Abstract accepted: Moodlemoot Ireland 2013 – E-learning team blog Our abstract for Moodle Moot Dublin has been accepted. Woohoo! Here is the abstract we submitted. Interface design for rich, beautiful and engaging Moodle courses Most of our Moodle courses used to look to like messy file repositories. We relatively quickly realised our tutors weren’t doing this by chance. In order to counter this we made a concerted effort to encourage tutors to create rich, beautiful and engaging learning resources for their students. This, combined with a focused communications strategy, has made a considerable difference to the learning sites our students are using today.
JAN Profile: Tom In Tom Wlodkowski’s office, there is a poster that says “If a man who is blind can get to the top of Mount Everest, then he should be able to get anywhere he wants on AOL.” As AOL’s Director of Accessibility, it’s Tom’s job to make sure this is the case. In fact, it’s Tom’s job to ensure AOL’s products and services are accessible to not only customers who are blind, but also those with other disabilities, including auditory, cognitive and mobility impairments. As part of his responsibilities, he works closely with AOL’s engineers and product developers and helps educate company employees about the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities in the Internet age. He also collaborates with disability and business organizations to increase understanding and awareness of accessibility issues. By its very nature, Tom’s job necessitates using different types of assistive technology.
Want to see some cool course design? Checkout the Moodle at University of Sussex Welcome to Moodlenews.com A resource site for all Moodle-related news, tutorials, video, course content information and original resources. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe: RSS feed| Weekly Email Newsletter | Moodle News Twitter Thanks for visiting! From the great looking theme to the awesome course format (with linear organization and pages) the University of Sussex Moodle is one of my favorites around. And you can get a look by just checking out the site with guest access. Login as guest at I really like the feature which by clicking on one of the topic titles (in the main left hand navigation) only that topic is displayed (no scroll of death) and linear controls for next/previous are displayed. For more about the Sussex Moodle and all the cool things that Stuart Lamour and his colleagues are doing checkout
Electronic & Information Technology (Section 508) Homepage The Board’s Section 508 Standards apply to electronic and information technology procured by the federal government, including computer hardware and software, websites, phone systems, and copiers. They were issued under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which requires access for both members of the public and federal employees to such technologies when developed, procured, maintained, or used by federal agencies. The Section 508 Standards are part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and address access for people with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. They contain technical criteria specific to various types of technologies and performance-based requirements which focus on functional capabilities of covered products. The Board is updating the section 508 standards, which were issued in 2000, jointly with its Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines.
Leeds City College Moodle SSB BART Group - IT and Web Accessibility Solutions - ADA, WCAG, Section 504, and Section 508 Compliance Experts Interesting usability research by the Sussex eLearning Team Welcome to Moodlenews.com A resource site for all Moodle-related news, tutorials, video, course content information and original resources. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe: RSS feed| Weekly Email Newsletter | Moodle News Twitter Thanks for visiting! The Sussex eLearning Team recently shared some of their findings from a user survey that highlights the impetus for some of the usability changes they’ve made to the site and why. A lot of the changes stemmed directly from the survey highlighted in their presentation and other survey’s like it, including the addition to easy to add topics to the main page and a few other stuff (some of which is now available as features in Moodlerooms’ Joule and hopefully in Moodle core soon. The full presentation slides are worth a read, maybe they’ll inspire some usability improvements of your own site. My favorite slide comes early and highlights the complicated nature of 1.9′s file upload interface: 9 clicks.
Triple amputee on a trike » Cyclelicious Travis Prebble “puts people to pedals” by adaptings bikes and trikes for people with physical limitations. He writes about a Catrike recumbent that was modified for a 12 year old missing both legs and a his right hand. Using prosthetics, the rider will be able to strap into clipped pedals. This will be a step up from the method used with his last bike: duct taping himself to the pedals. He specifically requested that calf supports not be used as they gave away his disability from a distance. Travis writes about equipping the trike so this pre-teen with a single hand can have mobility on the trike. More at BikeAble: Trike for Triple Amputee. Photo by Travis Prebble under CC BY NC ND license. P.S. Rapport in distance education | Murphy Elizabeth Murphy and María A. Rodríguez-Manzanares Memorial University, Canada Abstract Rapport has been recognized as important in learning in general but little is known about its importance in distance education (DE). The study we report on in this paper provides insights into the importance of rapport in DE as well as challenges to and indicators of rapport-building in DE. Keywords: Distance education; online learning; rapport; teachers’ beliefs; high school education Rapport in Distance Education Benson, Cohen, and Buskist (2005) found that in classes where teachers established rapport students were more likely to attend class, pay attention, and enjoy the subject matter. Rapport, defined as harmonious interactions between teachers and students (Bernieri, 1998) or a relationship with mutual understanding and satisfactory communication (Carey, Hamilton, & Shanklin, 1986), is identified as important in the literature. Rapport in the Literature Indicators of Rapport Method Participants
ABOUT « The Campaign For Disability Employment About the Campaign for Disability Employment The Campaign for Disability Employment is a collaborative effort between several disability and business organizations that seek to promote positive employment outcomes for people with disabilities by encouraging employers and others to recognize the value and talent they bring to the workplace as well as the dividend to be realized by fully including people with disabilities at work. People with disabilities can and do make important contributions to America’s businesses every day. By implementing good workplace practices, like maintaining a flexible and inclusive work environment, businesses can capitalize on the talents of qualified people with disabilities, benefitting everyone. The Campaign is a collaborative effort between several organizations that are working to raise awareness and change attitudes about disability and employment, including: The Campaign is funded by the U.S. The What Can You Do?
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