Digital Instructional Materials TF and Extension

Hello Everyone,

At the end of last week’s WCAG WG teleconference we discussed how new
Task Forces are to be formed for writing WCAG extensions. Josh
suggested starting by sending an email to the list and the Chairs for
discussion.

So here is an idea: a Digital Instructional Materials Extension
(Voluntary guidelines for post-secondary educational digital
instructional materials to close any gaps, which could cause WCAG not
to be used as the standard for instructional materials at colleges and
universities.)

Background: advocates for students with disabilities and major US
organizations representing colleges and universities such as EDUCAUSE
[1] and AAU [2] have been in conflict [3] [4] over US Federal
legislation: the TEACH Act [5], which would set voluntary guidelines
for postsecondary digital instructional materials.

Now those major higher education associations and the Association of
American Publishers (AAP) along with the National Federation of the
Blind (NFB) are currently (late spring/early summer 2015) outlining a
compromise proposal or in the interest of time, the process could move
straight to releasing a draft legislative proposal to the US Congress.

The anticipated charge of the commission working on the concept
outline of the bill would be to look at existing and emerging general
accessibility standards, identify the gaps in relation to digital
instructional materials and related technologies, and propose
voluntary guidelines that institutions and providers could use to
address those gaps.

In an answer to a question from Jon Gunderson on the EDUCAUSE IT
ACCESS mailing list, which asked: "Are the voluntary guidelines
considering WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA, or will it be something
different?" Jarret Cummings of EDUCAUSE replied, "That's a question
that the independent commission will have to consider, but we
anticipate that a compromise bill will direct the commission to
consider preexisting IT accessibility standards in determining what's
needed to promote instructional materials accessibility." [6]

In the past WCAG has served as the standard to meet in legal
settlements in higher education, for instance Penn State [7],
University of Montana [8], Florida State [9], and Louisiana Tech [10]
agreements. It has a history.

However, two more recent settlements that I am aware of (University of
Cincinnati [11] and Youngstown State University [12]) have called for
US Section 508, WCAG, or "other standard or combination of standards
that will render EIT (Electronic and Information Technology)
accessible."

Next steps: Consequently WCAG WG may want to talk with the
stakeholders (NFB, the W3C Accessible Online Learning Community Group
[13], etc.) and consider if a digital instructional materials
extension may be in order to close any gaps.

I have a meeting set up with the facilitators of the Accessible Online
Learning Community Group to explore synergies. Perhaps some of their
members would want to be part of a Postsecondary Digital Instructional
Materials Task Force.

Does NFB have a WCAG participant?

Your thoughts and comments on this topic of this would be most appreciated.

Kindest Regards,
Laura

References:

[1] EDUCAUSE
http://www.educause.edu/

[2] Association of American Universities
https://www.aau.edu/

[3] Good Intentions, Bad Legislation
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/09/16/essay-criticizing-teach-act

[4] Higher Ed Raises Concerns, Works with Proponents of the TEACH Act
http://www.educause.edu/blogs/jcummings/higher-ed-raises-concerns-works-proponents-teach-act

[5] The Technology, Education and Accessibility in College and Higher
Education (TEACH) Act
https://nfb.org/TEACH

[6] EDUCAUSE IT Access Constituent Group Mailing List Archives
http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A0=ITACCESS

Response to Jon Gunderson:
http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1506&L=ITACCESS&D=1&T=0&O=D&P=18917

[7] Settlement Between Penn State University and National Federation
of the Blind
http://accessibility.psu.edu/nfbpsusettlement/

[8] University of Montana Settlement Agreement (PDF)
http://www.umt.edu/accessibility/docs/AgreementResolution_March_7_2014.pdf

[9] Florida State University Settlement Agreement
http://www.ada.gov/floridastate-t1-sa.htm

[10] Louisiana Tech Settlement Agreement
http://www.ada.gov/louisiana-tech.htm

[11] University of Cincinnati Settlement Agreement
http://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/university-cincinnati-agreement.pdf

[12] Youngstown State University Settlement Agreement
http://www2.ed.gov/documents/press-releases/youngstown-state-university-agreement.pdf

[13] Accessible Online Learning Community Group
https://www.w3.org/community/accesslearn/

--
Laura Carlson

Received on Saturday, 4 July 2015 15:35:26 UTC