JISC TechDis

• JISC Techdis is the leading UK advisory service on accessibility and inclusion.

• JISC Techdis is one of eight complementary, advisory services co-ordinated by JISC Advance, created to provide inspiration and advice to support the innovative use of technology within the education, business and community sectors.

• JISC Advance is a not-for-profit company financed by grants from the UK funding councils for further and higher education.

JISC TechDis

• JISC Techdis provides expert advice, guidance and support for policy makers, senior management, front line and specialist staff;

• We set measurable standards for the service, ensuring it is based upon robust research, evidence based practice and provides value for money;

• The approach is supported through the use of exemplars which demonstrate effective tools and techniques and the application of technology within both education and business practices.

The need for accessibility

• There are around 11 million disabled people in the UK.1

• There are nearly 200,000 students in HE who have declared a disability. 2

Facts and figures 2

• 24% of working age disabled people do not hold any formal qualifications, compared to 10% of working age non-disabled people.3

• There are some 10 million children in the UK school system. On average more than one child in each class — 400,000 in the UK — is severely dyslexic.4

Facts and figures 3

• There are estimated to be 2.5 million people in the UK with speech, language and communication needs.5

• 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year.6

• By 2031, it is estimated that there will be 14.5 million people with hearing loss in the UK. 7

Facts and Figures 4

• Almost two million people in the UK are living with sight loss. That's approximately one in thirty.8

• As many as 75% of people with learning disabilities are estimated to have visual impairments - either refractive error or blind or partially sighted.9

• Mobility impairments are the second most common type of disability among students enrolled at post-secondary educational institutions.10

Accessibility Maturity Model Background• JISC TechDis research between 2007-2009 explored the extent to

which accessibility and inclusion principles permeated throughout education institutions;

• Research indicated that most institutions were comfortable with accessibility in traditional „learner support‟ areas, but struggled to embed it in broader institutional policies (marketing, libraries, networks etc);

• The Accessibility Maturity Model describes the different institutional approaches to accessibility derived from the research.

Accessibility Maturity Model

A Decade of ProgressYear Ways JISC TechDis supports sector Stages of E-Maturity

1999 -2001 DISinHE – project focusing on exploiting IT for everyone – research outputs;

Luck

2002-2004 TechDis – accessibility project becomes a service with wider remit; Accessible Curricula; Access All Areas; workshops in York;

Tokenism

2004-2005 JISC TechDis – new funding, new remit; new publications; staff packs; workshops round the country;

Specialism

2006-2010 Accessibility for mainstream; Senior management briefings; HEAT; KickStart; Innovation; in-Folio; Go Mobile; Xerte; Free and portable apps;

Standards

2007-2012 Accessibility Maturity Model, OASES, FOSS; Publishers and alternative formats; E-books

Ownership

2010 - Onwards Toolbox; The Voice; SBRI; OER; Digital Literacy; Assessment; European Engagement; Strategic agenda

Partnership

BIS Partnership

• Three projects for the benefit of disabled and disadvantaged learners:• TechDis Voices.• TechDis Toolbox.• Small Business

Research Initiative (SBRI).

TechDis VoicesWhat is text-to-speech?

TechDis VoicesWhat’s the big issue?

or

TechDis VoicesWhat happened?

Open, competitive tender.

Voice artists x12

Jess / Jack

User feedback

TechDis VoicesWho will benefit?• People who prefer to listen.• People who prefer to multitask.• People with better oral than literacy

skills.• People who like making use of dead-

time eg travelling, queuing etc.• People who don’t carry around files

but do carry around phones.• People with print impairments.• Tutors who want to give more options

to learners.

Listen to them.

TechDis VoicesHow do I get started?

o Make sure you are eligible (post 16 learning provider in England delivering publicly funded courses);

o Go to www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/voices;

o Follow the instructions and links.

TechDis Toolboxwww.jisctechdis.ac.uk/tbx

TechDis Toolbox

• Aimed directly at end users – learners.

• A collection of resources which give useful hints and tips on technologies that can help individuals work quicker, slicker and smarter.

TechDis Toolbox

• Developed by learners for learners.

• Bite-sized videos, short guides, and animations.

• Small bits of just-in-time information that can be easily absorbed.

The Next Decade…..Accessibility in a changing provider and economic landscape:-

• More providers; • More HE in FE;• Changing partners;• Changing priorities;

The Next Decade…..1999 - The purpose of the Disability Information System in Higher Education or DISinHE was to facilitate the exploitation of computing and information technology for everyone in the higher education sector.... “Our philosophy is to see that accessibility is embedded in the sector.”

2020 – All providers to have reached the Partnership Stage of Accessibility Maturity – then accessibility may truly be said to be embedded in the sector.

The OASES Tool

The OASES tool is designed to move the institutions towards the right hand side of the model by empowering key stakeholders who undertake the survey to recognise their role in embedding accessibility. This helps support disabled students, increases quality and flexibility of provision and reduces the risk of litigation.

The OASES Tool

• Can be applied to a range of roles within institution;

• Can be used in a variety of ways eg, group, individual;

http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/techdis/userneeds/auditing/onlineassessmentservices

Contact

JISC Techdis c/o The Higher Education Academy BuildingInnovation WayYork Science ParkYork YO10 5BR

Tel: 01904 717580.Email: helpdesk@techdis.ac.uk.Web: www.jisctechdis.ac.uk.

References1 http://www.efd.org.uk/disability/disability-facts 2http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/migratedd/publications/d/dius_rr_09_06.pdf 3 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1654 4http://www.dyslexic.com/articlecontent.asp?CAT=Dyslexia%20Information&slug=103&title=Facts%20about%20Dyslexia 5 http://www.communicationsforum.org.uk 6 http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/mental-health-statistics/ 7http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/your-hearing/about-deafness-and-hearing-loss/statistics.aspx 8 http://www.rnib.org.uk/aboutus/Research/statistics/Pages/statistics.aspx 9 http://www.rnib.org.uk/aboutus/Research/statistics/Pages/statistics.aspx 10 http://www.accesselearning.net/mod1/1_07.php