OSCQR – Standard #15

Any technology tools meet accessibility standards.

Review These Explanations

In the United States, two federal laws govern program and course access for all students: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. In New York, we are also bound by the accessibility guidelines pertaining to technology included within Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Conforming to these standards will benefit learners with disabilities, and will help all of your learners to access and use the content of your online course.

According to Yesilada, et al., (2012) technology is considered accessible if users with disabilities can use it as well as users without. Any technology tools included in the course need to meet federal and state standards, and have the capability of delivering the same functionality to all learners.

Understand that a full learning experience requires accessibility from a physical, sensory, and cognitive perspective (Smith & Basham, 2014). LMS tools typically adhere to accessibility standards, but any technology tool or application outside of the LMS needs to be reviewed from an accessibility perspective before including it in the online course.

References:

Smith, S. s., & Basham, J. D. (2014). Designing Online Learning Opportunities for Students with Disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(5), 127-137.

Yesilada, Y., Brajnik, G., Vigo, M., & Harper, S. (2012). Understanding web accessibility and its drivers (Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility W4A). Aarhus, Denmark: ACM Press.

Refresh Your Course with These Ideas

General Suggestions

Before including any technology tool or application in your course, check for accessibility information on the product site, and check user reviews.
Try using the accessibility features built into any tool that you use in your courses, including the LMS. See what features are available for learners with disabilities.
Run the URL of web-based resources through the Wave Accessibility Tool from WebAIM, and accessibility organization. The results provide guidance on any issues that may be detected.
Check with your campus Disability and/or Accommodation services office for guidance on accessible technologies and specific tools and approaches to avoid.

Explore Related Resources

Accessible Online Course Design
Effective Practice from the Online Learning Consortium (OLC)

Incorporating the principles of Universal Design, Perkins eLearning has developed a platform whose baseline is accessible to a range of learning styles, abilities, technical proficiency, etc. Although our primary goal was to meet the needs of professionals with visual impairments, we have found that our platform has also been utilized by learners with hearing impairments, learning disabilities, and primary languages other than English.

ADA Compliance for Online Course Design from Educause

Lessons learned from campuses nationwide have informed an approach to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act during the process of online course design.
Providing multiple ways for learners to gain knowledge, demonstrate knowledge, and interact goes a long way toward making a course accessible to all learners, including those with disabilities.

The WAVE Accessibility Checker from WebAIM

WAVE is developed and made available as a free community service by WebAIM. Originally launched in 2001, WAVE has been used to evaluate the accessibility of millions of web pages.

Sutton, H. (2017). Create ADA-compliant learning experiences for all students. Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners, 19(6), 1-5.

Share What You Know

OSCQR has been developed by a community of online practitioners interested in quality course design. There are numerous opportunities for community members to offer suggestions, donate resources, and help with future development.

Discuss this standard in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Contribute your own ideas or refresh resources by filling out the OSCQR Examples Contribution Form.

OSCQR – Standard #14

Course includes links to privacy policies for technology tools.

Review These Explanations

A privacy policies is a statement or legal document that details what type of information is monitored, collected, and/or distributed. Learners should be provided access to information about the degree to which their information (identities, submissions, logons) is being monitored, collected, and/or distributed either by the LMS or through the registration process for an external tool (i.e., online workbook, or blog application).

Learners entrust the university with their personal information and expect that information to be protected. Web based applications and other technology tools may be collecting data in the background, and learners need to be advised and know that their data is safeguarded.

Transparency is one of the top rights related to learner privacy policies (Strauss, 2014), and learners should have direct, simply access to any policies related to technology tools used in their courses.

Privacy policies can be obtained from campus administrative offices, and links to these policies should be checked on a regular basis to be sure that they are still valid.

References:

Strauss, V. (2014, March 6) Why a ‘Student Privacy Bill of Rights’ is desperately needed. Accessed 2/1/2017 at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/06/why-a-student-privacy-bill-of-rights-is-desperately-needed/

Refresh Your Course with These Ideas

General Suggestions

Check with your campus LMS administrator for privacy policies. Explore the current privacy policy for Blackboard Learn.
Include a section in the Course Information Documents that includes links to the privacy policies for all technology used in the course, including the LMS.
Post links to privacy policies in the activity or assignment instructions that require learners access a specific technology.
Check with IT or Academic Technology campus partners to see if they have a page listing all technology privacy policies, which you can link directly to from your course. Ask them to include links to technologies that you are using in your course as well.

Explore Related Resources

Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Requirements and Best Practices

This resource from the Privacy Technical Assistance Center provides clear information surrounding protecting student privacy issues.

Share What You Know

Discuss this standard in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Contribute your own ideas or refresh resources by filling out the OSCQR Examples Contribution Form.

OSCQR – Standard #13

Frequently used technology tools are easily accessed. Any tools not being utilized are removed from the course menu.

Review These Explanations

Findability refers to the ease with which users can find and access specific information on a website. In an online course, findability is key as learners need to be able to quickly locate resources that they are required to use on a regular basis.

Learners reported much lower levels of efficiency and motivation within online courses with low findability (Simunich, Robins, & Kelly 2015). When required to spend extra time sorting through links to unrelated course tools, learners become frustrated and sidetracked.

When faced with a large variety of LMS tools, it is important for course developers and faculty to select the tools that learners will be using most frequently, and make prominent links to those tools.

If resources or tools are no longer being used in the course, be sure to remove associated links from any course menus. Learners rely on consistent navigation cues (established menus, etc.), however a link to a tool that they no longer need can be considered a distraction in the course.

References:

Simunich, B., Robins, D. B., & Kelly, V. (2015). The Impact of Findability on Student Motivation, Self-Efficacy, and Perceptions of Online Course Quality. American Journal of Distance Education, 29(3), 174-185.

Refresh Your Course with These Ideas

General Suggestions

Establish a routine of checking course links when launching a new week or module.
Use the learner preview mode on a regular basis to check on what the learners are seeing, and explore their findability experience yourself.
Create a survey for your learners at the beginning of the course to get feedback on the available links to tools in the course, and their findability value.
If you have created a course scavenger hunt or syllabus quiz, go through it yourself to see if all course links to tools are appropriate, up to date, and easily findable.

Explore Related Resources

Fisher, E. A., and V. H. Wright. 2010. Improving online course design through usability testing. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 6 (1): 228–245. Irizarry, R. 2002.

Morville, P. 2005. Ambient findability. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.

Share What You Know

Discuss this standard in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Contribute your own ideas or refresh resources by filling out the OSCQR Examples Contribution Form.

OSCQR – Standard #12

Technical skills required for participation in course learning activities scaffold in a timely manner (orientation, practice, and application – where appropriate).

Review These Explanations

According to Sharma and Hannafin (2007) scaffolding refers to supporting learning from novice to expertise. In the context of supporting technical skill competency in an online course, scaffolding is necessary to move learners through mastery levels. This is done through a process of orientation, practice and application.

If learners are required to use technology (hardware or software) they need ample time to orient themselves to the tools and features that they will be expected to use, and have time to practice using those features before they are assessed using those tools.

Technology should not get in the way of learning, and that includes content delivery, interaction, and assessment components of an online course. Learners need time to orient themselves to a new technology tool or feature and practice using it as they will be required to in the course (Hogan, Pressley 1997).

Pace the orientation, practice, and application exercises in your course so that learners have time to build their skills and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. If they are required to master any technology at the very start of the course, be sure to include low-stakes practice assignments, so that learners can become comfortable and confident in their skill level.

References:

Hogan, K., & Pressley, M. (1997). Scaffolding scientific competencies within classroom communities of inquiry. In K. Hogan & M. Pressley (Eds.), Scaffolding student learning: Instructional approaches and issues (pp. 74 – 107). Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Sharma, P. p., & Hannafin, M. J. (2007). Scaffolding in technology-enhanced learning environments. Interactive Learning Environments, 15(1), 27-46.

Refresh Your Course with These Ideas

General Suggestions

Create a technology orientation module that includes how-to videos, documentation, and practice assignments. Require that learners complete this module before moving on in the course.
Create an infographic poster that details out the specific skills and associated mastery levels that learners will have to demonstrate using that technology.
Post a video orientation in the course welcome area, along with several practice assignments for learners to complete for extra credit.
Include related “tips and tricks” related to the required technology in each module, building on the skills and features shared in previous modules.
Have learners who are highly skilled in the required technology serve as a skills tutor for other learners in the course.
Set mastery milestones and distribute digital course badges to learners who reach specific mastery levels as the course progresses.

Explore More Refreshing Ideas from the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (TOPR) at the University of Central Florida (UCF)

This Pedagogical Practice from TOPR explores the purpose and benefits of using digital badges to promote learner success. Exploring this strategy can guide a practice of scaffolding learning – helping learners achieve mastery, and rewarding that mastery.

Use Digital Badges to Promote Positive Learner Behaviors

Digital badges are visual indicators of the satisfaction of an instructor-defined goal. When the goals are linked to behaviors that promote success, badges can serve as feedback systems to promote those behaviors (e.g., a badge for submitting an assignment early that meets a pre-defined grade threshold supports timeliness without sacrificing quality). (Read more …)

Explore Related Resources

Beckford, M. M. (2015). The Online Learning Orientation Session. Distance Learning, 12(4), 43-50.

Chernish, W. N., DeFranco, A. L., Lindner, J. R., & Dooley, K. E. (2009). Does it matter? The perfect online course: Best practices for designing and teaching (pp. 23–35). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Reiser, B. R. (2004). Scaffolding Complex Learning: The Mechanisms of Structuring and Problematizing Student Work. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(3), 273-304.

Share What You Know

Discuss this standard in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Contribute your own ideas or refresh resources by filling out the OSCQR Examples Contribution Form.

OSCQR – Standard #11

Requisite skills for using technology tools (websites, software, and hardware) are clearly stated and supported with resources.

Review These Explanations

Any hardware, software, or technology applications that are required for successful participation in the course need to be introduced along with resources that support a full range of learner mastery. This information needs to be communicated out to learners early on, and reinforced throughout the term.

Hara and Kling (1999) cite that technology problems and ambiguous instructions frustrate online learners. Access issues need to be mitigated early on in order for learners to succeed.

Skill levels need to be established and explained so that learners know what level of expertise is required in order to fully participate in the course. These explanations should include beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels with full descriptions of which features are mastered to which extent at each level. This helps guide learners to appropriate resources to build their knowledge and skill levels. (Leach & Walker, 2001).

If learners are required to use third party content (publisher websites, online labs, assignment utilities, web-based subscriptions), links to associated resources, and explanations on how to access this content need to be included.

References:

Hara, N., & Kling, R. (1999). Students’ frustrations with a web-based distance education course. First Monday, 4(12), 5.

Leach, K., & Walker, S. (2001). Internet-based distance education: Barriers, models, and new research.

Refresh Your Course with These Ideas

General Suggestions

If learners are required to access third-party or web-based technology services and applications, include the following information in the course information documents, and along with any activities or assignments that require using this technology:

An overview of the tools available on the site, and which specific features will be used in the course.
Information on any fees that may be incurred, or subscriptions that need to be purchased.
Links to documentation, video tutorials, and quick reference guides.
A screen-cast video on how to access the tools and find online help, and add it to the course along with links to the places explored in the screencast video.
Detailed login instructions, including what to do if learners are unable to login or need to reset their passwords in the web-based tool.
A list of basic skills that learners need to navigate and operate in this platform.
How the technology will be used in the course, along with why the specific technology was chosen.
Quick links on the course home page to the IT Help Desk.

If learners are required to use specific hardware include the following information in the course information documents, and along with any activities or assignments that require using this technology:

Specifications on exactly what hardware is needed, including brand, model and average pricing.
Details on when learners will need to use the hardware.
Links to documentation, video tutorials, and quick reference guides.
What the ramifications will be if learners are not able to acquire or successfully use the hardware.
Details on compatible and/or substitute hardware.
A list of basic skills that learners need to operate the hardware.
How the technology will be used in the course, along with why the specific technology was chosen.
Quick links on the course home page to the IT Help Desk.

Also consider setting up a discussion forum dedicated to troubleshooting software and hardware technology issues, where learners can help each other.

Explore Related Resources

National Education Association Guide to Teaching Online Courses

This Guide to Teaching Online Courses is the product of collaboration among a number of organizations committed to ensuring the quality of online instruction to secondary students in the United States.

Share What You Know

Discuss this standard in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Contribute your own ideas or refresh resources by filling out the OSCQR Examples Contribution Form.