Spring 1999
Vol 7 Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE...
Multiplied or Divided by Technology
Information Access at MCC
LEE: A Valuable Addition to Language Learning
Changing Face of Distance Learning Students
SEE ALSO...
The Forum
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
Information Access at Mesa Community College "Curb Cuts" to the Computer for Students with Disabilities
Jack Clevenger, MCC
For years, Mesa Community College has made an ongoing commitment to provide access, communication, and excellence for each and every student enrolled for its classes. It has been especially committed to providing access, communication, and excellence for students with diverse needs and goals, whether it is students who are economically disadvantaged, students from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and nationalities, those who are academically challenged, or, students who have disabilities. Since this is an article about diversity, students with disabilities qualify as a classification of a diverse population of people with unique characteristics and norms. It is in this frame of discussion that we are addressing the need to be sensitive to the challenges they have at MCC. Mesa Community College is helping them meet their unique needs and enabling them reach their goals by identifying who they are and what their needs are. For students with disabilities, Mesa Community College is not only providing these students academic accommodations and specialized equipment because of the federal law (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act) but because IT is the right thing to do.
At Mesa Community College, there are over 700 students attending classes in the 98-99 academic year who have submitted documentation of disability in Disability Resources and Services. These students come with a variety of disabilities with a high percentage of them with learning disabilities (approximately 75%) and the rest with other disabilities. Almost all of them need to be able to access computer-based information to meet the requirements for their courses at MCC, and this is where the challenge begins big time for both the college and the students.
Imagine this scenario for yourself as a MCC student who has a disability:
Place yourself as a student at Mesa Community College who just found out that a course is based mostly on the computer such as CD-ROM or the Internet, and you have to do some extensive keyboarding. That is hard enough for a lot of students but, what if you happen to have a disability that limits your ability to access information from computers as well as do information processing in the "normal" way others can? Difficulties may be:
- inability or limited ability to read the computer monitor screen because of low vision/blindness or a learning disability.
- inability or limited ability to keyboard because of limited mobility of the hands and fingers.
What are you going to do to access and gather information from computers to complete your work for the class? How are you going to turn in a paper that has to be typed when you have limited or no ability to do keyboarding because of a disability?
This is the big challenge faced by students with disabilities at Mesa Community College who have these difficulties using computers because of their limitations. How do they access information material from the computer-based sources to complete the requirements for a course as described above?
Before we get into ways that create access for the student with a disability, let's get into a little history about people with disabilities and computer access.
The phenomenon of computers and the Internet
With the advent of the computer and the Internet, never has so much information been available for all and at relatively little expense. This huge bank of information has been greatly facilitated with the birth of the home PC and the very popular Internet with all of its great potential. That same potential has been realized in the educational arena as institutions of higher education worldwide utilize the Internet for teaching its students the "tools of life." Consequently, the Internet has created new opportunities for learning in many ways that were not previously possible for students in colleges.
At the same time, the computer and the Internet has created a challenge for those with disabilities at Mesa Community College in their ability to access this tremendous source of information. The college is working as a whole to create equal access for its students with disabilities by proactively identifying who these students are, what their access needs are, and acquiring the necessary equipment. To do this, the following recommendations have been proposed:
Recommendations for selected accessible computer workstations at all computer centers at MCC and its Adapative Computer Lab
Information Commons, Computer Lab, Adaptive Computer Lab, Writing Center, classrooms with computers)- Computers which have the speed, memory, and capability of handling special software applications
- Large ambidextrous trackball for those with limited dexterity and other adaptive computer gadgets and utilities
- 17" or larger monitor for those with limited vision or learning disabilities
Once we have the computer hardware needed to install special software applications, the following are examples that make it possible for the student with a disability to gather information from computer-based material:
For the student with low vision/blindness or who has a learning disability in the area of reading, Jaws for Windows will be available. This is an example of a screen reader software that reads in synthesized voice output the material which is on a computer screen. The student can "read" the information on the computer by listening to the voice output of the information on the screen.
They can also use LP for Windows if they have enough vision to make out letters but need to have them magnified. This is an example of screen magnification software on a computer that enlarges fonts or images on the monitor screen so a student with low vision can read or make out the images as desired.
Likewise, for students who have limited mobility or other disabilities that limit their ability to do keyboarding, Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking can be used by students to process information on the computer by using their voice. Dragon Dictate is the leading voice recognition computer application that allows the student to use his/her voice to do the typing. This is very much like dictation to a tape recorder, only the words are being typed out on to the monitor screen by voice. The student would not have to do any keyboarding and would only need to use the mouse to follow the commands.
For the students who use Braille in reading, Duxbury for Windows is another application on the computer that translates text from the computer screen to Braille. Students proficient in reading Braille can use this to gather information and learn while completing their work for a class.
Ongoing work and efforts
However, providing the recommended hardware and software for computer access is only one part of the accessibility equation. Just as important as having the necessary computer applications and capabilities is having a knowledgeable, competent trained staff to assist those who need to use the adaptive applications and computers. MCC is making an ongoing effort to identify key personnel, provide training, and maintain efforts to keep its personnel up to date in assisting people with disabilities.
In addition, the Disability Resources & Services office of MCC has been actively involved in working with its computer advisory committees and personnel to identify needs and access concerns. This has especially happened in dialogue with the student webmasters who do most of the development of Internet courses for the instructors. Guidelines creating an accessible website are shared with the instructor's webmasters so that as Internet based courses are developed, the information can be accessed by the student with a disability. Those guidelines can be found at:
http://w3.pwgsc.gc.ca/homepage/text/w6acc-e.html
In addition to the guidelines, an instructor's Internet course can be evaluated free of charge and approved for accessibility by BOBBY at:
http://www.cast.org/bobby/bobbyfaq.html
The whole arena of information access for students with disabilities has been such a new challenge that an Internet discussion forum has been created and made available for all to utilize for assistance and discussion. The source is Equal Access for Software and Information or EASI for short:
Publications and archives can be found at:
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/pubs.html
To summarize, Mesa Community College plans to have its computers accessible for students with disabilities across the campus within the next few months as it anticipates the completion of its new Integrated Library/Hi-Tech building by fall of 1999. Students with disabilities will be able to complete their course requirements without being restricted by limitations whether it is in the traditional class setting, Internet based/computer-based course, or at home.
In closing, ongoing efforts need to be made by everyone at Mesa Community College to create equal access to computer information and processing it for their classes. With the newness of the Internet and computer-based learning being so new, it is obvious that more work needs to be done to fully understand and implement computer accessibility for its students with disabilities. At Mesa Community College with its efforts to implement and practice its mission of access, communication, and excellence for its students, MCC is doing this not only because it is the law, because it is the right thing to do.