Call for Participation in workshop: Practical Accessibility in eLearning: Decisions, Dilemmas and Discussions for Educators and Developers

On Tuesday 23rd August 2005, as part of the Accessible Design in the Digital World conference, 23-25 August 2005, Dundee, Scotland.

Conference web site: http://www.accessinthedigitalworld.org/2005/

You are invited to participate in this workshop exploring the pedagogical and organisational issues relating to accessible eLearning. This workshop is aimed at people involved in the delivery of eLearning, including educators, developers, and those supporting disabled students.

The format of the workshop will be a mixture of presentations from the organisers, position presentations from participants, and small group activities, with plenty of opportunity for interaction and discussion.  There will be an emphasis on exchanging expertise and learning from each others’ good practice.

The goals of the workshop are to explore the principles and processes involved in development of accessible eLearning, including:
• The importance of learning objectives and the key relationship with accessibility
• The roles and responsibilities of different staff groups in the development of accessible eLearning, including educators, developers and support staff.

The workshop will not cover the technical aspects of making eLearning accessible, such as techniques for web or software accessibility, but pointers to resources on these will be provided.

Should the workshop be over-subscribed, participants will be selected to ensure balanced representation of educators, developers, and those supporting disabled students.

Participants should submit a 1-2 page position paper outlining the issues that arise at their institution relating to access to eLearning for disabled students.  This should include examples of good practice and successful solutions, as well as unresolved issues.  The position paper should also briefly describe the participant’s role in their institution: educator, developer or support staff working with disabled students.  Participants will be asked to briefly present their position at the workshop.

Position papers should be submitted via email, by 1st August, to Dr Chetz Colwell: C.Colwell@open.ac.uk