Welcome to the Great Lakes ADA and Accessible IT Center's monthly Bulletin on Accessible IT in K-12 schools.

Trainings & Events

The Great Lakes Center offers technical assistance, trainings, referrals, and resource material for K-12 and Postsecondary schools on Accessible Information Technology topics.

Resources for Schools

Captioned Media Program (CMP), has over 1,000 media titles available via Internet streaming. The service is free but there are specific eligibility requirements for individuals and schools. For more information visit:
www.cfv.org.

Discovery Education subscribers access to more than 1,000 video clips that have been copyright-cleared by their producers for editing or reproduction by teachers and students in class projects. Some have captioning, but captioning can be added to any before use. For more information visit:
www.unitedstreaming.com/
index.cfm

The Multimedia Project offers a free guide designed for both students and teachers to use as they explore the world of video. There are advice sheets, activities, and glossaries.
http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/
TechHelp/VideoHelp/
VideoGuide.html

How Accessible is the Technology at Your School?

In today's schools, students regularly use technology for learning such as software and internet research, communication via e-mail or electronic chats, and productivity tools to complete assignments, such as multimedia presentations. Many schools are learning about accessibility and trying to address equitable access to technology for student with disabilities.

There are several self-assessment tools to allow leaders to gauge their progress in incorporating assistive and instructional technologies.

One such tool was designed by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). CoSN provides K-12 technology leaders resources and tools to use technology strategically to ultimately improve teaching and learning. CoSN's self-assessment tool is available on-line and registered users receive advice, information, and resources, based on their responses to the questions, as to how their school districts can better use accessible technologies in the education of their students. The tool is free for use by the public, and is available online at:
www.accessibletech4all.org/self_assessment

The tool assesses six critical factors:

• Vision
• Communication and Collaboration
• Funding
• Professional Development and Awareness
• Infrastructure
• Instruction and Assessment

The National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT) at the University of Washington serves to increase the access of individuals with disabilities to information technology in educational institutions at all academic levels nationwide.

AccessIT also produces a checklist to assist schools in making the educational environment more accessible to students and employees with disabilities. The checklist is on-line and the results can be saved to manage an educational entity's IT accessibility goals and progress. The tool is free for use by the public, and is available online at:
www.washington.edu/accessit/it-checklist.

The tool helps schools evaluate the following areas of accessibility:

• Physical environment
• Information Technology, (ie computers, multimedia, websites)
• Telecommunication and self contained products (ie fax machines)
• Information, Policies and procedures
• Support and Training
• Assistive Technology and Accommodations

These free tools are a great way for schools to begin and further their accessibility goals.

Adding Captioning to Your Video Clips

In previous issues of the K-12 Bulletin, we have discussed the benefits of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to teach all students including those with disabilities.

One UDL strategy that is quite effective is using video clips in classroom instruction. They can improve attention, appeal to students with different learning styles, and help get a point across quickly and effectively. Now, advances in technology are making it easier than ever for educators to incorporate digital images into their instruction.

The benefits of using video clips, either created or download from the Internet is they give educators more control over the content and delivery of a presentation. For example, a teacher can show a five-minute clip to introduce a lesson, capture students' attention, or drive home a point.

However, it is important to either use video that is captioned if obtaining it elsewhere or to caption the video yourself. Captions are text versions of the spoken word. Captions allow someone who can not hear the audio to have equal access to the content, but they also benefit those who may not be fluent in the language or for other reasons having the text available enhances the learning.

A common technique for short video clips is to add the caption text directly to the video itself. Captioning can be completed quite easily by using Windows Movie Maker (free) or iMovie for the Macintosh (also free) by adding title tracks formatted as subtitles. For a step by step tutorial how to add title tracks visit www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2 for Windows or www.atomiclearning.com/imovie3x for Macintosh.

If you don't use these technologies it is still possible to caption the video for your classroom, but it requires a little more technical savvy. The other primary multimedia technologies are Apple's Quicktime, RealNetwork's RealPlayer, and Macromedia Flash. Each media player handles captions differently.

Below are some common technologies and terms that apply to captioning within the various media players.

• Quicktime uses a Text Track file to store the caption text and synchronization (timing) information.
• RealPlayer uses a RealText file to store the captions text and synchronization (timing) information.
• MAGpie was developed by the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), MAGpie is a free tool for creating caption files that can be utilized by media players.

For more information on captioning visit www.webaim.org. Their website contains free tools to download and tutorials to caption using MAGpie and Quicktime.