IT

In 1998, the South Carolina Department of Education released a new state educational technology plan. This five-year plan, which was scheduled for review and expansion in 2003, contained goals and benchmarks for implementing technology access to all South Carolina schools. In preparation for the 2003 review, the Department of Education worked with the SouthEast Initiatives Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIR*TEC) to devise a five-year plan to direct South Carolina's strategic technology development from 2003 to 2008.

The Bellingham Public School District (BSD) in Bellingham, Washington has taken many positive steps toward improving the accessibility of its information technology infrastructure. For many years, Bellingham has valued "equal access for the learning community", and has openly stated this as part of its vision regarding the role of technology in facilitating teaching and learning. However, prior to 2004 the goal of equal access had not specifically been articulated as including students, employees, and parents with disabilities.

Increasing numbers of postsecondary institutions are exploring ways to promote the procurement, development and use of accessible informative technology (IT) on campus. Most efforts have focused on the creation of policies and guidelines for web accessibility. One promising practice that has been implemented by the University of Washington (UW) is to give an IT accessibility award as part of an annual collection of campus-wide awards on outstanding efforts in the development and use of IT to support academics and administration.

How to promote universal design of IT.

Policies and procedures can be developed to assure that electronic and information technology procured and used in schools is accessible to all employees and students, including individuals with disabilities and their family members. How can an organization begin this process? Considerations for K-12 (preschool through high school) and postsecondary educational entities should include the following:

When a college or university addresses the accessibility of its information technology (IT), one of the challenges it faces is elevating the issue beyond the focus of disability-related special interests and into the realm of mainstream institutional policy. Missouri State University has risen to this challenge and has built universal access solidly into the university's website policy.

The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a standard template developed by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) in partnership with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). Information and communication technology vendors can fill out a VPAT to document the extent to which their products comply with accessibility standards.

Section 508 addresses the obligations of Federal agencies. However, state governments or individual institutions of higher education may have adopted some or all of the §508 standards or other standards such as those published by the World Wide Web Consortium. To determine whether your specific institution must comply with §508 or other accessibility standards, we suggest that individuals check to see if there is a policy statement/letter from your higher education administration or your state board of education, and/or ask your attorney

While many universities in the United States are still struggling to develop accessibility policies for websites and distance learning courses, the University of Minnesota took a broader view by developing an Accessibility of Information Technology policy that includes hardware and software in addition to websites. The policy was developed as part of efforts to promote equal access to information, technologies, and services offered by the university to students, staff and visitors.

Computers, multimedia, software, electronic communication, the web, and other information technologies are common in educational institutions today. The ability to access and use this technology has become essential to full participation of students in academic and other school-related activities. For most educational institutions, accessibility is commonly addressed as an afterthought and on an individual basis, often making it difficult, time-consuming, and costly to provide adequate access.