[Athen] OnLine learning systems (Catalina Colaci)

[Justin Reynolds]

Hello Catalina,

A colleague found some great information that may be helpful for you.  

http://projectone.cannect.org/online-education/lms-accessibility.php

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In the spring of 2008, the California State University Chancellor's Office issued an RFP for a Master Enabling Agreement (MAE) for Learning Management Systems to be used on the CSU campuses. Accessibility was one of the criteria used to evaluate the proposals. An independent accessibility evaluation was conducted on each of the five finalists bidding on the RFP.

http://www.calstate.edu/Accessibility/webaccessibility/evaluation/index.shtml

As a result of the accessibility evaluation, only two vendors, namely Moodle and Angel, were accepted and named in the Master Enabling Agreement (MAE). Desire2Learn and Blackboard did not pass the accessibility evaluation.
http://www.calstate.edu/accessibility/Accessibility_Projects/LMS_AccessibilityEval.shtml

A new RFP was issued in October 2008 using the same accessibility requirements with the expected result to be published in Spring 2009. Due to a lack of internal resources, CSU decided to use an external company for the re-evaluation. Meantime, both Blackboard and Desire2Learn intensified their interaction with their respective accessibility collaboration groups, dedicated development resources, and tried aggressively to address the accessibility issues in some of the commonly used features. They partially redesigned them with the help of their accessibility collaboration partners (see below). This resulted in passing the CSU accessibility requirements and entering the Major Enabling Agreement.

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I hope this helps,

Justin Reynolds

-----Original Message-----
Today's Topics:

   1. OnLine learning systems (Catalina Colaci)
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 15:50:45 -0700
From: "Catalina Colaci" <ccolaci at yukoncollege.yk.ca>

Hello, everybody
I have been very quiet lately but I have been reading the posts.
I am wondering if within the wealth of information and knowledge of the list, I could get some help and/or ideas.
We are a small college and finally, after some hard/soft pushing, the Distributed Learning -aka Distance Education- department is asking for my input re/ accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.
The present challenge: explore the accessibility angle of LMS/CMS and provide recommendations and/or troubleshoot. We are trying very hard to consider a) accessibility and Universal Design for Learning and b) compatibility with adaptive technology.
The systems being considered are Blackboard , Campus Cruiser, Desire2Learn, Moodle, and Sunguard (Banner)
I understand some of the courses offered through your institution are via web/internet but I am unsure which system you are using and whether you had the opportunity to try-out / check-out other systems.
What I need to know is 
1.	What difficulties had you encounter re/compatibility with adaptive technology -screen readers, dictation software, etc- and your present system(s)? 
2.	What (if any) were the solutions? 
3.	Did you try out other systems? If so, 
4.	Which ones? 
5.	What were the challenges? 
I will appreciate your input, ideas and assistance

Thanks and have a nice day


Catalina Colaci
Coordinator
Learning Assistance Centre & Support Services for Students with Disabilities
500 College Drive, 
Whitehorse, Yukon 
 Y1A 5K4           Canada