Managing evolution and change in web-based teaching and learning environments

The state of the art in information technology and educational technologies is evolving constantly. Courses taught are subject to constant change from organisational and subject-specific reasons. Evolution and change affect educators and developers of computer-based teaching and learning environments alike – both often being unprepared to respond effectively. A large number of educational systems are designed and developed without change and evolution in mind. We will present our approach to the design and maintenance of these systems in rapidly evolving environments and illustrate the consequences of evolution and change for these systems and for the educators and developers responsible for their implementation and deployment. We discuss various factors of change, illustrated by a Web-based virtual course, with the objective of raising an awareness of this issue of evolution and change in computer-supported teaching and learning environments. This discussion leads towards the establishment of a development and management framework for teaching and learning systems

Making Federal Information Technology Accessible: A Case Study in Social Policy and Procurement

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all information technology bought by the federal government be accessible to persons with disabilities. That goal, simple to state, has been enormously complex to implement. In imposing a social initiative on the procurement system, Congress has left a huge number of issues unresolved - including, most critically, who is to pay for the initiative. This article reviews the issues raised by Section 508, and traces common patterns that emerge when, as with Section 508, social goals are implemented through a large, complex, and deeply entrenched procurement system. The article traces the impact of established constituencies, inside and outside the government, both in slowing Section 508\u27s progress and in filling gaps left by Congress and the regulators. The article suggests that, as the U.S. procurement system grows ever more streamlined in the coming years, the patterns and pitfalls of Section 508 - and of other social initiatives - will become an increasingly prominent part of the procurement system

Making Federal Information Technology Accessible: A Case Study in Social Policy and Procurement

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that all information technology bought by the federal government be accessible to persons with disabilities. That goal, simple to state, has been enormously complex to implement. In imposing a social initiative on the procurement system, Congress has left a huge number of issues unresolved - including, most critically, who is to pay for the initiative. This article reviews the issues raised by Section 508, and traces common patterns that emerge when, as with Section 508, social goals are implemented through a large, complex, and deeply entrenched procurement system. The article traces the impact of established constituencies, inside and outside the government, both in slowing Section 508\u27s progress and in filling gaps left by Congress and the regulators. The article suggests that, as the U.S. procurement system grows ever more streamlined in the coming years, the patterns and pitfalls of Section 508 - and of other social initiatives - will become an increasingly prominent part of the procurement system

A learning design toolkit to create pedagogically effective learning activities

Despite the plethora of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools and resources available, practitioners are still not making effective use of e-learning to enrich the student experience. This article describes a learning design toolkit which guides practitioners through the process of creating pedagogically informed learning activities which make effective use of appropriate tools and resources. This work is part of a digital libraries project in which teaching staff at two universities in the UK and two in the USA are collaborating to share e-learning resources in the subject domains of Physical, Environmental and Human Geography. Finding, or creating, suitable e-learning resources and embedding them in well designed learning activities can be both challenging and time consuming. Sharing and adapting effective designs and solutions is both a stimulant and a time saver. This article describes the background to the specification of a learning activities design toolkit to support teachers as they create or adapt e-learning activities. This uses a model of pedagogical approaches as a basis for developing effective learning design plans and illustrates its use. The authors share their definition of a learning activity and taxonomies for the constituent elements. Real examples are discussed to illustrate their approach

Improved Web Accessibility Evaluation of Open Learning Contents for Individuals with Learning Disabilities

Web content should be accessible to normal and disabled communities on electronic devices. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has created standard guidelines called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Mobile Web Best Practice (MWBP) is also proposed by WAI for accessibility of websites on desktop computers and mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, iPads, iPhones, and iPods. Educational Resources that provide free licensed learning content are used to test the WCAG. The disabled community also has equal rights to gain access to these learning materials through electronic devices. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate these selected open educational learning materials for individuals with only learning disabilities. This research provides several recommendations to improve the accessibility level of the Learning Management Systems. Future research includes developing a more accessible learning management system with minimized or no accessibility errors. Disability includes physical impairments, mental disorders, lack of cognition, learning and emotional disability. Some individuals have multiple disorders. Learning disabilities are one of them. People have difficulty learning because of an unknown factor or low intelligence quotient (IQ).Comment: 15 page