What is web accessibility in learning?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.” (W3C, 2005).

The W3C includes the following types of disabilities in its consideration of designing for accessibility: Visual disability,

• Hearing Impairment
• Physical (motor) Disability
• Speech Disability
• Cognitive and Neurological Disability (including learning disability and seizure disorders, for example), multiple disabilities, and aging-related conditions (W3C, 2005).

The Development efforts for accessible Learning Products should focus on these low-incidence disabilities.

The four accessibility features described below comprise the foundation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA. Ideally, a learning product design should include these features to provide a complete experience for students with vision impairments.

1. Users can navigate the content using only the keyboard. Users of mobile devices can navigate using the touch screen in screen-reader-mode.
2. The content and structure can be understood by a person using a screen reader like NVDA, JAWS, iOS Voiceover, Android Talkback and Chromevox on Chromebooks.
3. Text equivalents for all non-text media. This includes captions for video, audio transcripts, and alternative descriptions for images, animations, and videos.
4. All visual presentations follow the WCAG 2.0 AA visual guidelines.

Here are some examples of accessible content created by Magic Software:

Color Contrast

http://magicwebs.magicsw.com/seg/DLOSamples/Mathematics2/index.html

Drag and Drop, Access Keys

https://dev.opera.com/articles/accessible-drag-and-drop/example.html

Access Keys, Closed Captioning  

http://accessiblewebsitedesignexamples.com/accessible-gallery.php#content

Video Captioning

http://magicwebs.magicsw.com/seg/accessibilitysamples/videos/5_6_1_am1/5_6_1_am1.html

How to make your eLearning content interactive?

Interactive Content Development encapsulates of multiple learning methods. While thinking of interactive content, the first thing that comes to one’s mind is that the content should itself be self-explanatory and interact with the learner. Often, many E-Learning courses fall short of the expectations of interactive content and fail to convey the right messaging. In such cases, subject experts are needed while teaching anything, especially while teaching STEM.

How can you make your eLearning courses interactive?

Courses can be made interactive by adding games, diagrams, animations, and another kind of digital learning objects. Using virtual reality is also an instrumental way of teaching the student with the help of real-time examples. Interactive courses need to talk to the learner and explain the curriculum in the most effective manner.

Assessments

Interactive content should consist of courses that the learner can take after studying about a certain subject. There should be multiple explanations should the student get stuck at a particular part. The learner should feel like he/she is reading a story. These elements will enhance learners’ engagement and keep them coming back for more information and knowledge. Integrating quizzes and assessments at the end of the module or lesson will permit the eLearning content creators to access the effectiveness of the eLearning course with the help analytics. It then helps them determine the progress of the learner and the pain of points of the learner.

Interactive content should have a flavor of games, quizzes, videos, images, and other elements. Analytics and learning go hand in hand, as without knowing the progress of the learner, one can never determine the actual length and breadth of learning.

For more info visit: www.magicsw.com

Mobile distribution platforms open new business avenues for publishers

Content should now be available across devices. Most of the students learn on multiple devices, and it’s important for them to have their content online. Publishers are slowly moving away from print and going into digital formats of education- eBooks being the most common one. EBooks can be viewed in multiple formats and are accessible anytime and anywhere.

Digital publishing platforms enable publishers to convert a simple PDF into an ePUB3. These eBooks consist of interactive content, assessments, annotations, and other interactivities to encourage the most efficient form of learning. The formats that are used today are mostly ePUB3 and HTML5. These formats are usually constant and therefore have no problem downloading on any device.

While interactive eBooks still stay at the forefront, educational publishers are taking help of mobile distribution platforms to develop, manage, and sell their content. The mobile distribution platforms are stuffed with a lot of features to help publishers create digital copy of their content with the necessary licenses. Using these platforms, publishers deliver their content to schools on devices in the mandated environments. One of the most important things for a publisher is analytics of the content. Publishers want to know what part of their content is being used effectively and what part isn’t.

In order to develop ideal mobile learning solutions, it is important to have the best technology partner. UI/UX is extremely important and need to be kept in mind at all times while creating digital content. The learner should be able to access the content easily, and navigate without any trouble.

For more info visit: http://www.magicsw.com/

Accessibility Solutions

It is now a requirement for digital education products to be accessible or WCAG compliant. The online learning world is focussing on learning opportunities for all, and focussing on students with disabilities. Technology has opened many doors in all spheres of life, and education should make maximum use of its capacity to teach as effectively as possible.

Individuals with physical disabilities need a customized type of environment where they can gather knowledge at their own speed. They need a congenial environment where they can interact or engage with the educator in a comfortable way and find out how they are doing. And this is the scenario where accessibility solutions come as a great boon to them. They offer them the right platform to pursue their academic courses and enhance their knowledge.
Ideally, a Learning Product design should include these features to provide a complete experience for students with vision impairments.

1. Users can navigate the content using only the keyboard. Users of mobile devices can navigate using the touch screen in screen-reader-mode.
2. The content and structure can be understood by a person using a screen reader like NVDA, JAWS, iOS Voiceover, Android Talkback and Chromevox on Chromebooks.
3. Text equivalents for all non-text media. This includes captions for video, audio transcripts, and alternative descriptions for images, animations, and videos.
4. All visual presentations follow the WCAG 2.0 AA visual guidelines.

Magic Software employs the best authors, instructional designers, and UX designers in the world and many of them are familiar with the principles of Universal Design for Learning. These authors and designers may decide to apply UDL when creating content and products, or they may decide to go in another direction.

For more information : http://www.magicsw.com

Transformation in Education

Over the past few years, teaching and learning have changed drastically. Whereas, earlier the method was of learning only what the teacher taught with the help of textbooks. The revolution of change has come about with the evolution of the internet and innovations to support digital learning with the help of interactive content. Now, not only can you study on your computer, you can study or your tablet, and even your phone.

The trend now is to study everything online and find various course materials to support that learning. One can’t make do with just the use of textbooks, and multiple teaching materials are required to study. They are getting more involved with interactive content development to make content crisp, simple and interactive. Interactive content development helps in the accessibility of content, by choosing the format the learner wants to use.  The learner can choose to watch a video, read about the subject, and even perform an experiment online rather than having to go to a physical lab. Virtual Labs are the new wave in learning and are being used widely.

One can decide to make almost any kind of content interactive, in any language or subject. Interactivity is the key to effective learning.

 

eLearning is instrumental in the process of education

Today eLearning is playing a major role in education.  There are many players in the education sector who are using blended learning, which entails print and online courses for effective learning. They have adopted interactive content development to make courses resonate with a broad range of audiences.

Interactive content development enables learners to interact with data and draw meaningful conclusions. It encapsulates multiple learning mediums such as games, assessments, diagrams that enable the learner to engage with the content on-the-go.

As a content developer, you need to develop courses that are meet the end results of information absorption. Each course should be divided in difficulty levels followed by assessments, and some interactive learning, which keeps the students engaged. The courses and assessments should be followed by case studies that the students can relate to. The learner should feel confident in advancing to the next level once they have completed a chapter or a module. Assessments, self-evaluation, and feedback in online courses are strong pillars in learning and development. Self-evaluation and self-analysis are the best ways to make learners realize their strengths.

Thus, interactive content development is instrumental in eLearning and helps the student understand better.

Digital publishing platforms fosters digital learning

Digital commerce touches a number of industries today and exciting things are happening in the world of publishing, especially in education publishing. The education publishers are adopting new techniques to create, publish, sell and circulate content. They are taking help of technology-based agencies like Magic Software to leverage exciting technological opportunities like digital publishing platforms and more. Tech-savvy students find these innovations more engaging and useful.  They like to invest their time and energy in educational materials that they can access with much ease. With these evolving technologies, they are able to access information and data any time without the constraints of time and location.

Education publishers are taking the assistance of digital publishing platforms to develop interactive content for their users. Textbooks with interactive content give the learners the power to gather information at their ease.  The digital publishing platforms allow publishers to collect, organize and index content they publish. The analytics allow them to gaze the performance of their content.

Magic Software, a leading educational technology company keeps on bringing innovative solutions to foster, optimize and enhance digital learning. They have developed innovative solutions and products including digital publishing platforms.

For more info visit: www.magicsw.com

 

 

 

Are you shifting to digital publishing platforms for your publishing needs?

Mobile and social are the two words taking the world by the storm today.  In fact every industry is gaining benefits from these buzz words. Conventional websites are increasingly taking a backseat to mobile apps and social networks that deliver fast, better experience. A growing array of mobile distribution platforms and resources have emerged that help publishers prepare and deliver customized content.

Many big players dealing in education and other sectors have embraced digital publishing platforms as they are handy digital publishing tools.  The problem these tools are solving is not just user experience, but most importantly, they have no choice but to have a presence where most of their users are spending most of their time. The shift to mobile distribution platforms amplifies all the problems of the open web-slow loads, bad ads, and bad user experience. They provide benefits to all parties involved. The users get instant access to content in a format that loads quicker. It helps publishers gain access to new and potentially large audiences.

Mobile distribution platforms are simple to use. With little research and help, you create, circulate and sell your content through these platforms. They have a number of user-friendly features to enhance user-experience.  Publishers can also analyze the effectiveness using the analytics. Analyzing the usage trends help in making robust business decisions.

Read More at:  http://www.magicsw.com

Digital publishing platforms for rapid deployment of content

Today e-learning has redefined the knowledge and skill attainment landscape. Advanced educational technology and tools like digital publishing platforms are providing both content developers and learners a flexible, engaging and effective educational experience.

One of the greatest benefits educational tools like digital publishing platforms provide is the deployment of content rapidly. Rather than waiting for the training material to be printed, you can simply create, upload and distribute your content rapidly. They can break down the content into smaller modules in order to make it more engaging to the users.

Digital publishing platforms allow users to access information anywhere, anytime. As a user, you can revisit learning modules as many times you want to clarify doubts and fully grasp its objectives. They give you an opportunity to fully absorb the information at your pace and then move to the next module.  Today many content publishers, authors and content providers are using these platforms to create, sell, manage and deliver their digital content.

Content providers can use these tools to convert their traditional content into digital format with text, images, animation, videos, simulations and assessments. They don’t have to worry about the storage of physical workbooks or replacement cost of lost workbooks.

Decoding Accessibility in the Education Apps

Promoting and instating accessibility has recently been a matter of concern for every educational institution across the US. As per the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), school campuses and classrooms must be wheelchair-accessible to facilitate the differently-abled, which includes ramps, reserved parking, and elevators in multi-story school buildings. Additionally, school toilets should be wheelchair accessible with a lowered sink, and lunchrooms must have wheelchair accessible tables all throughout the US.

Accessibility is not only confined to aiding differently-abled students with reduced mobility; it also refers to the design of products, devices, and services, which help create a conducive environment for the differently-abled.

Some of these regulations are as follow:

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act – IDEA

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), publicly funded schools are obligated to properly accommodate differently-abled students, so that they can have an equal level of participation in the educational environment. Introduced in 1975, this act intends to ensure that the differently-abled students get free of cost, public access to the same level of education as others.

Nowadays, schools are advised to incorporate the braille versions of textbooks, helping visually-challenged students to read and understand content in a much better fashion. As digital consumption in school is increasing, all software vendors are expected to incorporate features that would help differently abled students. For instance, eBook apps are expected to be compatible with screen readers. Screen readers are software programs that help visually-impaired students for whom it’s difficult to read text displayed on the computer screen. This software is equipped with a speech synthesizer or braille display. Its interface performs multiple functions, such as locating the cursor, reading a word, line or the whole text on a screen, locating text in a certain color, and so on. Software like JAWS and NVDA are some examples of screen readers that convert text and components of an operating system into synthesized speech. The output is produced in forms of speech. IDEA ensures that an electronic, screen-reader friendly version of a textbook is always available, in case a visually-challenged student is unable to read the physical copy of the same.

Similarly, if a video is shown in a class of hearing-impaired students, IDEA dictates that visual aid like closed captions should be provided for the differently-abled audience.

Web Content Accessibility Guideline – WCAG

Since the usage of technology has multiplied with time, various schools are now required to make electronic information technology (EIT) accessible to every student. As per the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.0, following are the attributes that educational technology companies should know about to implement accessibility in their content and products:

• Perceivable: Creating content in a manner that it can be presented in different ways without losing meaning; visually challenged students are able to receive information via touch and hearing-impaired students must be able to receive the same through sound. It also means providing text alternatives for non-text content and captions for multimedia. Example: JAWS and NVDA.
• Operable: Making hardware and software more user-friendly and accessible to the differently-abled that would help them navigate and find content for their educational purposes. Functions that are generally triggered through mouse or gesture should also be available via a keyboard. Eye-controlled computers such as the MyTobii P10 are being developed to enable kids with severe disabilities to use the computer seamlessly. The computer tracks the eye movements and interprets the commands.
• Understandable:The information and operation of the user interface should be readable and understandable. Additionally, the interface should help users avoid and correct mistakes. An app called Gesture Search helps kids with paralysis or partial limbs to write by recognizing the first letter that one draws. It is helpful while navigating through contacts, apps, and numerous other functions.
• Robust: Developing an interface that is highly compatible with current as well as future user tools Any software that is meant to assist differently abled students should be available on all the platforms including iPads, e-Readers, and other devices.