Accessibility and Learning Technology

Learning technologies offer excellent opportunities to make Higher and Further Education fully inclusive for people with many kinds of disabilities, as well as providing a better learning environment for all students. The drive to deliver ever-increasing quantities of visually attractive learning, support and service material, however, can lead to designs which embody insurmountable barriers to access by a range of people with disabilities. Issues of accessibility to disabled users are beginning to be addressed seriously, but there is a constant need to ensure empirically that materials, which are provided, are actually accessible.

Webb, Ian. TechDis (1999). Academic>Accessibility>Technology

Arrangements of Examination and Awarding Bodies for Disabled Candidates, Including Applications of Technology

This report is the result of research conducted into the arrangements that can be implemented by awarding bodies on behalf of disabled candidates in the UK. Findings are based on the procedures and advice made available by a selection of awarding bodies. Applications of technology in this area are of particular importance to the work of TechDis in enhancing access to learning, teaching and assessment.

Harrison, Sue. TechDis (2003). Academic>Accessibility>Technology

(Deeply) Resisting Arrest: Beyond the Either/Or of Information Technology in Technical & Scientific Communication Programs  

If I choose to walk or ride a bicycle to work in the morning, will I be perceived as an anti-technology Luddite because I have resisted driving my car? Probably not. In fact, I might be seen as someone who is environmentally aware and health conscious. When it comes to information technology, however, such resistance is seen quite differently.

Johnson, Robert R. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Technology

Going Wireless at the Border  

Those who find themselves the solo technical writing faculty in their department often have to deal with infrastructural issues as well as curricular and programmatic concerns. Infrastructure involves creating learning environments conducive to building skills students need to be qualified technical communicators, and such learning environments often require access to technology.

Carnegie, Teena A.M. CPTSC Proceedings (2003). Academic>Education>Technology

Technology for Professional Writers

This course is a variation of Utah State University's twice-annual Technology and the Writer Course. The Technology and the Writer course is based on research done in the 1990s to determine which writing professions demanded the best salaries and were most likely to survive overseas outsourcing.

Hailey, David E. Utah State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Technical Writing

Technology, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication

This course offers students in various disciplines a critical view of the technologies now shaping workplace communication and our society as a whole. Using rhetorical theories of technology, we will examine the historical roots of communication technology and explore a number of economic and ethical issues spawned by the computer revolution. Students will gain a deep understanding of how technology impacts the decisions of technical communicators in an increasingly electronic workplace.

Sauer, Geoffrey. Iowa State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Rhetoric

Towards Accessible Virtual Learning Environments

With the increasing use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) in further and higher education, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) which comes into force in September 2002 has particular relevance to developers and providers of VLEs. Developers and vendors can also help to ensure that VLEs are inclusive learning media by understanding the barriers that individuals face (whether or not they use assistive technology) and creating hardware and software designed to be accessible to all users. They should also understand the importance of designing accessible VLE content in order to provide guidance for users.

Cann, Chris. TechDis (2003). Academic>Accessibility>Technology>United Kingdom

What's the Balance? Technical Communicator or Technical Communicator?  

When developing a technical communication program, program developers need to determine how technical their programs will be. In my part of the country, for example, the prevailing philosophy for many years was that you could take technical people and teach them to write easier than you could take trained communicators and teach them the needed technical information. Ads for technical communicators across the country scream for knowledge and sometimes expertise in a wide range of computer software, and usually it is not only knowledge of formatting technical documents as in Frame, or Power Point, or HTML, but also knowledge of and again sometimes expertise about the scientific and technical subjects about which they write.

Little, Sherry Burgus. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Academic>Education>Technology

Computers and Composition

Writing always has included technical components. In fact, writing itself can be considered a technology. Relatively recent developments in computers and digital media, however, have reshaped our understandings of relationships between technology and writing. This course will explore the cultural, institutional, professional, and pedagogical implications of such shifts. Our explorations will draw upon theories of technology as well discussions from the field of computers and composition.

Turnley, Melinda. DePaul University (2007). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technology

Literacy, Technology, and Society

This course will ask you to explore the ways that literacy, technology, and humanity interact. You will look at the ways that each of these entities affects the others. The course will begin with a historical look at human technological literacy, but the majority of the course will focus on present literacy and technology.

Whipple, Bob, Jr. Creighton University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Writing

A Phenomenographic Study of English Faculty's Conceptions of Information Literacy    

The purpose of this research is to identify UK English academics' conceptions of information literacy and compare those conceptions with current information literacy standards and frameworks.

Boon, Stuart, Bill Johnston and Sheila Webber. Journal of Documentation (2007). Academic>Technology>Ethnographies>United Kingdom