higher education.

A federal commission released its 18 recommendations to expand accessibility to students with disabilities Dec.5, highlighting plans to incentivize publishers of educational material to make the material usable for all students, creating professional development programs to make educators more aware of accessibility issues, and including accessibility-related metadata in classroom material.

The Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities, released its recommendations after studying accessibility on campuses for 14 months.…Read More

Feds: Make eReaders accessible to all students

Colleges have agreed to abandon Kindle pilot programs because of accessibility issues.
Some colleges have agreed to abandon Kindle pilot programs because of accessibility issues.

The federal government will help schools and colleges using eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle to comply with laws giving students with disabilities equal access to emerging education technologies, officials announced.

The Departments of Education and Justice stressed the responsibility of colleges and universities to use accessible eReaders in a letter published June 29, after more than a year of complaints from low-sighted and blind students attending colleges that have piloted eReader programs.

Many eReaders have a text-to-speech function that reads words aloud, but the devices lack menus that people who are blind or have low vision can navigate.…Read More