|
Register Now - Registration Closes Thu 27 Oct |
|
|
|
|
|
Many course developers and educators commonly ask for tools and resources to help them create accessible and usable online learning materials. The aim of the conference is to increase awareness about usability and accessibility tools, methods and principals when creating online learning materials.
Date: 3 November, 2005
Time: Registration is open from 8.15am. The conference will start promptly at 9am and finish at 12.30pm. Lunch will be served at 12.30-1.30pm. The conference will officially conclude at 1.30pm.
Venue: Sherwood Room, Brisbane City Hall
Getting there: City Hall is in King George Square, between Adelaide and Ann Streets in Brisbane City. It is easily accessible by private and public transport and is close to parking and Brisbane's major hotels.
Includes GST, morning tea, light lunch and a printed copy of all presentations.
Non CHISIG members:
Early bird registration: on or before 3 October $100
Standard registration: from 4 October $125
Students and CHISIG members
$80 ^
^ Only full-time students qualify for the student registration fee. Students must provide proof of full-time enrolment on-site at the time of registration check-in. Alternatively, a letter or other document showing current full-time status may be faxed with the registration form.
Places are limited so register early. Registrations are now being taken. Please download the registration form and fax to +61 7 3839 9594.
Payment can be made using Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Diners or by cheque / money order.
Registration form (MS Word, 56K)
8.15 Registration opens
9.00am - Session 1
Keynote: Dr John Eklund - Making elearning work
Online learning is being deployed by a range of institutions and for a broad range of purposes. But we all have the same goal - to harness technology to deliver learning effectively and efficiently through quality designs. This presentation looks at the diversity of online learning development and some of the current trends such as learning object repositories. What are quality learning materials, how can they be successfully developed and delivered to ensure they meet training goals and user expectations? Topics covered include user centred design principals for developing successful online courses and steps to ensure your online course is highly usable.
Tania Lang - Creating Usable Online Learning Materials
Many of the well accepted usability design guidelines or 'heuristics' applicable to general websites are also applicable to online learning materials. Highly usable online learning material allow learners to be challenged by the learning material rather than the failing technology or poor usability of the site. This short presentation will outline the relevant usability 'heuristics' that potentially improve the usability of online course materials and encourage effective online collaboration.
10.30am Morning Tea
Session 2
James Newton - Creating Accessible Online Course Materials
According to the ABS, 19% of Australians have a disability. This does not include people with a temporary disability, learning disorders or poor literacy. Making online course materials accessible not only addresses equity issues, it is also good business sense. Accessible materials are easier for everyone, not just people with a disability. This presentation will demonstrate that creating accessible materials is not overly difficult...it just requires forethought. Topics include how to make some course materials accessible including Word and PowerPoint documents, PDF files, Flash, Video captioning, JavaScript and Forms. The presentation will also demonstrate some assistive technologies.
11.40am Janet Brimson - Case study - User centred design in practice
The Victorian Office of Multicultural Affairs, together with the Victorian Department of Human Services, commissioned iFocus to undertake an investigative report to determine the best blended-learning approach for an education program in the Victorian public hospital system. This case study looks at the reality of what the analysis uncovered including the barriers to the adoption of learning strategies and ensuring a highly usable design. Topics covered include user centred design methods and approaches used to create a blended learning solution that could be rolled out across other government departments.
12.30pm Lunch
1.30 pm Conference concludes
Dr John Eklund -Usability Analyst & Instructional Technologist for Access Testing
John Eklund, BSc DipEd (Woll) MEd PhD (Syd) works with clients as a usability analyst and instructional technologist. He is also Adjunct Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney, teaching Instructional Technology in the Masters program.
John's expertise is in the design, implementation and evaluation of interactive media. Most of his work involves consulting to corporate clients on processes to built and evaluate e-learning. His work is in the area of:
John has conducted dozens of usability studies for a range of government and corporate clients. He specialises in designing cost-effective studies that maximise the benefit to development. His interests range from requirements engineering and aspects of software quality to instructional design. He has conducted Post Implementation Reviews on large systems for The Australian Parliament. He has published widely with over forty publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He acts as an editor to Australian Journal for Educational Technology and Universal Access in the Information Society.
Tania Lang
Tania Lang is principal of Peak Usability as well as a member of the Usability Professionals' Association and the Queensland Representative for CHISIG in Australia (Computer Human Interaction Special Interest Group). She is passionate about usability and is keen to increase awareness and adoption of good usability and user centred design practices.
Tania has been working in the online space for over 6 years and as a user experience consultant for a number of high profile clients for over 4 years. She has extensive experience in higher education and training sector and has been conducted usability work for a number of higher education websites.
She has a Masters of Business by Research which involved researching how travel consumers use the Internet. She also has a Bachelor of Science, Grad Dip in Arts (including Marketing) and a Graduate Certificate in Human Factors.
Janet Brimson
Janet is a senior member of the iFocus team and leads the iFocus Knowledge and Information Practice. Janet's experience in instructional design and enterprise architecture is highly recognised. The majority of her engagements are spent increasing the value and access to strategic information systems for Australian government. She is a solutions innovator, providing targeted insights into information process improvement and strategic value to organisations with information, metadata and knowledge management dilemmas.
James Newton - Accessibility Specialist, Adaptive Technology Consultant
James lost his sight at the age of 21 in 1996, and since then has gained expertise in operating a wide range of adaptive technologies. He has an incredible insight into the worlds of blind and partially sighted Internet users, and has the almost unique perspective of how empowering accessible and inclusive practice can be.
James has worked in the private and TAFE sectors providing educational and workplace accommodations for people with disabilities, consulting on digital document accessibility and usability in distributed or distance education and hands-on training on adaptive technology. Naturally the primary focus of his accommodations is vision loss, he does have general experience in the area of other disabilities.
James has a demonstrated understanding of the legislative framework and standards applying to people with disabilities. His qualifications include a Sociology and Philosophy BA, a Certificate III in Telecommunications and a partially completed Bachelor of Social Work.