Being Strict with Content Providers
Dealing with content providers for an interactive educational web site where accessibility is paramount
Damian Sweeney
Instructional Designer, AIRport project, University of Melbourne
The Site
Interactive Resources for first year students
Created by the Equity, Language and Learning Skills Unit
Provides interactive exercises to help with transition and academic writing
Target audience is all first year students
Content caters for the needs of ESL and international students
Site Requirements
We are the 'Equity' unit!
Disability
Socio-economic status
Rural and remote students
NESB
students
Women in non-traditional areas of study
Indigenous students
We need a text-based site
Technology choices
No Flash or javascript
XHTML
Strict 1.0 and
CSS
forms driven by php
browsers need to support cookies, that's all
vim (text editor)
Content providers
Learning skills advisors
Lots of authoring experience, but little for the web
Some have teaching backgrounds, not all
All have seen and used English language sites
Benefits and pitfalls
... as perceived by content providers
More thinking required in planning an exercise
Greater demands on creativity
Encouraged
layers of learning
More clarity in materials produced
Some content and concepts are inherently inaccessible
User testing
Trial run with local and international undergraduate students
Positive responses to the content
Example exercises