[Athen] Fwd: FYI -- Access to Course Materials

[Pratik Patel]

When I worked at the City University of New York, these types of
accommodations were a standard part of most of our campus libraries. When I
left in 2010, most of our libraries had scanning stations, assistance
retrieving books, etc. We were working on E-Reserve systems when I left.
 
 
Pratik Patel
Founder and CEO, EZFire <http://www.ezfire.net/>  
T: 718-928-5529
M: 718-249-7019
E: ppatel at ezfire.net <mailto:ppatel at ezfire.net>  (or pratikp1 at gmail.com
<mailto:pratikp1 at gmail.com> ) 
Follow me on Twitter: @ppatel <http://twitter.com/ppatel> 
Follow me on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/pratik-patel/9/985/882 
Skype: Patel.pratik
 
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Brian
Richwine
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 11:41 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Fwd: FYI -- Access to Course Materials
 
I think the landmark piece of this is the responsibility place on the
library system to make any book or print media in its holdings accessible.
This includes providing self scan systems, ability to get access to reserve
items, even help getting books from stacks, or at last resort having a
reader assigned to read the materials. 
 
Being able to get the university library to accommodate any print media
within 5 days is landmark, in my view.
 
On Fri, May 10, 2013 at 9:30 AM, Gunderson, Jon R <jongund at illinois.edu
<mailto:jongund at illinois.edu> > wrote:
I think the students need to be commended  for speaking up (e.g. maybe that
is the landmark here) and demanding  improved access.
 
Without students raising their voices it is easy for campuses to ignore or
discount the text conversion problems and the looming problems of online
course accessibility.
 
There are undocumented and most likely huge accessibility problems as the
universities include more online learning as a part of the general
curriculum in courses.
 
Text conversion and alternative media problems will look easy, compared to
the inaccessibility of online collaboration and discussion board systems
students with disabilities will need to use to participate and compete in
higher education.
 
Jon Gunderson
University of Illinois
 
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu>
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu> ] On Behalf Of
Kathleen Cahill
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 6:11 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: RE: [Athen] Fwd: FYI -- Access to Course Materials
 
With all due respect, why is this agreement described as "landmark"?  It
seems as though there were not enough resources to get alternative format
materials to the students in a timely way, and according to the agreement,
more staff, technology and resources will be devoted to that.  And aren't
universities already required by federal law to provide information about
textbooks well ahead of the beginning of a term?  

Thanks
Kathy
 
 
Kathleen Cahill
Assistive Technology Specialist
MIT ATIC (Assistive Tech. Info. Center)
77 Mass. Ave. 7-143
Cambridge MA 02139
(617) 253-5111 <tel:%28617%29%20253-5111> 
kcahill at mit.edu <mailto:kcahill at mit.edu> 
 
 
 
From: athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu>
[mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Laurie
Vasquez
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 6:13 PM
To: ATHEN
Subject: [Athen] Fwd: FYI -- Access to Course Materials
 

In Settlement With Disabilities Group, Berkeley Will Improve Access to
Course Materials
May 8, 2013, 3:52 pm
By  <http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/author/jnew> Jake New
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<http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/in-settlement-with-disabilities-grou
p-berkeley-will-improve-access-to-course-materials/43727#disqus_thread>
Comments (6)
The University of California at Berkeley has reached a settlement with
Disability Rights Advocates in what the group is calling a
<http://www.dralegal.org/pressroom/press-releases/landmark-agreement-big-ste
p-forward-for-students-with-print-disabilities> "landmark agreement" to
improve access to textbooks, course readers, and library materials for
students with print-related disabilities.
Disability Rights Advocates represented three Berkeley students who said
they had difficulty getting access to the materials they needed for class.
The group, which is a nonprofit disability-rights legal center, approached
the university last year on behalf of the students, proposing
<http://dralegal.org/sites/dralegal.org/files/casefiles/settlement-ucb.pdf>
settlement negotiations that could resolve the issues and avoid a lawsuit.
The negotiations, which took more than a year, led to several new
accommodations, said Paul Hippolitus, director of the university's Disabled
Students Program, who called them overdue.
Over the past four years, the program struggled to keep up with a
115-percent increase in the number of textbooks it had to recreate in
digital text, Braille, or audio form, Mr. Hippolitus said. Last semester the
university created 750 such new versions.
"We had an old model that was not serving us well in this increase of
quantity and quality," Mr. Hippolitus said.
Under the new system, the staff that is dedicated to producing the
alternative media will grow from three to five. Until this year, it had been
a staff of one, Mr. Hippolitus said. The staff will also be moved to a
larger space with new equipment. The new technology and employees will allow
the program to offer more support for students and professors, helping
answer students' questions and lobbying faculty members to provide students
with advance notice of what reading materials they will require.
The program hadn't previously been able to offer those services, as the
staff had been so busy just producing the materials the students needed, Mr.
Hippolitus said.
"We didn't have the time to attend to those niceties," he said. "They are
really important, but we didn't have time while getting the books out."
Additionally, the settlement requires the university to offer alerts and
reminders to students to submit what they need in advance of a semester. The
students will then get alternative versions of textbooks within 10 business
days of a request and alternative course readers within 17 business days. If
the wait is too long, students will be able to use self-scanning stations to
produce their own materials.
Mr. Hippolitus said the university was not sure how much the new services
would cost other than the extra $120,000 in salaries for the program's new
staff members.
The new system will also provide greater access to books in the university's
library. The program will inform the library which students at
Berkeley-there are about 70-require the alternative media, and library staff
members will scan books for those students using a new $20,000 scanner, Mr.
Hippolitus said. The machine is different from the equipment used by Mr.
Hippolitus's program, as it leaves through pages, rather than requiring them
to be cut out.
"Prior to the agreement, there was no real, defined process how to create
alternative media for library holdings," Mr. Hippolitus said. "It was kind
of a black hole. Now there's a clarity and a process to support that."
As students and instructors have increasing access to more media at a
quicker pace, the need for improved methods of producing alternatives also
grows. At the same time, the number of college students with disabilities is
increasing. According to a 2009 report by the U.S. Government Accountability
Office,  <http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1033.pdf> 11 percent of
undergraduates have a disability, with most of those students having
learning disabilities.
Mr. Hippolitus said universities' systems must expand and evolve to meet
those new challenges for students with disabilities.
"The broad concern is that alternative media across the country is lagging
behind, and more and better systems can be created," he said. "If this is
one, we're happy to make that contribution. If it just stimulates ideas
betters than ours, then terrific. We want to know about those ideas. But
either way, it gets the conversation started about alternative media."
 

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