eLearning & Section 508 Panel Discussion Gettysburg, PA November 3, 2010

1. eLearning & Section 508 Panel Discussion Gettysburg, PA November 3, 2010

2. Introduction • 2nd year for this topic. • We have learned a lot over the past year • Thankful for the time many of you have spent and the opportunity to discuss this topic • Panel guests • Don Barrett - Education • Annette Carr – Transportation • Joe Gorup - CourseAvenue • Paul Lloyd – Target Center/USDA • Isabel Morrow – USDA Section 508 eLearning Panel

3. Introduction • Notes from last year’s eLearning session: • The elephant in the room nobody is talking about? • Basics: Terminology - What exactly do you mean by eLearning? • Basics: Why its difficult and different than a “web page”. • Agency perspective: Homeland, Education, & USDA shared their experiences. • About this years session: • eLearning Basics/Level setting • STILL The elephant in the room nobody is talking about… • Observed wide range of compliance processes between agencies • The Downside of non-compliance • What you can do moving forward… Section 508 eLearning Panel

4. eLearning basics and level setting • Last year showed multiple examples of non-eLearning eLearning • Pure .pdf files, a maze of HTML links, a .PPT with a play button. • Here are two examples of what most people agree is truly self-paced eLearning. • Courses from the VA and USDA. Panel Members: • Can you share some thoughts on the eLearning that comes across your desk? Are the VA/USDA courses what people generally are looking for when they say “eLearning”? Do you deal with simplified PDF versions of content for compliance purposes? Section 508 eLearning Panel

5. Audience Thoughts? • eLearning experience? • Expert? Significant eLearning compliance experience? • Practitioner? Some learning compliance matters dealt with? • Newbie? Little or no interaction or experience with eLearning? Section 508 eLearning Panel

6. Elephant in the room? Panel Members: Do the high rejection rates quoted surprise you? What has your experience been? What do you think is going on with “Agency 4”? • Agency 1: • 95%+ 1st pass rejection rate on Section 508 compliant eLearning • Agency 2: • 84% “1st pass rejection rate” on eLearning compliance checking • Civil rights violations issued due to non-compliant eLearning. • Agency 3: • Significant rejection rate. • eLearning accessibility know-how = abysmal • Agency 4: • “We’re fine.” WHAT? Section 508 eLearning Panel

7. What does this tell us? • If you actively check for Section 508 compliance in eLearning - you will almost always uncover [significant] issues. • Alternatively, if you rely on a combination of • Published Standards & Guidelines • Vendor supplied VPAT’s • eLearning vendor solutions/work abounds …you are setting yourself for potential slew of problems Panel Members: What do you think would result if instead of testing, you simply relied on standards and guidelines, VPAT’s and the like? Section 508 eLearning Panel

8. 508 Coordinators - Active Validation? • Agencies 1 – 3 • 508 Coordinators actively inserted themselves into the eLearning development and publishing process • During eLearning development and/or pre-publishing of content compliance is reviewed • Agency 4 • Not so much Panel Members: Where do you fit into the process? How did you get there? It is “easy”? Who do you have to interact with? The LMS provider? Who? Section 508 eLearning Panel

9. Audience Thoughts • Your Compliance Process? • Little testing or passive at best • Reliance on published standards, VPAT’s, etc. • Reliance on vendors/contracts • Integrated testing into the Agency LMS/content publication process Panel Members: Observations? Section 508 eLearning Panel

10. What’s the downside? • First and foremost – it’s a Civil Rights violation • Lawsuits against Agencies can and do happen • Law aside – at a personal level impact can be huge • Nothing will change as inconsistency continues • Easier to find ways out than to address the matter • Ripple Effect • Remedying a non-compliant course costs 4 to 5 times the original development cost. Everyone loses Panel Members: • What have you encountered as the downside of non-compliant eLearning? Section 508 eLearning Panel

11. Re-cap so far • eLearning: • Can be encompass a wide range of technologies and formats…but can in general, the examples given cover a fairly large percent of the market. • Active Validation? • Agencies that investigate…find a lot of issues • Reliance on self-validation by vendors, VPAT’s, and/or “published specifications” are likely setup for failure • Downside • It’s steep… Panel Members: • Share your thoughts – comments? Section 508 eLearning Panel

12. Why so challenging? • Resistance to change • eLearning vendors have “templates” and/or investments made that are not accessible…and don’t want to update them • “Misunderstanding” by contractors/suppliers – term used loosely • eLearning suppliers: “What you’ve asked for is ‘impossible’…” • eLearning Software Tools: • Oversimplify: “check this box for 508 Accessibility” • Very fine print: To make a course 508 compliant - re-code everything • Inconsistent validation across Agencies • We submitted courses to “Agency 4” and we ‘passed’ Panel Members: • What is your perspective on this? Do you have examples of being told “its impossible” , software vendor “trickery”, etc.? Section 508 eLearning Panel

13. Non-compliance Demonstration • Example of non-compliance: • Course example from a USDA supplier • Other non-compliant common issues: • Flash components simply not-readable/interpretable • Little or no keyboard support • Inability to complete the course / print certificate • Assessment feedback issues (e.g. try again or not) Panel Members: • Is “this course is not for the visually impaired anyway” a common retort? • Assessments? Are multiple “paths” through the learning an issue? Section 508 eLearning Panel

14. What you can do? • For those that are actively validating - Keep it up! • Recognize that you don’t have to settle for “alternative versions” or least common denominator solutions. • Designing eLearning with accessibility in mind is possible and should be the goal • Is procurement, Civil rights office supporting you fully? They can help. • For those not actively validating - Get started! • The risk is that your Agency is being inundated with eLearning that is non compliant and there is exposed to all the downside. • See eLearning Compliance Checklist for a place to start Panel Members: • Share your thoughts. What the they key things you could like to share with everyone regarding eLearning? Section 508 eLearning Panel

15. End of Panel DiscussionThank you!