Overview
Join this session to gain insight on easy-to-implement techniques that can help the busy educator vet apps for accessibility quickly to decide which ones should be loved (and kept) and which ones should be... listed (as in passed on)! While it is important to ensure apps meet accessibility requirements, we recognize that educators and practitioners have many demands already placed on them. Our goal for this session is to demystify vetting for accessibility. That way, we can direct our limited resources to those apps that will better meet the needs of all of our learners.
Learning Objectives
- Define one or more ways for an educational app to be accessible.
- List one or more ways to perform a simple test of keyboard (or switch) accessibility to identify any significant barriers on an educator selected app that might keep groups of learners from using the app for learning.
- Describe two built-in accessibility features on a mobile device to quickly test how well an educational app meets basic accessibility requirements before it can be considered for use with learners.
Primary & Secondary Strands
Education & Learning: Early Intervention -12/Higher Education; Mainstream & Web Accessible Technologies
Target Audience
- Accessibility Professional
- AT Specialists
- Caregivers
- Communication Specialist
- Consumers/Individuals with Disabilities
- Consultants/Trainers
- Curriculum and Instruction
- Disability Services
- Educators
- Faculty/Instructors - Higher Education
- Family Members
- Instructional Technologist
- Media Specialist
- Occupational Therapists
- Paraprofessionals
- Physical Therapists
- Rehab Therapists
- Speech-Language Pathologists
- Special Education Educators
- Teachers of the Visually Impaired
- Visual Impairment Specialists
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Experience Level
Introductory; Intermediate
Primary Life Cycle Addressed
All
Session Delivery Format
In-person presentation with live-stream
Course Schedule
This course was given at the ATIA 2023 Virtual Event on Thursday, February 2 from 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM (EST)
Continuing Education Credits
For Satisfactory Completion and Continuing Education information, please visit: ATIA Learning Center CEUs
This course is offered for the following CE Provider Credits:
ACVREP; AOTA; CRC; IACET
For: 0.10 CEU Units or 1.0 CEU Hours.
End date of current CRC CEUs offering: March 6, 2025
Please refer to the CRC AT in Education & Higher Education Series (2024-2025) page for further information on how to submit your CRC CEUs for this course to CRCC.
Speaker/s:
Christine Fox, MS
CAST, Project Director
Biography
Christine Fox, MS, Senior Technical Assistance Specialist, CAST, has been Project Director of CAST's CITES project since the start of 2022. Prior to joining CAST, Christine was the Senior Director of External Relations for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) where she was responsible for corporate partnerships, professional advancement programs, and supported federal advocacy efforts regarding digital equity and cybersecurity. Prior to her role at CoSN, she served as the Deputy Executive Director, for the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) where she collaborated with the Executive Director in charting the strategic direction of the organization and facilitated the members professional learning opportunities including two annual, national conferences, an online community of practice, committees and monthly webinars. Her work also included the facilitation of working groups to support the previous two National Educational Technology Plans. In addition, she managed product development from conception to publication including Navigating the Digital Shift reports 2015-2019, the Broadband Imperative Report Series, and Guide to Quality Instructional Materials.
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Christine Fox is a salaried employee of CAST, Inc.
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: No
Luis Perez
National AEM Center for Learning, Technical Assistance Specialist
Biography
Luis Perez is a technical assistance specialist at CAST. He holds a doctorate in special education and a master's degree in instructional technology from the University of South Florida. Luis was recognized with an International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Making It Happen! Award in 2020. Other recognitions include Apple Distinguished Educator (2009) and Google Certified Innovator (2014). Luis has published three books on accessibility, mobile learning and UDL: Mobile Learning for All (Corwin Press), Dive into UDL (ISTE) and Learning on the Go (CAST Publishing). He currently serves as an Education and Learning strand advisor for the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA).
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Luis Perez is a salaried employee of CAST, Inc. He also receives royalty for publications from CAST Publishing and the International Society for Technology in Education as the author of Learning on the Go and Dive into UDL, respectively.
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: No