ESVI-AL Cooperation Network about Accessibility in Virtual Education and Society

ESVI-AL is an open cooperation network that has produced two main free use deliverables in 2015:

• A methodological guide for the creation of accessible online courses (in English and Spanish)
• An accreditation model of the quality of accessible online courses (in Spanish)
  

METHODOLOGICAL GUIDE

The methodological guide has been published in English and in Spanish in the Books section of ESVI-AL website.

This guide establish the steps to develop accessible online courses, defining a set of processes, activities and tasks.

In the upper level are the processes. The methology defines the same 7 processes as ISO/IEC 19796-1:

• Needs Analysis (NA): The objective of the needs analysis process is to identify and describe the requirements, demands and restrictions of a virtual accessible educational project.
• Framework Analysis (FA): The objective of this process is to identify the framework and context of a virtual accessible educational project, as well as its planning.
• Conception/Design (CD): With this process it is intended to define and design the teaching elements of a virtual accessible educational project.
• Development/Production (DP): The objective of the process is to produce the teaching elements of a virtual accessible educational project, according to the design produced.
• Implementation (IM): Its objective is to install and to activate the educational resources in a virtual accessible education platform.
• Learning (LE): During this process the teaching-learning is carried out using the established educational resources.
• Evaluation/Optimization (EO): It is a transversal process, in which all the necessary activities are included to make the evaluation and quality assurance of each one of the previous processes involved in a virtual accessible educational project.
  

Two examples of application can be found as chapters 2 and 4 in the book: "Good practices and Cases of Success in the establishment and Accreditation of Accessibility and Quality Virtual Education. Application Experiences of the ESVI-AL Model and Accreditation Guide", available in the Books section of ESVI-AL website.

ACCREDITATION MODEL

The accreditaton model considers quality indicators in a hierarchical structure: Areas, Sub-areas, Standards and Indicators. Eleven indicators have been defined related with accessibility and usability:

1. Means adapted to the needs of teaching and learning are chosen
2. Standards and open technologies are used
3. It has assistive technologies
4. Markup used correctly
5. It complies with current legislation on accessibility, disability and virtual education
6. It meets accessibility standards for web content
7. Organization and uniform design that provides easy navigation
8. It is an intuitive, easy to use environment
9. The online course has navigation maps, status bars
10. The online course provides aid and support tools
11. The results of usability testing and accessibility is implemented
    

Two English examples of application of the accreditation model can be found as chapters 4 and 5 of the book: "Good practices and Cases of Success in the establishment and Accreditation of Accessibility and Quality Virtual Education. Application Experiences of the ESVI-AL Model and Accreditation Guide", available in the Books section of ESVI-AL website.