WELCOME TO EASI WEBINAR PAGE
PEOPLE NOT TECHNOLOGY
EASI is a non-profit organization, commited to the belief that students and professionals with disabilities have the same right to access information technology as everyone else.
EASI is producing 2 series of Interactive Webinars on specific accessibility-related topics. One consists of single, free Webinars which are open to the public. While the fee-based Webinars consist of 3-4 Webinars providing more in-depth information. Registration for the fee-based Webinar series is currently $225. EASI is pleased to host Webinar presenters from across the US as well as several other countries. As usual, some presenters are, themselves, adaptive technology users, and others are professionals supporting adaptive technology. Webinars use conference systems that facilitate hosting an accessible event.
What equipment do I need to participate?
You will need working speakers so you can hear the presenter. The room has both text and voice chat. (A microphone is optional). A PC running Windows is the best operating system, but a Mac can access the system. Internet Explorer is the best browser, but others should also work.
We strongly urge you, if this is your first EASI Webinar, to come early to the presentation to iron out unforeseen problems. (The conference room is normally locked, and it is usually opened 45-60 minutes before the event.
Dick Banks Memorial Scholarship for EASI Webinars and Courses
This scholarship provides people who are unable to procure other financing, with registrations to either the fee-based Webinar series or to the EASI online courses. While EASI relies on fees to support our work, nevertheless, we want to share these resources as broadly as possible.
Read about and apply for the Dick Banks Memorial Scholarship
EASI Annual Webinar Membership Program
EASI has 2 membership programs: one for individuals and another for institutions. These annual memberships provide free access to all the fee-based Webinars for a full year, free access to an archive of selected Webinar recordings from 3 previous years and a discount to all the EASI courses. At a time when budgets are being cut for training and for travel to conferences, these memberships can fill the void.
Read about and register online for the annual membership program
Webinars listed by month
January 2012 Webinars
February Webinars
*** Free Webinars being finalized for delivery!
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January 2012 Webinars
Creating More Attractive and Accessible PowerPoint Presentations
Thursdays Jan. 12, 19, 26 and Feb. 2
Times: 10 AM Pacific, 11 AM Mountain, Noon PM Central and 1 PM Eastern Standard
Presenter: Norman Coombs, Ph.D. and CEO of EASI
Scholarships are available for this 4-week, fee-based Webinar series for thos who are unable to procure financial support from their institution or those who are not EASI Annual Members. To ask about the scholarship, send email to Norm Coombs (norm.coombs@gmail.com)
PowerPoint is Microsoft’s presentation software that is widely used and just as widely abused. This 4-week Webinar Series will discuss
- when,where, why and how to use PowerPoint.
- explore the multitude of features available for presentation authors.
- explain which features support or provide barriers to accessibility.
- It will demonstrate how to create narrated PowerPoint presentations; how to add captions to the narration and how to create captioned videos based on a PowerPoint presentation.
WEEK 1: LEARNING THE POWER & FEATURES OF POWERPOINT
WEEK 2: LEARNING THE ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES AND PROBLEMS IN POWERPOINT
- Selecting: themes
- Inserting: images and adding alt text
- Avoid: text boxes
colors
font
tables and charts
multimedia with transcriptions or captions
animations
transitions
custom drawing
WEEK 3 CREATING A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION FOR DIFFERENT DELIVERY VENUES
Access issues may vary with the topic, the audience and the venue
- Delivery in a classroom
- Delivery in a large public lecture
- Delivery on the Web
- Delivery of the basic PowerPoint file
- Advantage of starting with a basic (vanilla) version to adapt to different venues
- Creating non-PowerPoint output (usually as a handout): PDF
RTF
Word
WEEK 4 CREATING MULTIMEDIA BASED ON A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
- Create a narrated presentation using PowerPoint's narration feature
- Create a narrated presentation using Camtasia's import PowerPoint feature
- Use Camtasia's captioning ability to add captions to the presentation
- Use Lecshare to import PowerPoint and make either a narrated Web-based presentation or a QuickTime video
- Use Lecshare to add captions to both of the lecshare outputs
EASI Annual Members use this link to register for this Webinar series
Non-members use the link below to register and pay for the Web conference series starting on Jan. 12 2012.You can pay by credit card, check or by a PO (registration is $225 and scholarships are available)
Registration link for non-members
February Webinars
Free Webinar: Overview of the Accessibility of Mainstream E-Readers
Feb. 9 at 11 AM Pacific, noon Mountain, 1 PM Central and 2 PM Eastern
Presenter Ken Petri from Ohio State University
This Webinar will provide an overview of present capabilities on both mobile and PC-based readers, talk about e-text formats and about what we may be seeing in future developments. With the emergence of the Kindle, the Nook, and other commercial products, the availability of electronic books has exploded. A few years ago, colleges and universities began experimenting with having students get their textbooks in an electronic format using one of these e-readers.
As we know, the accessibility of the e-reader devices was poor, resulting in complaints and law suits against some schools. Seeing a large new market being closed to them, vendors and publishers have begun to make their products at least partially accessible. As commercial e-readers and their book formats become more accessible, students and others with disabilities will start to see more and more mass market books and textbooks become available to them straight from the publishers on ever-improving software and devices. In this (perhaps overly optimistic) view, content will be provided to readers with disabilities in the same ways as content delivered to all other users. This Webinar will provide an overview of the current status of e-reader accessibility and point to some activities toward improving these technologies.
Register here for this Feb. 9 Free Webinar
Four-partWebinar Series: Exploring CSS or Cascading Style Sheets: A Primer
Tuesdays Jan 31, Feb. 7, 14 and 21
Times: 11 AM Pacific, Noon Mountain, 1 PM Central, 2 PM Eastern
Presenter Karen McCall
For many of us CSS is a mystery reserved for real Geeks. Not so! CSS is a document containing simple directions controlling the look and feel of Web pages. Putting all the directions at one time in one place simplifies Web creation and facilitates making changes to an entire site. It means less work for the Web creator and a more consistent experience for the Web user. Using CSS or Cascading Style Sheets can also enhance the accessibility of web based content.
This series will primarily use NotePad as both the CSS and HTML editor although you can use Dreamweaver for these tasks. HTML is a mark-up language so you will be doing some "programming." Don't panic, it is easy once you get the hang of it!
Week 1: What is CSS, hw does it work and what it looks like.
In the first week we'll look at how Cascading Style Sheets work and how to implement them. Participants will be guided through the creation of a simple web page and Style Sheet.
Week 2: Headings and navigational points, Images and navigation bars.
In this webinar participants will explore the use of Heading Tags or mark-up as part of a navigational structure for their web page. An additional web page will be created and an image will be added and provided Alt Text. We'll also look at linking to other content.
Week 3: Lists and Tables.
Participants will be guided through the creation and attributes for ordered and unordered lists (numbered or bulleted lists) as well as basic table structure. (This is where using an authoring tool such as Dreamweaver comes in handy – creating tables in NotePad requires some concentration or a sample to copy and paste from.)
Week 4: More decorative elements to web content
Participants will explore how to customize lists and paragraphs on web pages. During this week we'll wrap up any elements not yet covered in the previous four weeks. This is an introductory series so we'll not work on anything complex.
The fee for this 4-part series is $225. Scholarships are available)EASI Annual Members use this link to register for this Webinar series
Non-members use the link below to register and pay for the Web conference series starting on Jan. 31 2012.You can pay by credit card, check or by a PO (registration is $225 and scholarships are available)
Registration link for non-members
Free Webinars being finalized for delivery!
Free Webinar: Overview of Current Google App Accessibility
(Date to be scheduled in late January or early February)
Time: 11 AM Pacific, noon Mountain, 1 PM Central and 2 PM Eastern
Presenter: Hadi Rangin from the University of Illinois
Almost all of us depend on Google as our search engine of choice. Its interface has been reasonable accessible to users with all types of disabilities for years. Some of us also are users of Google mail which works well depending on whether we use it as pop mail or as Web mail. While Google docs has had serious accessibility problems, it has become very popular with the general public. Recently, universities began to require Google docs as an integral part of some courses. This resulted in complaints and of threatened legal action. Coincidentally, Google began a serious push to significantly improve the accessibility of Google docs.
Currently, disability advocates and Google staff have formed a colaborative effort to continue the work on Google docs accessibility. This presentation will highlight some areas of significant advance and touch on some areas still requiring meaningful enhancement before these applications become reasonably useful for students who are required to use them.
Free Webinar: Creating Accessible Math Made Easy
(Presenter and Date to be announced)
This presentation will demonstrate how math faculty can provide students with math that is fully accessible regardless of whether or not the student has a disability. It will also demonstrate the special math reader that will permit the student to readily access the content provided by his or her faculty.
Free Webinar: Plain English Makes Plain Sense
(Presenter and Date to be announced)
Professionals, whether lawyers, doctors or academics often talk in the jargon of their profession helping them to sound like the guardians of special knowledge beyond the intellect of their audience. Usually, their pronouncements can be expressed in simple, direct language accessible to most people. The goal of teachers is to communicate and clarify rather than to overwhelm their audience. Communicating in simple, plain English does not have to mean simplifying the actual content.
When we teachers use professional jargon, we impress the listener with our intelligence. However, when we avoid the jargon of our trade, we can impress the student with their intelligence. This will give them the self confidence and courage to plunge into even deeper subjects. They will become better students because we have become better communicators.
EASI future Webinars being planned:
EASI 4-part fee-based Series: Four Authoring Tools for Making DAISY Documents
Accessibility of Learning Management Systems
EASI Webinar Fee-based 4-part Series: Validating and Reparing Web Accessibility Using Toolbars
Accessible Science and Math: 4-part STEM Series
What do you know that you'd like to tell us about?
Getting ideas and finding someone knowledgeable who will share what they know is the hardest part of bringing you these Webinars.
Drop e-mail to me with your help at Norm Coombs with your ideas
