Goodbye H810...Hello H800!

It's been a roller coaster day. The Internet connection has been sporadic all week. I've really struggled to complete this ECA....complete writer's block! This morning with a deadline of 12 midday the connection crashed again at 11.30am. I know I should have submitted before then but I just couldn't. Drove to McDonald's but couldn't connect to their wifi. Drove to the hotel nearby and ran in with my USB and begged the lady to let me use a computer....she said no as they were all in use! Finally found a hot-spot in a nearby car park. I submitted the ECA at 11.51am and the connection crashed at 11.53am....talk about a window of opportunity!!!! Arrived home to find the Internet up and running.....I swear it does this to me on purpose...it's watching me!! Also was awarded the Post Grad Certificate in Online and Distance Education which helped ease the stress of the day!! I know H810's ECA will need resubmitting but I'm now ok with that...as OU say it's better to submit 'something than nothing at all' and bless it but you could only really describe my ECA as 'something'!!!

I'm now knackered...I've been studying on MAODE since September 2007 without a break. So I'm pleased to say I have 2 weeks off before the next and final course starts. Its H800 and Rick is also studying on it which is good to know! Also going to use the next 2 weeks to change the darn Internet provider.....bye bye Orange you won't be missed!!

H810 to H800

Still writing the ECA...finding that the three issues are overlapping but half expected that. They also seem to flow from one to the other which I'd hoped they would as this should enable accessibility being developed more sucessfully.

Have changed the title of this blog as I'm starting my final MAODE course...H800... in a couple of weeks time.

Back to finishing the ECA...

Changed again!

I've changed my issues slightly whilst writing the ECA!! Now focussing on

• Division of labour
• Opportunities and incentives
• Constellations of practice...communities

In my context these are the most likely accessibility issues that will need to be addressed as the course becomes more online.

Further thoughts on ECA

Using the 6 issues I identified in the previous post the ECA requires that I select 3 that are relevant to my context. So as my courses are heading towards becoming online and there are few disabled learners I've chosen to focus on...

• Division of labour - Roles and responsibilities
• Brokers
• Boundary practices and constellations

I feel if these three are addressed and acted upon in the early stages of a course becoming online then this could result in better accessibility for learners with disability.

First thoughts on ECA

My issues are open to change. I have related them to each chapter though have felt that within each of the 3 chapters there is a common thread and that is that it's 'everyone else's responsibility and therefore not mine'. I'm happy for anyone to add in comments to my section!!

Chapter 11
1. Interpretation of legislation and guidelines - this would include enforcement of the legislation. As there is little documented evidence of enforcement it's more than likely that most organisations settle out of court when threatened with litigation.
2. Opportunities and incentives - what is the motive behind ensuring accessibility e.g for educational organisations is it more to do with the available funding and therefore 'bums on seats'.

Chapter 12
1. Division of labour - roles and responsibilities.
2. Tools - adding or creating yet another tool before practitioners have had the chance to learn to use existing ones.

Chapter 13
1. Brokers
2. Boundary practices and constellations
These two can create shared good practice which could in turn create a framework of good practice

Week 13!

Well the festive season has been and gone so as usual I'm a tad behind on my reading. Decided to purchase Seale after all....it actually makes more sense as a hard copy rather than an online one (think that says more about me than the book lol!!)

Activity 1.1 Seale Chapter 6
1. On page 70, it is suggested that accessibility is frequently framed as a technical issue, rather than a pedagogical (learning and teaching) one. Can you think of any arguments, evidence, or examples from what you have read, or from your experience that could help lecturers (teachers, faculty) see accessibility as a pedagogical issue?
It's a team effort...can't have successful accessibility without both. Problem is that many lecturers would see it as a technical issue and therefore not their responsibility. Also that the technical side is there to enhance the pedagogy. In order to change this view there needs to be support given and possibly incentives (Stefani).
2. Some of the key principles that underpin different design approaches include: inclusivity, equity, holism, proactivity and flexibility. How are these principles defined in the literature? Are they sufficiently clear and consistent so that lecturers can apply them to their own practice?
Inclusivity - can this really meet the of all students with differing disabilities, unlikely? Equity - flexible and as lecturere are already attempting to meet individual needs of all their students then this may be attainable. Holism - lecturers may still need to provide alternative learning experiences for students and not just elearning ones (Cultural differences). Proactivity/flexibility - as with quality it's important to meet the needs at the beginning of the design and adapt and not once things go wrong.
Activity 1.2 Seale Chapter 7
1. There is a debate surrounding who is responsible (or most responsible) for accessibility. How helpful is this debate in ensuring that people working in post-16 education change their practices?
If those with technical skills, such as learning technologists, are not ultimately or solely responsible for ensuring accessibility, what responsibilities do you think they should have and why?
Learning technologists are just as responsible as other stakeholders...it's a team effort. Everyone needs to accept some amount of responsibility and accountability.
2. On pages 82–83, Seale uses an archaeology metaphor to try to encourage learning technologists to dig deeper beneath the surface of accessibility guidelines and standards. This is intended to develop a greater understanding of approaches to accessible design. How helpful do you think this metaphor is?
Iceberg may be better......
3. Can you think of an alternative metaphor, image, analogy or visualisation that could be used to help develop learning technologists’ thinking in this area?
On page 98 Seale discusses the tensions regarding the use of technical tools versus human judgement to evaluate the accessibility of learning resources. What is your position concerning this issue?
As humans develop and crate the tools you can't really have one without the other..can you?
4. Can we trust human judgement? If so, whose judgement should we trust – learning technologists working within educational organisations or external experts?
Depends on their motives/individual needs

Activity 1.3 Seale Chapter 8
1. How helpful do you think it is to have ‘specialised’ rooms or areas in an educational institution, which only disabled learners can use to access technology/online learning material?
Depends upon the disability (students individual needs). There is a place for them though. Studens musn't be alienated but cost is the deciding factor.
2. Do you think student support services need to employ accessibility or disability experts? If so, how might the role of these ‘experts’ complement or work against the role of other staff working within student support services?
It would depend on what their actual role was.
3. How are student support services organised or structured in your institution? In what ways do you think this organisation influences the way in which disabled learners are supported to use or access technology?
Personally at OU I've found them to be approachable and helpful. Their website is informative and easily navigated (by me!). They have followed up students for me via phone and email when there is a problem.
4. What would you change about the way in which students are supported in your institution and why? (You might find your notes from Week 4 relevant to this question.)

Activity 1.4 Seale Chapter 9
1. Apart from this course that you are studying now, think of a staff training event or resource that you have attended or accessed, related to accessibility and/or disability. If you have never attended such an event, imagine carrying out one of those listed in the resources or discussed in Week 3.

• What was effective or ineffective about the staff training event/resource?
• To what extent did the following factors influence the effectiveness of the experience for you: content or focus; structure or presentation; role or expertise of the leaders/developers?
• If you have not attended or accessed a staff training event/resource related to accessibility prior to this course, what are the reasons for this? Unsure except that OU has a diversity website that we are expected to access regularly.

2. Use your reflections and answers to Question 1 to develop a conceptualisation of what you think makes or defines an effective accessibility-related training event/resource and an effective trainer or staff developer.

3. Should accessibility-related staff development be made compulsory for all those who work in post-16 education?

• What are the reasons behind your answers?
• What do you think are the pros and cons of making accessibility-related staff development compulsory?

Activity 1.5 Seale Chapter 10
1. Does the organisation where you work have an accessibility (or similar) policy? Use your alternative context if you don’t work for a relevant organisation.
If yes:

• Who are the people responsible for writing the policy?
• What is their role/job title?
• Are they the most appropriate people in terms of roles and responsibility to be developing the policy?
• Who monitors the impact of, or response to, the policy?
• What is their role/job title?
• Are they the most appropriate people to be monitoring the policy, considering the roles and responsibilities of all staff in the organisation?

If your organisation does not have a policy, why do you think this might be?

• Does your organisation have someone in a senior position, whose job it could be to lead accessibility-related policies and initiatives?
• Are senior management aware of accessibility issues and simply choosing to ignore them?
• Has a decision been made that policies are not the right tool to use to try to change practice?
• If so, how is your organisation communicating to staff any desire or intention relating to accessibility?

2. How might you improve on accessibility-related policies that exist in your organisation? If none exist, what might you include in any new accessibility-related policy within an organisation?

• Does your organisation have other policies that should refer to accessibility? If so, do they refer to it? If not, in what ways should they refer to it?

3. Who are the key people who have a role in managing accessibility in your organisation?

• What helps or hinders them working together on accessibility-related issues?

H804!!!!

Well after convincing myself that my ECA was basically crap I have only gone and passed the H804......hurray!!!!!!!!
I now have H808 and H804 under my belt and it feels great! I'm up to the ECA on H810 and sill complete that at the end of July. I've just signed up for H800 which will be my final MAODE course so I'm looking to complete the MA at the end of this year.....yikes!!