Accessibility Resources

Need a document converted quickly? Take a look at our database of helpful resources:

• 247 Accessible Documents – On-demand Accessible Documents. Upload a Document and receive an Accessible PDF, Accessible Word Document or an Accessible PowerPoint that meets Accessibility Standards & Guidelines 2.0 in 5 days.
• BrailleWorks – Braille Works is a solution for repair or remediation of your documents so organizations can meet WCAG and 508 compliance standards. WCAG and Section 508 document compliance can be difficult and navigating these waters is not a job for the inexperienced. Elements of a document such as paragraph structure, tables, charts, lists etc, need to be properly organized and tagged to provide true accessibility.
• CommonLook – NetCentric Technologies, a global leader in document accessibility, provides software products and professional services enabling faster, more cost-efficient, and more reliable processes for achieving compliance with the leading PDF and document accessibility standards, including WCAG, PDF/UA, and Section 508. CommonLook software makes the creation, remediation, and management of accessible PDF and Microsoft Office documents easier than ever before.
• Equidox – Equidox is an automated solution that simplifies the process of discovering, converting, and publishing PDF documents to WCAG 2.0 compliant HTML.
• Microassist - The entire Microassist team invests time in understanding a client’s needs and the desired outcome of their training and learning strategy. Microassist creates, delivers, and hosts custom training for our clients’ internal and external learners with a special emphasis in usability and accessibility.
• inclüd – Accessible content conversion, creation, and consulting services, inclüd provides institutions with a path to accessible information, ensuring that those with exceptional needs can access content tailor made for them.
• PubCom - PubCom has been developing accessible materials since the mid-1990s, before the US Sec. 508 amendment was passed and put into effect in 2000. They offer a suite of services from custom designed accessible templates to an audit of public-facing documents.
• RoboBraille - RoboBraille is accessible 24/7 as a self-service solution and is available free of charge to individual, non-commercial user not affiliated with an institutional setting obligated to provide support (academic institution, organisation, association or similar). Users need not register in order to use the service. The objective is to support and promote self-sufficiency of people with special needs socially, throughout the educational system and on the labour market. As an additional benefit, RoboBraille helps to protect the privacy of of those who need material in alternate formats.
• SensusAccess (Powered by RoboBraille) – SensusAccess is a self-service, alternate media solution for educational institutions. SensusAccess allows students, faculty, staff and alumni to automatically convert documents into a range of alternate media including audio books (MP3 and DAISY), e-books (EPUB, EPUB3 and Mobi) and digital Braille. The service can also be used to convert inaccessible documents such as image-only PDF files, JPG pictures and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into more accessible and less tricky formats.
• T-Base Communications – T-Base Communications takes one digital file and converts it into every accessible format you need: braille, large print, audio or accessible PDF. Guided automation and QA by our subject matter experts ensures a high-quality end product, consistently.

~Anna

 

Anna is the Educational Technology Coordinator for Emporia State University. She can be reached at acatters@emporia.edu or by phone 620.341.5107

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Happy Holidays from the Learning Technologies team! Enjoy your break and we look forward to seeing you next year! Thank you for making this year memorable and we look forward to new opportunities in the coming year. We appreciate you and all you do to support our Emporia State students. Enjoy the break!

~Learning Technology Team

Rob, Anna, Selayoa, Mark, Hind, Hanmo & Amanda

 

 

 

Biology Lab at ESU goes Virtual!

Virtual Reality Biology Lab Online with Dr. Erika Martin

When moving a class online, it is a challenge in and on itself.  Dr. Erika Martin is adventuring to a new high standard for a first time new to online teaching by taking her Biology 101 Lab Online.  I have had the pleasure to work with Dr. Martin and Labster, the company that created the Virtual Reality world for science, for a couple months now. The project has been approved and the pilot will start in Spring 2019.  While working with Dr. Martin, and writing the proposal for funding, I asked Dr. Martin for a blurb on how she think Labster will benefit the class and why Emporia State University should invest in this project.  While expecting just a short paragraph, Dr. Martin exceeded my expectation with a lengthy but remarkable statement which I have shared for the readers below. Dr. Martin has great passion  passion and willingness to help her students thrive in this new, exciting learning medium!

 “Most students enrolling in the General Biology Laboratory course could be described as not excited to be there. As with many non-scientists, students view biology as meticulous, boring, and confusing. My goal is to engage students, get them to enjoy their class experience, learn basic biological principles, and gain a more robust and well-rounded understanding of the world they live in. A lofty goal, but not unreasonable. General Biology Laboratory is, and should be, a lot more than patience and numbers (though, there is a bit of that). Whether students realize it or not, biology is all around them - not just the plants and animals, but a lot of technology is derived from plant and animal models. The scientific method is not just a bunch of boring steps, but an interactive process that allows students to answer real-world questions in a rigorous and deterministic way! The purpose of this course is not rote memorization and learning a bunch of Latin words. The purpose of this course is to help students see how science is involved in their everyday lives. They learn about the basics of genetics that are used in the popular DNA kits from 23&Me or Ancestry.com; learn how changes in our environment can influence changes in how animals behave and look; learn what light is, where it comes from and how it helps plants grow; learn about diffusion and osmosis - important processes in the field of medicine, nursing, ecotoxicology, and others; plus learn how to answer their own questions about the world!

I am excited to help students get their feet wet in the diversity of biological topics, and online learning is a way to reach out to students that might not be able to take in-person classes. However, traditional laboratory classes are hands-on for a reason: hands-on learning allows students to make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, use and appreciate scientific equipment, and understand the process of science. Reading, watching recorded videos, and memorization can teach the student about science, but is unable to get students to truly understand how science is done. That is why Labster would make the General Biology Laboratory class the next best thing to an in-person class. Students get to remotely experience being in a laboratory setting. They have to calibrate equipment, make and use solutions correctly, and conduct scientific research. Labster virtual reality programming allows students to make mistakes and subsequently explains what mistake was made and corrects them. Students can mix two wrong solutions and set their virtual lab aflame! Then, Labster will help them figure out where they went wrong, and correct those mistakes until the student understands and conducts the lab exercise correctly. There are built in guides and questions along the way to make sure the students are actively engaged and haven’t just pressed play on the video and left the room.

This opportunity would be fantastic for student learning, plus it would put Emporia State University at the forefront of online class technology. This project is a collaborative effort among myself from the Emporia State University’s Department of Biological Sciences, Emporia State University’s Information Technology (IT) department, Arizona State University’s online course coordinator, as well as the tech companies Google, Labster, and Lenovo. With the intent to begin in Spring 2019, ESU will become one of only a handful of universities in the nation to offer virtual reality online class experiences. Other institutions with similar programs include Arizona State, NYU, and Brown.”     -Dr. Erika Martin

Following Dr. Martin’s statement there is nothing left for me to say except, I was amazed, excited and feel honored to work alongside someone who truly wants to make a difference in young adult lives.


~Selayoa Lovett

Selayoa is an Instructional Designer for Emporia State University. She can be reached at scloud@emporia.edu.

Packback

A new technology that I recently learned about is a product called "Packback". Packback Questions is a learning community dedicated to supporting students' curiosity by creating an environment that encourages students to be intellectually independent and ask higher level questions.

Manual tasks like coaching, grading, and moderating are possible even in the largest classes with Packback's Artificial Intelligence engine.Essentially, this tool could replace the traditional Discussion Boards where mundane read, write, post is replaced by "sparks".

Watch this webinar to learn how the tool works -

Interested in learning more? We've requested a demonstration and I'd be happy to invite you, give me your thoughts. . .

~Anna

Anna is the Educational Technology Coordinator for Emporia State University. She can be reached at acatters@emporia.edu or by phone 620.341.5107.

Integrating Panopto into Canvas Tutorial

Panopto is a Lecture Capture tool that allows you to embed videos into your Canvas environment.

USING PANOPTO TO COPY/SHARE A FILE LINK

Login to Panopto and locate the video you would like to share with someone. 

 

 

 Hover over the video and select SHARE. Then, click on the arrow to the right.

 

 

Select how you want to share the file:

 

 Then, copy and share the link:

 

 

  FOR CANVAS INTEGRATION

 

 From any textbox inside of Canvas (content page, file upload, discussion, etc.), choose the More External Tools Option (looks like a blue "V"):

 

Select Panopto Video:

 Then, select the course folder and video:

 

 

 

~Anna

 

Anna is the Educational Technology Coordinator for Emporia State University. She can be reached at acatters@emporia.edu or by phone 620.341.5107.