Teleconference Details

• Scribe: Melanie Thorton
• Revising the letter to WebCT regarding Formalization of WebCT Disability Access Interest Group with Blackboard (2nd draft)
• Update on contacting Robert dumas regarding his participation in the teleconferences and reported issues
• Report on who from UIUC is on WebCT board
• Update php to include the rating system and rephrasing questions recommended by Philip Kragnes
• Status of IMS accessibility initiative (Saroj)
• Ask BlackBoard Accessibility Mailing list about the MathML support (Hadi)

WebCT Accessibility Teleconference 02/05/2007

Attendees

• Marie Cooper
• Hadi Rangin
• Melanie Thornton
• Don Amos
• Phil Kragnes
• Saroj Primlani
• Jon Gunderson
• Kostas Yfantis

Regrets

• Lisa Fiedor

Next Teleconference

• Monday February 19, 2007
• Scribe: Marie Cooper

Minutes

Revising the letter to WebCT regarding Formalization of WebCT Disability Access Interest Group with Blackboard (2nd draft)

• Concerns were mentioned regarding how to proceed given that Robert Dumas is not responding to emails and that the BlackBoard website lists other entitities as collaborators in accessibility.
• The suggestion was made that we contact the other collaborators that are listed--WebAIM and the Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities, learn more about their collaboration with Blackboard, and discuss collaborating with them.
• Discussion occurred about whether the "Blackboard Accessibility Consortium" was referring to, or included, this group.
• It was suggested that the letter be shortened and/or that bulleted items be included
• Once the letter is complete, the suggestion was made that those participating get agreement from their CIOs to sign off on this letter.
• It was also suggested that an announcement be sent to several other listservs seeking support and getting key people to sign the letter.

Update on contacting Robert dumas regarding his participation in the teleconferences and reported issues

• There has still been no response from Robert Dumas.

Update php to include the rating system and rephrasing questions recommended by Philip Kragnes

• Hadi said the updates have been made on the form.

Status of IMS accessibility initiative (Saroj)

• Saroj reported that she will be glad to contact members of the IMS accessibility initiative but needed some clarification on the questions to ask.
• Jon clarified that we would like to 1) get them to sign onto the letter, 2) make them aware of the work we are doing, and 3) see if our efforts could somehow be used to benefit their work.

Ask BlackBoard Accessibility Mailing list about the MathML support (Hadi)

• Hadi spoke with this group and they sent him a document that explains how to use MathML with WebCT. He will forward this to the group, but he has not yet had a chance to test it. Saroj stated that she had seen a tutorial on this, but that there were still some problems getting it to work.

Action items

• Contact those listed as collaborators in accessibility on BB website (WebAIM and Hellen Kellar Institute) to see what they are doing (Jon)
• Edit content of letter down to one page and send to the group for another review (Jon)
• Send information regarding MathML from BlackBoard User Group to the list (Hadi)
• Contact IMS accessibility initiative (Saroj)
• Once letter is complete, seek support from key individuals at our institutions (All)