I saved a PowerPoint document as a PDF and then ran the accessibility checker. The report it generated helped me correct accessibility issues making it usable to screen reading software. Though Adobe does include a disclaimer that it may not find all the errors it gets us a lot closer to having compliant documents.

To see how it works for yourself - save a document as a PDF, then open in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9, click on the Advanced menu, and then Accessibility. I would suggest running the Full Check. Once it runs it will tell you that it has completed, click OK and then the report is generated conveniently to the side of the document so that you can make any needed changes.

For detailed instructions follow the link below:

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 Accessibility Report Instructions

Who comprises Generation NeXt? They are the majority of the students we serve. They are 26 and under, technologically savvy, positive, and diverse. They are a privileged generation with no use for information that doesn’t benefit them. They are a right now generation; they want their information right now and want to access it conveniently. Generartion NeXt members are digital natives, but many of the people that educate them are digital immigrates.

The challenge for many educators is to acquire the digital skills to engage and educate Generation NeXt. It’s necessary for DCCCD to survive and thrive.

The first question of every million dollar salesperson is, “Who is my customer?” The first question of every bestselling author is, “Who is my audience?”

For DCCCD, our customer, our audience, is Generation NeXt.

Let’s get to know them and the technology they use! Then we can determine how to best meet their educational needs.

In the chancellor’s bulletin #47, dated December 15, 2009, Dr. Wright Lassiter urged us to beware of the dangers of inertia.

Inertia – apathy, the inability to move or act, resistance to change.

Dr. Lassiter cited some of the organizations adversely affected by inertia.

The newspaper industry is in a state of massive flux because they were not concerned with delivering the news in a convenient form.  Until recently, music companies seemed to have been more committed to stamping out plastic discs than giving their customers easy access to their favorite tunes. 

Quite simply, we at DCCCD must get on the digital train or get off the track! To board the digital train, try the following links.

http://taylorprograms.com/images/Marc_Prensky_Digital_natives_1.pdf

http://taylorprograms.com/images/Marc_Prensky_Digital_natives_2.pdf

Jack Hickman is the Sales Manager of Blindness Products for Christal Vision, a company based in San Antonio Texas which specializes in selling cutting edge technology used by persons with low vision and those who are blind. Jack has utilized computers in his daily life and at work since the early eighties when technology which makes computers accessible to blind people was in the early stages of development. He has worked as a processing technician of a large hospital, owned and managed a restaurant, directed the rehabilitation department for an agency serving blind and low vision individuals, educated prospective employers about blindness and developed relationships for the potential securing of employment for clients. Jack then took his career aspirations to new heights when he began training blind and low vision persons in the use of the most modern computer technology.  He trained students throughout Texas and at a local Community College.  His students have taken their learned computer skills and obtained jobs with Private corporations and the Federal Government. These experiences led Jack to his current position at Christal Vision.  His vast knowledge and personal experience with access technology are essential to his success in his job as sales manager for Christal Vision.

J.D. Haight is an Associate District Director of Information Technology for the DCCCD. His area of responsibility includes web-facing student, financial, and educational services. He has worked in the DCCCD since 1980, starting as a student assistant. A graduate of Cedar Valley College, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of North Texas, he holds Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees in Applied Arts and Sciences, English, and Information and Library Sciences respectively. For the past 12 years he has served in IT management and leadership roles at Cedar Valley College, District Service Center, and North Lake College.

Liesl McQuillan has been adjunct faculty at Richland College for five years, teaching Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics. After working in the film business in Los Angeles for several years, Liesl decided to pursue an MALA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College, Santa Fe. After accepting an adjunct faculty position and teaching classes at Richland College, Liesl was stunned to learn that her gift and her passion were to teach students who may not have had the most traditional path to higher education. Liesl’s major areas of focus have always been actual equality and positive duty, her understanding of which were deepened when she suffered several strokes, losing her ability to navigate public spaces without a crutch. Liesl lives in Dallas with her husband, three dogs, six cats, and one excellent garden.

Marci Tamez began her life as a working person as a receptionist for a sheltered work shop in Austin, Texas in 1985. Three years later she took a position as a PBX Operator for the Austin Police department where she was able to assist emergency operators with Spanish speaking calls. She was selected as employee of the year by the Austin Police Department in 1988. In 1991, she learned COBOL at El Centro College’s Computer Programmer Training for Persons with Disabilities and programmed computers for two major companies for nine years after course completion. Since then, she has held positions as a personal banker, and an Associate Service Trader with a major brokerage firm where she obtained her NASD Series 7 and 63 securities licenses. A good friend of hers, now her manager at Christal Vision, created a class to teach assistive technology at Brookhaven College and she worked as his assistant for five semesters. In July 2004, she took a job at a help desk, answering customer requests by e-mail and taught access technology part time. She has been Christal Vision’s Product Specialist for almost 5 years and has traveled across Texas presenting access technology workshops to colleges, companies, educational service centers, independent school districts and libraries. She teaches access technology throughout Texas. She enjoys reading, playing the flute, singing, computers and the internet, meeting people, foreign languages, fragrances, positive quotes, family and friends. She has a large bell collection. She absolutely enjoys life, a precious gift from God.

Rick Renshaw is the Executive District Director of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs for the DCCCD. Rick has been with the District for six years and has been a director of financial aid for over 25 years. Rick is currently President of the Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (TASFAA), Past President of the SWASFAA the five state regional association, and past board member of NASFAA the national association. In addition, Rick serves on several advisory boards and committees for the development of state and national financial aid policy. Rick is a proud grandfather of one grand son and two granddaughters who take all of what little spare time that he has.

Venita Harris, MSW is the Project Coordinator for Mental Heath America of Greater Dallas, Operation Healthy Reunions program (OHR).  OHR provides private confidential therapy for Afghanistan and Iraqi (OEF/OIF) service members/veterans.  OHR also extends these services to OEF/OIF parents, significant others/spouses and children.  Ms. Harris provides case management, advocacy, marketing and recruitment for the OHR program. Ms. Harris works in collaboration with the Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center, area community non-profit organizations, and area colleges and universities in assisting service members, veterans and their families adapt to civilian life.  Ms. Harris is a graduate of Texas A & M Commerce and the University of North Texas and holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Social Work.  Professionally, Ms. Harris has worked with domestic violence victims, foster children, foster parents, homeless veterans and veterans who were inpatient, obtaining medical treatment at the Dallas VA Medical Center.

]]> http://www.teachinthefastlane.org/2009/09/08/september-24th-2009-accessibility-forum-speakers/feed/ http://www.teachinthefastlane.org/2009/08/04/universal-design-and-accessibility-forum-making-every-class-accessible-for-every-student/ http://www.teachinthefastlane.org/2009/08/04/universal-design-and-accessibility-forum-making-every-class-accessible-for-every-student/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:21:05 +0000 david http://www.teachinthefastlane.org/2009/08/04/universal-design-and-accessibility-forum-making-every-class-accessible-for-every-student/ Inclusion is a key element in student retention and success. Come discover technology and techniques to augment student success.

Thursday, September 24th 8:30 - 3:30
The LeCroy Center (9596 Walnut Street, Dallas)

Schedule:
08:30 - 09:00
Check In / Coffee and Snacks
09:00 -09:50
Assistive technology with examples of website and online course design.
10:00 - 10:50
Dragon Naturally Speaking, Assistive Switches, EyeGaze systems used to navigate the web.
11:00 - 12:00 Quality Matters Section 8 on Accessibility for online course design.
12:00 - 1:30
LUNCH - DCCCD District Policy with a focus on TAC 206 compliance, State Laws on accessibility.
1:30 - 3:00
Panel and Roundtable discussion on how to accommodate returning veterans.
3:00 - 3:30
Q and A time, Wrap-up and door prizes

Participants may register for individual sessions or for the entire Forum .

Please email your R.S.V.P. to David Wood at drwood@dcccd.edu .
(Include sessions you would like to attend or just reply with “I would like to attend the entire forum”)

Credit for professional development will be awarded to those from participating colleges.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the age of the Internet, we educate people much as we did during the Industrial Revolution. We educate them for a world that no longer exists, instilling values antithetical to those of a free, 21st century democracy. Worst of all, too many schools extinguish the very creativity and joy they ought to nourish. In Turning Learning Right Side Up, legendary systems scientist Dr. Russell Ackoff and “in-the-trenches” education innovator Daniel Greenberg offer a radically new path forward. In the year’s most provocative conversation, they take on the very deepest questions about education: What should be its true purpose? Do classrooms make sense anymore? What should individuals contribute to their own education? Are yesterday’s distinctions between subjects–and between the arts and sciences–still meaningful? What would the ideal lifelong education look like–at K-12, in universities, in the workplace, and beyond? Ackoff and Greenberg each have experience making radical change work–successfully. Here, they combine deep idealism with a relentless focus on the real world–and arrive at solutions that are profoundly sensible and powerfully compelling.Why today’s educational system fails–and why superficial reforms won’t help The questions politicians won’t ask–and the answers they don’t want to hear How do people learn–and why do they choose to learn? Creating schools that reflect what we know about learning In a 21st century democracy, what values must we nurture? …and why aren’t we nurturing them? How can tomorrow’s “ideal schools” be operated and funded? A plan that cuts through political gridlock and can actually work Beyond schools: building a society of passionate lifelong learners Learning from childhood to college to workplace through retirement Reinventing Learning for the Next Century: How We Can, and Why We Must An extraordinary conversation about the very deepest questions…Today, what is education for? Where should it take place? How? When? What is the ideal school? The ideal lifelong learning experience? Who should be in charge of education? And who pays for it all? Over the past 150 years, virtually everything has changed…except education. Schools were designed as factories, to train factory workers. The factories are gone, but the schools haven’t changed.It’s time for us to return to first principles…or formulate new first principles…and reimagine education from the ground up. In Turning Learning Right Side Up, two of this generation’s most provocative thinkers–and practical doers–have done just that. They draw on the latest scientific research, the most enduring human wisdom, and their unique lifelong personal experiences transforming institutions that resist change. And, along the way, they offer a powerful blueprint for a thriving society of passionate lifelong learners.

From the Back Cover

In the age of the Internet, we educate people much as we did during the Industrial Revolution. We educate them for a world that no longer exists, instilling values antithetical to those of a free, 21st century democracy. Worst of all, too many schools extinguish the very creativity and joy they ought to nourish.

In Turning Learning Right Side Up, legendary systems scientist Dr. Russell Ackoff and “in-the-trenches” education innovator Daniel Greenberg offer a radically new path forward. In the year’s most provocative conversation, they take on the very deepest questions about education: What should be its true purpose? Do classrooms make sense anymore? What should individuals contribute to their own education? Are yesterday’s distinctions between subjects–and between the arts and sciences–still meaningful? What would the ideal lifelong education look like–at K-12, in universities, in the workplace, and beyond?

Ackoff and Greenberg each have experience making radical change work–successfully. Here, they combine deep idealism with a relentless focus on the real world–and arrive at solutions that are profoundly sensible and powerfully compelling.

Why today’s educational system fails–and why superficial reforms won’t help
The questions politicians won’t ask–and the answers they don’t want to hear

How do people learn–and why do they choose to learn?
Creating schools that reflect what we know about learning

In a 21st century democracy, what values must we nurture?
…and why aren’t we nurturing them?

How can tomorrow’s “ideal schools” be operated and funded?
A plan that cuts through political gridlock and can actually work

Beyond schools: building a society of passionate lifelong learners
Learning from childhood to college to workplace through retirement

Order your copy here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/d3lmdd