2 hrs. average time, 5 readings, 1 activity
Policies, both on a systematic and campus-level, dictate the way in which we offer online courses. And, several policies, over the years, have forced large-scale changes to the nature of distance education. For one, faculty are no longer required to issue proctored exams. In fact, faculty may choose to issue proctored or non-proctored tests within their online courses. What are other recent policy changes? And, how do these changes impact faculty teaching online courses? In this module, you'll review policies that have been put in place on both federal and college levels.
Honolulu Community College is required, by law, to provide programs and services that are accessible to all qualified participants, including those with disabilities. But what does that mean for you? What do you need to know? This essentially means that web content, including online courses, need to be more accessible for a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity and combinations of these. To simply this, web content must be: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
HCCP #5.205 illustrates policies on regular and substantive interaction. By definition, the term regular is defined is weekly interaction with students enrolled in online courses. The term substantive is defined as interaction that is academic in nature. Regular and substantive interaction stresses the responsibility of the instructor in a DE course to initiate regular contact with enrolled students to verify their participation and performance status. The use of the term "regular substantive interaction" in this context suggests that students should have frequent opportunities to ask questions and receive answers from the instructor of record. Instructors will initiate interaction with students on a regular basis to determine that they are accessing and comprehending course material and that they are participating regularly in the activities in the course. Providing students a forum to ask questions and receive answers by itself does not constitute regular and substantive interaction.
According to the ADA National Center, the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) of 1990, under Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, ensures that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. That Act states that all individual should have equal accessibility and this includes online instructional opportunities. ADA requires that all online courses be fully compliant from the very start of a course, which can be challenging. However, as instructors, it is our responsibility to develop ADA-compliant courses. Below are five (5) important areas for creating accessible courses and demonstrating due diligence:
These five (5) areas are important to developing compliant online courses. Our "Readings" section contains several documents that address accessibility strategies for online courses including how to build course material with the five (5) areas for creating accessible courses.
Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) [Google doc]
UH Systemwide Policies and Procedures Information System #5.204 (PPIS) [webpage]
HonCC Policy on Distance Education HCCP #5.205 [PDF]
ADA Compliance for Online Course Design [webpage]
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 [webpage]
