Open Educational Resources (OERs) are often praised for being more accessible than standard textbooks. In this context, accessibility often refers to low or no costs, or to how students can obtain the resource just by clicking a link. But accessibility also has another meaning: can disabled people access the resource? And in this sense, OERs are no better than the competition. According to UDL on Campus, a 2011 survey of OER textbooks found that nearly half the web-based textbooks (42%) had significant accessibility problems. And of the PDF textbooks, none were accessible to disabled users. This is a tremendous concern.
The cost of commercial textbooks can be a roadblock to student learning, but open textbooks offer high quality alternatives to instructors. According to US Public Interest Research Group, upwards of 65% of students decide against buying a textbook because of cost. Librarians at Northwestern have identified open and free textbook options relevant to courses taught within SPS. In this webinar, Northwestern librarians Chris Diaz and Lauren McKeen discussed the state of textbook costs and shared how open educational resources can provide alternatives to commercial textbook options. Participants learned about high-quality open textbook resources, heard examples of open textbook use in
This summer, AccessibleNU hosted their second UDL Workshop series. A cohort of faculty and academic staff, including Learning Designer and IDS instructor David Noffs and Senior Content Specialist Christine Scherer, learned about universal design for learning and best practices to design and teach courses that are welcoming and accessible for all students. The workshop series was packed with information and resources. Here are five of our top takeaways, plus tips on how to start incorporating UDL into your class! Takeaway #: For some, learning is not as easy as it looks. One of the biggest challenges faced by disabled and
Gamification is heard a lot in education, but some are still not sure what it means. In this webinar, learning designer Jacob Guerra-Martinez outlined the basics of gamification, focusing on the difference between using game concepts in a course as opposed to game play. It will go over the advantages of using game concepts, and how they can be easily implemented into an online course. Watch a recording on Panopto, or via the embedded video below.
When you develop an online course with the Distance Learning department, we have the Quality Matters (QM) framework in the backs of our minds. In this webinar, senior learning designer Krissy Wilson briefly reviewed what QM is and talked through five frequently missed standards. She discussed the ways we are already meeting (or could meet) these standards in our classes, and shared ways that we have met these standards in the past. Watch a recording on Panopto, or via the embedded video below.