Developing a 12-Hour Women's Studies Program
Through Distance Learning
Web Accessibility Links for Distance Education
Amy Metcalfe
UA ADA Policy Revisions:
The University of Arizona's ADA policy is
currently being revised to include a web accessibility statement. The proposed
draft reads: "It is the policy of the University of Arizona to ensure that
University Web pages will be usable by people with disabilities."
http://uaweb.arizona.edu/resources/accessibility.shtml
UA Info has created a resource for campus
webmasters on the topic of web accessibility. Included in the site are
tutorials and examples of accessible sites.
http://www.webaim.org
Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) is housed
at Utah State University and is administered through a grant provided by
the Learning Anywhere Anytime Program Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education. Their goal is to improve accessibility to online learning opportunities
for all people; in particular to improve accessibility for individuals
with disabilities who currently may have a difficult time getting access
to postsecondary online learning opportunities. Dr. Cyndi Rowland is the
WebAIM project director (cyndi@cpd2.usu.edu
, phone (435)797-3381).
http://www.salt.arizona.edu/azpac/news.htm
Arizona Post Secondary Access Coalition (AzPAC)
is a coalition of professionals promoting access and success for people
with disabilities in Higher Education in the State of Arizona.
http://www.webaim.org/Articles/accessibleflash.php
Making Flash Accessible, from the WebAIM
staff. Excerpt: "It is currently not possible to create Flash content that
is accessible although this will probably change in the future. This means
that developers should take care to provide alternative content when using
Flash on their sites. In addition, accessible design practices should
be used when developing Flash movies such as providing keyboard navigation,
synchronizing audio to text captions and providing text equivalents for
all graphical information. These features will increase the usability
of the site for everyone." http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/dlguidelines/final%20dl%20guidelines.htm
Distance Education: Access Guidelines for
Students with Disabilities, August 1999, Chancellor’s Office, California
Community Colleges