<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>Karen, <br><br></div>You mentioned DO-IT in your original post, so I'll share a bit more about our program... <br><br></div>Sheryl Burgstahler started DO-IT in 1992 with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The original program was a summer study program that brought high school students with disabilities to the University of Washington to learn about college life and gain skills, knowledge, and experience that will help them to succeed as they transition into college and beyond. This program still exists today, although it's no longer a national program; it's now a statewide program funded by the State of Washington. That said, we have continued to receive funding from NSF, the US Department of Education, and various other sources over the years to work toward improving accessibility in education and to increase the opportunities for students with disabilities to succeed in challenging careers. Most of our grant funding has focused on outreach and dissemination, and in that context we develop resources and provide trainings and workshops, mostly at conferences but occasionally at other events that are organized by higher education institutions or other organizations. We don't have the bandwidth to provide trainings on an ongoing basis to anyone who wants them, and we don't support our state institutions in the same way that the HTCTU does in California. However, we try to support trainings and events that are likely to have a large and lasting impact. For example, if a statewide higher education system were to hold a capacity building institute focused on IT Accessibility involving all its state higher education institutions, we would probably be willing to help with such an effort, perhaps by helping with planning or by participating as a speaker. We actually are in the early stages of planning such an event for the State of Washington to be held sometime in 2015. Although these are one-time events, we recommend structuring them so that they're action-oriented, with all attendees leaving with action items and an established infrastructure for continued communication and collaboration. <br>
<br></div>Internally at the UW, the DO-IT Center is setup as a collaboration between UW-IT, the College of Engineering, and the College of Education. Within UW-IT, we are part of Accessible Technology Services (ATS), which provides consulting, training, and support to the campus community on IT accessibility issues. That's the group that I'm in. We have two other full-time staff members (Dan Comden and Hadi Rangin) plus Sheryl, our director. My position is currently 60% focused on the UW, and 40% focused on DO-IT's grant-funded programs. Dan and Hadi are 100% UW-focused. ATS provides the sorts of services you're describing Karen, but only within the UW. <br>
<br></div>Regarding product testing, that's one of our roles within ATS, but there are so many IT products being considered or deployed at the UW it's impossible even for three full-time staff people to thoroughly test them all. This is an area where I think it's critical for us all to pool our resources, share our knowledge, and work together to collaborate with vendors. There are a variety of successful collaborations that have taken place through ATHEN: <br>
<a href="http://collaborate.athenpro.org/">http://collaborate.athenpro.org/</a><br><br></div>Also, the need for better, more reliable information about accessibility of vendors' products is a key issue that is being explored within the EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group: <br>
<a href="http://educause.edu/groups/itaccess">http://educause.edu/groups/itaccess</a><br><br></div><div>Here's some more detail about the history of our accessibility efforts at the UW: <br><a href="http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/highlights/">http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/highlights/</a><br>
<br></div>Regards, <br></div>Terrill <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><br>--- <br>Terrill Thompson<br>Technology Accessibility Specialist<br>DO-IT, Accessible Technology Services<br>UW Information Technology<br>
University of Washington<br><a href="mailto:tft@uw.edu" target="_blank">tft@uw.edu</a></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 4:25 PM, Lucy Greco <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lgreco@berkeley.edu" target="_blank">lgreco@berkeley.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Yes look at the California’s community college high tech training center it is just what your dream is. they offer train the trainer type classes in AT for students and classes on producing alt media and accessible web to many others. They offer this for free to faculty and staff in their own system with travel for free. Other people in California from CSU and UC can attend for free space permitting with no expenses covered. I hope this helps </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Lucia Greco</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Web Accessibility Evangelist</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">IST - Architecture, Platforms, and Integration </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">University of California, Berkeley</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><a href="tel:%28510%29%20289-6008" value="+15102896008" target="_blank">(510) 289-6008</a> skype: lucia1-greco</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><a href="http://webaccess.berkeley.edu" target="_blank">http://webaccess.berkeley.edu</a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">follow me on twitter @accessaces</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<font color="#1f497d" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"> </span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font face="Tahoma"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> The EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:<a href="mailto:ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU" target="_blank">ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU</a>] <b><span style="font-weight:bold">On Behalf Of </span></b>Karen Sorensen<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, July 03, 2014 4:15 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> <a href="mailto:ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU" target="_blank">ITACCESS@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU</a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> [ITACCESS] Accessibility Centers</span></font></p><div><div class="h5"><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Hi -</span></font></p></div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">I have a dream of a statewide or at least a college-wide accessibility center where: </span></font></p>
<ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">faculty can get training on accessible course content creation, </span></font></li><li class="MsoNormal">
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">end user testing of dynamic products and tools can be done, </span></font></li><li class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">and hosting of special projects like Subject area accessibility studies can be managed.</span></font></li>
</ul><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Our director has asked if there are other centers like this that I know of. I know of the High Tech Center in California and DO-It at Univ. of WA, but are there others? How did these and others get started? Who runs them? </span></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Thanks everyone! </span></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Best,</span></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Karen</span></font></p>
<div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font face="Trebuchet MS" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"">Karen M. Sorensen<br>Accessibility Advocate for Online Courses</span></font><br>
<a href="http://www.pcc.edu/access" target="_blank">www.pcc.edu/access</a><font face="Trebuchet MS"><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif""><br>Portland Community College<br><a href="tel:971-722-4720" value="+19717224720" target="_blank">971-722-4720</a></span></font><br>
<i><font color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black;font-style:italic">"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”</span></font></i><font color="black" face="Calibri"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"> Tim Berners-Lee</span></font></p>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at <a href="http://www.educause.edu/groups/" target="_blank">http://www.educause.edu/groups/</a>. </span></font></p>
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