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There is a process educators can follow when determining appropriate accommodations for students.
MAR*TEC Techno-Briefs: A Promising Practice on Explaining Technology Accessibility to Educators
The Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, developed by the Access Board as required by the 1998 amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, apply directly to federal agencies. Increasingly, they are being used by other organizations, including educational entities at all levels, to assess the accessibility of their information technology. The Access Board's standards address the accessibility of six technology categories, including computer hardware and software.
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Technology in Education Consortium (MAR*TEC) is an organization working to address the Mid-Atlantic region's educational reform needs to ensure that every student in the region becomes technologically proficient. Technology accessibility has been at the forefront of their efforts. One particularly promising practice is MAR*TEC's series of Techno-Briefs. As of April 2005, there were forty briefs, many focusing on technology accessibility.
Techno-Briefs Accessible Educational Technology: Minimum Standards for Computer Software and Accessible Technology: Minimum Standards for Computer Hardware are particularly effective in explaining the Section 508 standards with language and examples that educators can understand, relate to, and apply.
Another Techno-Brief, Technology: Is It Accessible to All Students?, discusses some common accessibility problems with instructional software and online content and outlines alternative instructional strategies and accommodations that educators can employ to overcome these problems.
Although staff admit that progress is slow, it is the hope of MAR*TEC that as more educators integrate technology into the classroom, accessibility will become an integral part of the procurement and curriculum development process. It represents a promising practice in creating training and resources for educators in order to increase the consideration of accessibility in the procurement and use of educational software.
For more information on choosing, developing, and purchasing accessible software, the following AccessIT Knowledge Base articles may also be of interest:
Copyright © 2006 - 2009 by University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational, noncommercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged. The Accesscomputing Knowledge Base is funded by the National Science Foundation (CISE BPC award #CNS-0540615 and CNS-0837508). The contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the U.S. federal government, and you should not assume their endorsement.