Re: AccessLearn CG‹announcing new chair

Dear David, Sharron, the AccessLearn CG, and EO WG team leads:


Thank you for your kind welcome and introduction.  Thanks also to Sarah for her contributions to date and for offering up her spot to me!  I’m very honored to serve as co-chair of this group with Dave.


Let me add to your introduction for those that don’t know me: I have 18 years experience working in assistive technology and accessibility in support of undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities at MIT. Seven months ago, I took on a new role dedicated to accessibility in online learning with a primary focus on global, open education courses. Everyday, I consider the most effective ways to design, develop, and present content and assess knowledge on the web in a manner that is accessible to a diverse set of international learners with disabilities — and how to share best practices to do so across a de-centralized research university.


Recently, when I helped Dave refine the AccessLearn list of knowledge gaps, I discovered a strong synergy between this group’s goals and my professional goals. Therefore, I very much look forward to dedicating time to working with you to ensure requirements for accessible online learning are well represented.


Warm regards,

Mary

—
Mary J. Ziegler
Program Manager for Online Accessibility
MIT Office of Digital Learning
maryz@mit.edu

From: Sharron Rush <srush@knowbility.org<mailto:srush@knowbility.org>>
Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2016 at 10:25 AM
To: David Sloan <dsloan@paciellogroup.com<mailto:dsloan@paciellogroup.com>>, EO team leads <team-eo-plan@w3.org<mailto:team-eo-plan@w3.org>>
Cc: "<public-accesslearn@w3.org<mailto:public-accesslearn@w3.org>>" <public-accesslearn@w3.org<mailto:public-accesslearn@w3.org>>
Subject: Re: AccessLearn CG—announcing new chair
Resent-From: <public-accesslearn@w3.org<mailto:public-accesslearn@w3.org>>
Resent-Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2016 at 10:25 AM

Hi David,

Thanks for the update and the introduction to Mary. I have looped in the Education and Outreach WG team leads - chair and staff contacts - so that they may also be aware of the changes.  Please invite Mary to attend EO meetings anytime that you all might like to develop support from that group for your work.

Best,
Sharron

On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 3:15 AM, David Sloan <dsloan@paciellogroup.com<mailto:dsloan@paciellogroup.com>> wrote:
Hi all

A quick update on management of the Accessible Online Learning Community Group.

Sarah Horton has decided to step down as co-chair, due to her heavy involvement in the WCAG Working Group, and Mary Ziegler of MIT has agreed to take over as co-chair. Thank you, Mary!

This summer Mary has been working with me on Workstream 2, defining knowledge gaps, and brings substantial expertise and experience in accessibility in the higher education. I’m looking forward to working with her as we continue with the two work streams, and we’ll be sharing more updates on those soon.

On behalf of the group, I want to thank Sarah for all her work in getting AccessLearn up and running, and I know that she’ll still maintain a close interest in AccessLearn’s plans and activities.

Given the informality of the group, we decided that on this occasion a straight replacement was the most appropriate course of action to take, and we trust that everyone in the group is comfortable with this change. But for the future, we would certainly be open to establishing a more formal process of appointing or electing a new chair, if the group considered this to be appropriate.

Thanks and best wishes
Dave


David Sloan

UX Research Lead
The Paciello Group
dsloan@paciellogroup.com<mailto:dsloan@paciellogroup.com>

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--
Sharron Rush | Executive Director | Knowbility.org | @knowbility
Equal access to technology for people with disabilities