Grant - Online Accessible Classroom Initiative

ONLINE ACCESSIBLE CLASSROOM INITIATIVE (OACI)

In order to meet current and revised federal compliance standards, all information and communication technologies (ICT) within online classes must be accessible to students.

The Accessible Online Classroom Initiative, in alignment with all of the Online Accessible Classroom Initiative (OACI) agenda items, removes learning barriers for people of all abilities and strives to meet federal compliance standards by:

1. Captioning Video – continuing the “Closed Captioning Service for Oregon Community Colleges” (IGRA 0818) under the umbrella of the AOCI with additional funding for approximately 200 hours of captioning / transcription services provided by Automated Sync Technologies.
2. Exploring Solutions for Accessible ICT – researching and developing accessibility checking, scanning, remediating, and reporting tools, platforms and services, for adoption across OCCDLA institutions.
3. Providing Training for Online Instructors – collaborating with the OCCDLA membership & OATI to create training programs on accessibility, similar to the Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA) Accessibility Certification.

Project goals:

• Goal #1 – Remove learning barriers for people of all abilities by exploring solutions accessible media beyond video captions for OCCDLA members.
• Goal #2 – Gather and disseminate research on accessible content for informed decision and policy making; both OCCDLA and individual institution level.
• Goal #3 – Highlight common trends in research to produce focused training materials.
• Goal #4 – Create a strategy/policy template for institutions to periodically perform accessibility audits in online classrooms.
• Goal #5 – Produce a case study/review on implementing automated accessibility checking tools.