Learning Management Systems

(LMS) and Accessibility

John E. Brandt

Goals
1.
2.

3.

Familiarize Learning Management

Systems (vocabulary & concept)
Familiarize Moodle
Focus on caveats regarding accessibility

Naming of parts
Distance Learning
Asynchronous Learning
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Open Source Software (OSS)
Usability
Accessibility

Commercial v. Open Source

Commercial Works out of the box
Commercial Customer Support
OSS Free!
OSS Larger development group
OSS Usability & accessibility better

Commercial LMS
WebCT BlackBoard
ANGEL
Desire2Learn
eCollege (Pearson)
Its learning

Open Source LMS

ATutor
Claroline/Dokeos
Moodle
Sakai
and many others

Moodle, why I like it . . .

One of the oldest
Most commonly used (33 million users)
Very accessible better than Bb
Very popular
When compared to commercial products
no difference in quality.
Research comparison best results

Commercial products, why I dont

like them
Less accessible admin
Not really receptive to making changes
Is this really worth the money?

Tell us about Moodle: what you

need to start
Web Server/host
Techie/admin
Registrar
Course developer
Teacher(s)/mentors
Students/learners

Steps to set up

Install Moodle
LAMP

Linux
Apache
MySQL
PHP

Steps to set up contd

Set Up Moodle

Theme
General layout
Accounts/Users
Payment/registration system

Levels of Authenticated Users

Admin (Superuser)
Course developer, registrar (Creator)
Teacher
Student

Course Creator duties

Sets up skeleton
Adds users
Assigns roles

Types of Moodle courses

Weekly
Topics
Social
Project Course Format (new)
SCORM (Sharable Content Object
Reference Model)

Teacher duties
Creates course content
Creates grading system optional
Supports/facilitates student learning
Grades students outputs

Accessibility, Standards and Laws

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Section 508 Vocational Rehabilitation
Act & ADA
University Standards
State & Local Policy

Types of Disabilities and Assistive

Technology
Blind & Visually Impaired Screen
Readers, Braille Readers and Magnification
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Captioning
and Sign Language
Mobility Disorders no mouse, no
keyboard
Cognitive Disorders (e.g., LD, MR, BI,
ADD) no AT?

Good News/Bad News

Moodle 1.9.x meets accessibility and valid
code standards
Any user can make your Moodle
inaccessible or invalid.

Three Basic Areas of Concern

Uploaded Rich Media
Format documents (and
Rich Internet Apps)
Uploaded Documents
Moodle pages HTML
editor

Rich Media Formats

Any files containing content that exhibits

dynamic motion or contains audio/visual
material
oFlash, Windows Media, QuickTime, MP3
oGames
oInteractive apps (RIA)

Audio
Need to caption content when there are
people speaking
Can use a transcript of spoken content.

Video
No universal standard (Codec)
You will likely use a 3rd-party video
application/player plugin prison
Windows Media, QuickTime, RealPlayer,
Flash
Embed video with player
Flash most popular.
HTML5?

Rich Internet Applications

Make sure they meet ARIA standards

User controls
No surprises
Test with standard AT devices

Things to watch
Make sure your documents are accessible
Make sure your teachers and creators
are familiar with the needs of learners
with disabilities.
Use Universal Design for Learning
Rich Media Format files need
captions/transcripts

General Tips
Build a Users Manual
Provide in-service and training
Develop policies
Check/test content regularly

Final Considerations
Moodle is a very powerful tool with new
things being developed all the time.
Have fun, but make sure you consider all
users when building your content

Thank You
www.mainecite.org/awd
John E. Brandt jeb@jebswebs.com
www.jebswebs.com