Accessible Online Writing - Drafting, Feedback, & Submission

Date & Time

Thursday, March 21, 2024 - 11:20 AM PDT  

Location

Orange County 3-4  

Description

The Writing Tools collaboration between content experts, educators, accessibility experts, and software developers incorporated accessibility principles and approaches into the development from the beginning to ensure all students can utilize the tool. Writing is a fundamental skill for college students that they will rely on through their professional careers. The Writing Tools in Achieve were developed by Macmillan Learning in partnership with teachers of writing from all over the United States. These writing tools, built on leading scholars’ work on writer development, put student writers and their writing at the center of the course and personalize the writing process for each student. The first version of the software was released in 2020, and has been used in high school and higher education courses to familiarize learners with the process of drafting and developing their writing. We will look at the challenges in creating a screen reader friendly toolbar, tying notes to specific passages from multiple users, and adding accessible notes and highlights. We will also address methods used to communicate the existence and extent of accessibility features to potential users, and challenges that arise when they assume this type of software is inaccessible.

This Presentation Link is provided by the Presenter(s) and not hosted by the Center on Disabilities at CSUN. The Center on Disabilities has confirmed, as of April 18, 2024, content linked is relevant to the presentation, but has not been reviewed for accessibility nor will the Center on Disabilities attempt to remediate any accessibility issues in the linked content. Please contact the Presenter(s) with any accessibility concerns.

 

Audience

• Higher Education
• K-12 Education
• Media & Publishing

Audience Level

Beginning  

Session Summary (Abstract)

Learn about building accessible writing tools and the associated challenges. We’ll talk about challenges with highlighting and keyboard navigation, multi-user feedback, text formatting, and communicating with users about accessibility features.  

Primary Topic

Education  

Secondary Topics

• Digital Accessibility
• Evaluation & Remediation
• Product Demonstration

 

Session Type

General Track  

Presenters

• Rachel Comerford
  Macmillan Learning
• Crista Earl
  Tech for All

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