The future of
THE GAP BETWEEN OPENNESS
AND ACCESSIBILITY: THE AU
EXPERIENCE WITH OERS
Sandra Law, PhD
Learning Designer, Centre for Learning Design and
Development (CLDD)
Carrie Anton
Assistive Technologist, Access to Students with Disabilities
(ASD)
October 24, 2013 Session 2

Agenda
• Students with disabilities in PSE
• Obstacles to accessibility in OERs
• Difficulties in locating accessible resources
• Designing OERs for accessibility
– Resources
– Basic principles
• Resources for assessing accessibility or OERs
• Making a contribution to accessibility of OERs
• Questions

Persons with disabilities…
• 14% CAN pop, 15+ yrs claims to have disability. UN 10%
have disability that affects learning.
• > 25% have not graduated from high school vs 13.5%
without disabilities
• Less likely to have college or university degrees (33% vs
48% complete a bachelor degree)
• Have greater expenses (medical, technology, low
employment)
• Often hit roadblocks that prevent comprehension of
educational content due to poor course design and
technical incompatibilities

Making the learning
experience inclusive
An inclusive learning experience is one that
matches the needs of the individual learner.
Some of the needs that can affect learning
include:
• sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional and
social constraints;
• individual learning approaches
• linguistic or cultural preferences;
• technical, financial or environmental
constraints.

Obstacles to accessibility in
OERs
• Accessibility is an afterthought
• Often seen as constraining creativity
• Inflexible, proprietary formats are used
• Assumptions about the need (medical model)
• Learning object repositories (LORs) may not
foster good practice re: accessibility
– Inaccessible interfaces
– Hard to locate accessible OERs
• Inadequate support & resources for content
designers (UD training, resources, time)

Difficulty in locating accessible
resources
• Merlot.org has a summary of the set of
resources on its LOR that is accessible in
different disciplines
http://oeraccess.merlot.org/finding_material
s/index.html
• OER Commons does not provide
accessibility information, interface has
Learner Options
• Connexion (cnx.org) – The content
delivered on their platform is not accessible
though original is.

Designing OERs for
accessibility
• Use guidelines to inform design process:
– WCAG Perceivable, Operable, Understandable,
Robust
– UDL – multiple means of expression, representation,
engagement
– AccessForAll – EU interoperability labeling
– Institution accessibility policy and BP
• Use accessibility tools and features available in
software/OS/browser to test (e.g. MS Office, WAVE
toolbar, Accessibility Checker)
• Use accurate metadata when configuring your material or
uploading to an LOR

Making your content more
accessible
• Flexible styling
• Keyboard & mouse control
• Audio or text descriptions of non-text information
• Text captions for audio that are indexed and searchable
• Navigation Aids (headings, TOC, skipping links)
• Open formats Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD)
Project
• Avoid sensory cues (colour, sound, shape cues)
• Label resources appropriately to match user needs.
• Allow creation of variations by the OER community

Improving accessibility of OERs
• Accessibility reviews of open textbooks
(e.g. collegeopentextbooks.org)
• Accessible online libraries (bookshare.org)
• Accessibility information for resources
posted in some repositories (e.g. Merlot)
• Open Courseware Consortium ToolKit

Exercise
• What could improve this resource”
Primate Communication
• What does this OER do right?MIT OCW
Physics I: Classical Mechanics

Questions/Comments

Contact Us
• Sandra Law, Learning Designer
Email: slaw@athabascau.ca
• Carrie Anton, Assistive Technologist Email:
carriea@athabascau.ca

References
• 3PlayMedia (2013). 2014 Roadmap to web
accessibility in higher education. 22p.
Available from http://www.3playmedia.com.
• Gruszcynska, A. (2011). Accessibility
issues in the context of UK Open
Educational Resources Programme. 15p.
• Hocking, C., Brett, P. & Terentjevs, M.
(2012). Making a difference – inclusive
learning and teaching in higher education
through open educational resources.
Distance Education, 33(2), 237-252.

References (con’d)
• Raue, K. & Lewis, L. (2011). Students with
disabilities at degree-granting
postsecondary institutions. (NCES 2011-
018). Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office.
• Open Educational Quality Initiative (OPAL)
(2011). Beyond OER: Shifting focus to open
educational practices. The OPAL Report
2011.

References (con’d)
• Scanlon, E. (2011). Open science: trends in
the development of science learning. Open
Learning, 26(2), 97-112.
• Standing Senate Committee on Social
Affairs, Science and Technology.
(December, 2011). Opening the Door:
Reducing Barriers to Post-Secondary
Education in Canada. 130p.
• Willems, J. & Bossu, C. (2012). Equity
considerations for open educational
resources in the glocalization of education.
Distance Education, 33(2), 185-199.

Tools
• WAVE (wave.webaim.org)
• AChecker.ca – urls, upload html
• Color Checkers (Color Filter, Vischeck,
Accessibility Color Wheel, Colour Contrast)
• The Accessible Digital Office Document
(ADOD) Project
• OER Resources
– Floe Inclusive Learning Design
Handbook
– Open Educational Resources InfoKit