[Athen] Promoting greater ALEKS Accessibility

[Ron]

Sorry for the typos, was trying to curb my frustration on this topic.

Ron

On Friday, March 20, 2015, Ron <ronrstewart at gmail.com> wrote:


> Howard this is similar to the approach other vendors have taken in

> offering a "fixed" accessible version. But this is the first time I have

> seen a vendor what would be an invalid version in that it's would not pass

> validity and reliability measures required of high stakes assessments.

>

> I would appreciate seeing your work but also would be interested in the

> vendors response in providing an invalid version of their assessment.

>

> Ron Stewart.

>

> On Friday, March 20, 2015, Howard Kramer <hkramer at colorado.edu

> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','hkramer at colorado.edu');>> wrote:

>

>> Hello All:

>>

>> Picking up this topic once again. I've been conducting some accessibility

>> testing and research regarding ALEKS over the last few weeks and thought I

>> would give everyone an update. To boil down the current situation, there

>> are 2 versions of the ALEKS exam, the "traditional" version, which seems to

>> fail for accessibility, according to my testing, and the "accessible"

>> version, which seems very accessible, again, according to my testing.

>>

>> The issue with the accessible version, however, is that it excludes about

>> 100 questions deemed too visual or spatial to present in an accessible

>> digital format. Without these 100 questions, the blind or screenreader user

>> taking the accessible version can not achieve as high a placement as the

>> student taking the "traditional" version.

>>

>> We'd like to encourage ALEKS/MHE to work towards adding as many of the

>> excluded questions from the "accessible" version of the exam and eventually

>> have one universal and accessible version. If there are any other

>> institutions using ALEKS who are interested in collaborating with us on

>> this effort, perhaps signing a letter of support, please let me know. If

>> you'd like to have a phone conversation about this to discuss further, my

>> number is below.

>>

>> If anyone would like a copy of my accessibility audit, I'm willing to

>> send that out upon request.

>>

>> Thanks,

>> Howard

>> 303-492-8672

>>

>> On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 8:43 AM, McGinnity, Julie A. (MU-Student) <

>> jamzk7 at mail.missouri.edu> wrote:

>>

>>> Good morning,

>>>

>>> We are investigating the current state of ALEKS accessibility.  I read

>>> up on ATHEN posts from last year, and they were helpful.  But now I am

>>> curious to know the outcome of the graphing issue.  Is the company still

>>> not providing tactile graphs?  Is ALEKS accessible with the latest versions

>>> of screen readers?  I have never used it myself but was led to believe that

>>> ALEKS was not fully accessible in the past.  Any information you can

>>> provide would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> athen-list mailing list

>>> athen-list at mailman13.u.washington.edu

>>> http://mailman13.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

>>>

>>

>>

>>

>> --

>> Howard Kramer

>> CO-PI - UDUC

>> *Promoting the Integration of Universal Design into University Curricula*

>> (UDUC)

>> Lecturer, Cont. Ed - Evening & Cred Admin

>> 303-492-8672

>> cell: 720-351-8668

>>

>

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