csuelearning

[csuelearning]

A Case for Designing Accessible Online Courses

Accessibility is frequently the last thing course developers want to think about when creating an online course. There is extra time involved up front, but it can help prevent problems down the line. I think most of us in higher education care about all students and want to help them to our best ability. There are also laws protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities to have access to programs and services that institutions of higher education offer. Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 says that public institutions receiving federal funds, this includes student financial aid, need to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in programs & activities and have the same benefits that people without disabilities have. It requires academic adjustments and accommodation to ensure full participation. Section 508 is an amendment that requires electronic information and technology, such as websites and online courses be accessible. The American with Disabilities Act of 1990 expands the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to private as well as public institutions of higher education. The newest is The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. It requires modern communications to be accessible to people with disabilities. This includes VOIP services, electronic messaging, video conferencing, video communications and mobile browsers.

When we design accessibly from the start, we can attract a wider audience to our product or service, and protect our institutions from losing time and money in a future lawsuit.

CSU’s Center for eLearning has a Quality Matters based course template that contains an Accessibility Resources folder. Within this folder is an accessibility statement that provides the location and contact information for our Office of Disability Services, where students with disabilities can obtain accommodation. There are also links to the CSU Handbook for Students with Disabilities, Blackboard Learn’s Accessibility Conformance Statement, a page explaining the accessibility features of Blackboard Learn and Microsoft Office applications. A CSU faculty member or course designer can obtain our Quality Matters based course template by filling out a form on our website.

Heather Caprette, MFA

[csuelearning]

Happy Fall #CLEstate!

[csuelearning]

Simple, beautiful & ad-free. Read the manifesto:

[csuelearning]

We absolutely love the new Time-Lapse feature in iOS 8. Check it out!

[csuelearning]

Preparations are underway for tonight's party! Happy 50th @cle_state! #GreenTurnsGold

[csuelearning]

Cincinnati Circus performing at #CLEstate right now! (at Cleveland State University)

[csuelearning]

This tutorial will show you how to hide courses in Blackboard.  Follow the Center for eLearning at Cleveland State University @eLearningCSU on Twitter or call 216.687.5050 Option 2.

To hide courses in Blackboard:

1. Login to Blackboard

2. Click the gear icon in the upper right of the My Courses box.

3. Uncheck the boxes to right of the course to hide.

4. Click Submit.

[csuelearning]

Kris Allen performing on campus right now! #CLEstate

[csuelearning]

Welcome back! #clestate #vikingpride

[csuelearning]

This tutorial will show you how to add extended time for quizzes and tests in Blackboard. To add extended time in Blackboard: 1. Select the assessment that needs extended time 2. Select Edit the Test Options 3. Click Add User or Group under Test Availability Exceptions 4. Select the User or Group you would like to add extended time 5. Click Submit You will now return to the Edit the Test Options page. 6. Under Attempts in the Test Availability Exceptions, click the dropdown for the attempt options 7. Under Timer, enter the amount of time allowed for the quiz or test and if it should be auto-submitted 8. Under Availability, choose the day and time the quiz or test will be available to the student 9. Click Save. 10. Scroll down and click Submit. Follow the Center for eLearning at Cleveland State University @eLearningCSU on Twitter or call 216.687.5050 Option 2.

[csuelearning]

Ready for the Fall semester to begin? 4 days and counting. #clestate #elearning #vikingpride

[csuelearning]

Fall classes start August 23! #clestate #vikingpride

[csuelearning]

It will be nice to see this active again in a couple weeks! #clestate

[csuelearning]

We ❤️ this campus! #thisiscle #ClevelandLove

[csuelearning]

Ever wonder what Blackboard looks like or how to navigate it as a student? This brief video provides an overview of the many tools that are available on Blackboard at Cleveland State University.

[csuelearning]

Review: Blackboard Learn Mobile App

  What Is It?

Blackboard Learn’s mobile application available for iOS and Android devices.  Blackboard states that this app “takes interactive teaching and learning mobile, giving students and educators access to their courses, content and organizations on a variety of devices”.

Where To Purchase It?

Simply search for Blackboard Learn in either the App Store or Google Play.  The universal app is free to download, but useless until you pay $1.99.

Why Does It Matter?

This app is supposed to provide quick and easy access to your Blackboard courses.  It does away with the need for launching a mobile browser window and then navigating your way to the University’s login page.  All said, it saves less than a minute of time. The price tag is also welcoming to college students who don't have a lot of money to spend frivolously.  At $1.99, or the cost of some extra moves on Candy Crush, you could easily fool yourself into thinking you have all of your courses with you at all times.

Should this app be purchased, continue on for our take...

Using It

The app is very intuitive.  Finding Cleveland State University was straight forward and authenticating was familiar and simple enough.  The layout is easy to understand and even a novice at Blackboard could navigate through a course.  As you get further into a course, the menus build on the left to serve as breadcrumbs.  This is a nice detail for those who constantly click around and may forget how they got there.

Like

The initial screen after logging in is very colorful with all of the courses listed on the left and a quote on the content window.  It strips away the look and feel of the desktop site and applies a soft texture and color scheme.  It is also customizable, allowing you to apply a different color to each course, reorganize, rename and even hide courses.  This is a feature not present in the browser version.  Overall, the user interface is pleasant to look at, intuitive and easy to navigate.

No Like

The biggest drawback to this app is what it aimed to simplify, navigation.  I find myself constantly hitting the back arrow to work my way through the course.  The constant black text on a white page is also something that is an issue.  On a desktop, this is something that one comes to accept…it’s just the way things are done.  However, on a tablet, I am somehow wanting more; wanting for things to look different.  I think this is partially a result of how mobile apps are designed today.  They are typically highly engaging and intended to keep you sitting down and taking full advantage of those in-app purchases.  This app is not, far from.  But should an education app really need to be?  I think it should add something new to platform, but instead it simply falls flat.  What's worse is that it’s a one and done purchase that offers no free trial.

An issue I repeatedly encountered was the appearance of the desktop version.  This would happen when I go into a learning module.  As a result, I saw two left-side navigation menus.  This is something that Blackboard really needs to figure out, as valuable screen real estate is being taken up by these menus.  Once the desktop menu was on the screen, I lost all interest in navigating the course using the app tools and instead reverted back to the desktop version while still in the app.  If I am going to do this, why not just login using the mobile browser?  This is the question I kept asking myself.

Page layout is another gripe.  Most pages display content correctly, but there are others that are a complete mess in the app.  I am not sure if it is as simple as not rendering the HTML correctly or if there are other underlying issues.  The pages I have found this occurrence most frequently on is when there are images.  Instead of displaying them inline, they are placed as thumbnails on the bottom of the page, with links placed on the page.  Clicking on these links takes you to the image with no way to return (the back arrow was grayed out).  This was very frustrating. 

My final issue with the app is speed.  This is a very slow app.  I mean really, really slow.  I see the animated loading arrow much more often than I would like.  Sometimes, the content won't even load and I have to click the item again or navigate away from and back to what I want to view.

Should You Buy It?

No.  Don't waste your money.  I'm left trying to figure out why this app even exists.  Is it simply a money grab, designed to eke out more funds from unsuspecting college students?  Are other university's Blackboard login pages that hard to access?  It’s anyone’s guess.  But, in a world where college students have access to laptops, tablets, smartphones and campus computer labs, the Blackboard Learn mobile app adds little else aside from frustration.  With mobile browsers being on par with their desktop counterparts, I find myself using Safari on my iPad 100% of the time and the app is now relegated to an unopened folder.  What’s worse for me is that I paid $4.99 for lifetime access.  With Blackboard cutting the price to more than half of that to $1.99, it now borders on impulse buy, which is probably their thinking.  Hopefully, the sub 3-star rating should be enough to scare potential buyers away.

[csuelearning]

There is nothing better than taking an afternoon stroll through the campus of Cleveland State University and looking at the beautiful landscaping. Visit the amazing gardens outside of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.