[Athen] TEACH

[Ron Stewart]

Morning all,

 

Finally finding some time to respond to this, yes there is another TEACH act and for the most part it is irrelevant to the accessibility conversation.  It was pointed out to NFB when they named this new TEACH Act of the conflict in names.  The chose to pursue this language because it actually is an appropriate name, while the Teach Act Karen refers to is duplicative of many of the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That legislation is more directly related to the effective use of materials in the educational space and is more focused on the use of copyrighted content.

 

As far as I am aware there is no ADA Web amendment proposed. Instead it is proposed at very high levels that it will be ruled that the public web is a place of public accommodation.  Given the current mess in Washington, I would not hold my breath on this happening anytime soon just like actually seeing a NPRM on the 508 refresh.  Regardless as far as public education agencies are concerned, their legal requirements already require a fully accessible web space, as has most recently been supported by several OCR settlement agreements.

 

Karen it is great that this is now a requirement at PCC, over the years PCC has done a great job of forward thinking in regards to issues of access and accessibility. This is also the case at several other institutions as well, for almost 10 years Oregon State has actually required this off all significant curricular proposals when they are submitted to the campus curriculum committee.  It is also something that I have promoted as a best practice for a number of years.  

 

I also agree that including the product rep is a good thing, unfortunately what history has shown us is that the product reps that you interact with at the campus level are often uniformed or in most instances Upper Management has given talking points and no real change is occurring.  I am not saying it is not a good idea, but unfortunately in most instances the campus has been left with cleaning up the mess, and the only solution to this is to insure that you have an effective purchasing policy that clearly puts the requirement for accessibility on the part of the vendor.

 

Ron Stewart

 

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Karen Sorensen
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 4:12 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] TEACH

 

Hi Ron, Terrill, Greg, Sean, and ATHENites,

I've wondered since I first heard about TEACH from the NFB, why educators and administrators of higher ed weren't involved.(For one, we would have told them that there's already a TEACH act regarding copyright, frequently cited in distance learning and higher ed.) I am also highly suspicious when publishers are involved, but we who are legally required to provide an accessible learning experience  are not. HEA and the ADA proposed amendment at least asked for our input. 

And what about the ADA web accessibility proposed amendment? Is that ever going to happen? How does it play into all of this? 

Here at PCC, we have started requiring an Equally Effective Access Plan for any online course that uses inaccessible 3rd party (often publisher) content. I ask the product reps to work with the instructor to come up with equally effective, accessible options that can be put into place immediately when they are needed. I want the product rep to be involved in the solution. And I consider their willingness to implement or help implement a solution in my assessment of the overall accessibility of the product. They need to help us solve the problem they create for us. 

IMHO,

Karen

 

Karen M. Sorensen

www.pcc.edu/access
Portland Community College
971-722-4720
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”  Tim Berners-Lee

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20140922/78598bcf/attachment.html>