Beta Testers Needed for BCAT

Hello All,

Right to education is universal. Education has evolved from blackboard to keyboard. Elearning has broken the geographical barriers and made it possible
for people to access knowledge with ease and convenience.

Despite the benefits offered by Elearning, it is not possible for students with special needs to access Elearning courses. Students using assistive technologies
can with little ease access HTML based elearning but are deprived of the rich learning experience provided by technologies such as Flash. The common myth
that prevails is that 'Flash cannot be made accessible' Its time that we over come this myth and change the mind set to 'Flash can be made Accessible'

Net Systems Informatics & BarrierBreak Technologies have taken the initiative to break this myth and have launched the Beta version of "BarrierBreak Course
Authoring Tool (BCAT)". BCAT is designed and developed to assist teachers/authors in creating accessible Flash based Elearning courses. BCAT is an easy
to use tool with in-built keyboard and screen reader support enabling students with disabilities to experience the power of Elearning!

BCAT comprises of two main components, Course Authoring Tool based on Moodle Learning Management System and Flash Architecture to access the course contents. In addition, the teacher/author can add various accessibility options to the course such as: Alternate Text, Captions, and Transcripts.

Once the course is published, the contents are generated in to XML and users can access the course using a Flash player. The Flash course thus created provides
users with an "Accessibility Panel" to meet their needs:
  a.. Show/Hide Captions 
  b.. Audio Transcript 
  c.. Change Themes 
  d.. Small/Large Icons 
  e.. Show/Hide Labels 
  f.. Change Text Size
We invite users with disabilities, teachers/authors, accessibility community at large to access BCAT and provide their valuable feedback and suggestions
to make BCAT a tool for inclusive education.

To access Beta version of BCAT, visit:
http://www.n-syst.com/lms/login/signup.php.

Once you sign up, you will receive an email including further instructions. Along with the email, you will receive a ReadMe file, documentation for creating
a course, documentation for using the course and bug report file.

The Beta Test Run is open until 20th January 2009. All suggestions are highly appreciated and will help us to make BCAT more user-friendly and accessible
for all.

Thanks & Regards,
Net Systems Informatics & BarrierBreak Technologies Team
www.n-syst.com |www.barrierbreak.com |e-learning@n-syst.com

Thanks & Regards,
Priti Rohra
Accessibility Tester
Net Systems Informatics (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Web: www.n-syst.com|www.barrierbreak.com
Blog: www.barrierbreak.com/blog

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