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In a medium that is changing as quickly as does the world of online learning, yet-another resource book to sit on your shelf – one that might be out of date by the time it is printed and distributed – seems out of sync. Instead, DAIS has created a dynamic new resource to serve the disability services community in serving a new and burgeoning population of students with disabilities… those who are taking classes online.

From hybrid classes (those that have a traditional, seated component along with required online activities) to hybrid students (those who are taking some of their coursework through traditional classes and some online), to those students who are enrolled solely in online classes (and whom you may never meet!), higher education is embracing the potential that the internet brings to learning opportunities. Now is the time for disability services professionals to acknowledge that new delivery methods for education create new challenges to our assigned role in assuring access for students with disabilities. Virtual(ly) everything is potentially changed (pun intended!).

The DAIS online Toolkit provides resources, information, threaded discussions, implementation strategies, practical suggestions for policies and procedures, updated and expanding "to do" lists, and much more. Instead of having a single book on your desk that serves as a reference when you face new challenges, wouldn't it be nice to have all the information from that reference available at your fingertips, along with the chance to ask questions from the author and from your colleagues about implementation of what you have read? To have immediate access to the latest updates of the information before you? To have a place to ask your targeted questions of others who are struggling with the same issues you are?

It may be just as important to understand what the Accommodations in Online Learning Toolkit does not include to any significant extent. While there will be discussions of the technology used in the delivery and receipt of online classes (from discussions of the accessibility of various online course management systems to the capabilities of various assistive technology equipment in deciphering the information presented), the Toolkit will not be a place for significant discussions of online learning among "techies." Rather, the toolkit is meant for disability service providers (the same folks who review documentation for students on campus or who arrange extended time on tests every day). The Toolkit will focus on how to assure that your traditional efforts meet the needs of students facing nontraditional circumstances in this new learning environment.

The DAIS Accommodation in Online Learning Toolkit will include:

* The full text of Jane Jarrow's newly created resource on accommodations in online learning, with accompanying activities, resources, discussions;

The unique nature of the online format allows the chapters of this new publication to be broken out as separate links, focusing on unique aspects of online accommodations individually, yet linking information from one section to another. In other words, just as you might occasionally be referred to another chapter in a text for further or related information, within the toolkit there will be links provided offering direct access to supplementary information found elsewhere. The working chapter titles are:
(1) Welcome to the Virtual World of Online Learning and Accommodations
(2) Legally speaking – What Are Our Responsibilities, and Why?
(3) Technology – Helping With the Solution or Part of the Problem?
(4) Reframing Your Service Delivery System: Policies and Procedures
(5) Questions to Ask… and Turning Answers into Actions!
(6) Forging New Alliances on Campus
(7). Internal and External Resources to Get the Job Done
Other topics may be developed (or broken out from these general headings) as the available information expands.

* Expanding lists (created by contributions from disability service providers) of challenges encountered, accommodation strategies developed, and useful resources to explore

* Practical "To-do" lists for: (1) reviewing your institution's online learning management system, (2) reassessing the appropriateness of your traditional policies/procedures to online learning situations/students, (3) identifying the "players" on your campus who share both control and responsibilities for making online education truly accessible, and much more.

Access to the toolkit will be provided for a yearly subscription fee. To invite participation and introduce a unique resource and methodology to the disability services community, the introductory price for a subscription to the toolkit will be just $99 for the first year.

Isn't it time you explored your very real responsibilities to virtual learners with disabilities?

The Accommodations in Online Learning Toolkit is NOW available! It is anticipated that processing paperwork and assigning password access for subscriptions will take 2-3 weeks.
Registration Form

Click here to sign in to the Online Learning Toolkit.