Teleconference Details

• Contact those listed as collaborators in accessibility on BB website (WebAIM and Hellen Kellar Institute) to see what they are doing (Jon)
• Revising the letter to WebCT regarding Formalization of WebCT Disability Access Interest Group with Blackboard (3RD draft); edit content of letter down to one page and send to the group for another review (Jon)
• seek support from key individuals at our institutions (all)
• Find out the status of IMS accessibility initiative (Saroj)
• Send a summary of MathML support in Blackboard to the list (Hadi)

WebCT Accessibility Teleconference 02/19/07

Attendees

• Marie Cooper
• Hadi Rangin
• Don Amos
• Lisa Fiedor
• Phil Kragnes
• Saroj Primlani
• Jon Gunderson
• Kostas Yfantis

Regrets

• Melanie Thornton

Next Teleconference

• Monday, March 5, 2007
• Scribe: Lisa Fiedor

Minutes

Revised plan for interaction with WebCT including letter to WebCT

• Jon provided updated information re: e-mail contacts with Robert Dumas as well as an example contact with other vendors in order to assess their understanding of accessibility and product ability to be accessible. The communication from Robert Dumas included his expression that he would like to continue working with the group but that he had little to report re: access on this generation of technology. Robert was invited to attend this teleconference.
• Discussion of the letter: Jon provided a revised letter to be sent to Robert Dumas. See the Vista Access List serv, on 2/19, for a copy of the letter. It was agreed that Jon will send his letter to Robert. This letter can be made available to members of this group or IT administrators from colleges and universities. It was also decided that Phil will develop a similar letter, by the end of this week, to be sent by a chief administrator at the University of Minnesota who has a connection with BlackBoard.
• The group agreed that this group should become a regular BlackBoard (BB) user group; discussion followed on the pros and cons of taking this action, with the consensus being that it would be a positive step to take in order to attract attention to this group, the work it has done and intends to do. Making sure that the user group on BB would have links to this group’s site would enable others to know about the group’s actions.

Status of IMS accessibility initiative (Saroj)

• Saroj reported that she has not been able to work on this since the last teleconference, and that she is looking for the right people to communicate with.

Action Items

• Jon will be responsible for the letter going to Robert Dumas, and sharing it for others to sign;
• Phil will prepare a parallel letter to BlackBoard which will come from a UM Administrator.
• Hadi will collect resources from MATHML and put them on the group’s web site
• Saroj will identify and contact a knowledgeable person re: the IMS initiative