Challenge
Lighthouse wanted to find another way to effectively train Visual Rehabilitation Assistants who come from diverse ethnic, age and disability categories. In the past, VRAs were trained onsite at the Lighthouse facility in New York City over a period of 4 months. This proved to be a very costly and inconvenient training method which inevitably put a strain on the lives of trainees during their relocation. The challenge for Lighthouse was to create effective, engaging and accessible distance learning courses and the content management system used to create them.
Solution
Flash MX 2004
Benefits
• Lighthouse saves over $30,000 in training costs by having the VRAs use the Flash based distance learning courses.
• Sighted and low-literacy students can use the built-in text to screen reader feature to improve their retention and learning.
• VRA training is accessible to users with visual impairments who can’t afford or do not have access to a screen reader.
Project Details
Patrick Benson, CIO of lighthouse knew there was a way to dramatically cut costs, increase effectiveness, and extend the reach of the training of Visual Rehabilitation Assistants (VRAs) to a larger audience. Visual Rehabilitation Assistants train people with visual impairments in the practical life skills that help them to lead independent lives. These skills include tips for how to effectively make their way and around their apartment, how to walk, how to cook, how to count money and safely make their way out on the street in the neighborhoods or the city in which they live.
Originally, Lighthouse conducted training for VRAs at the New York City office. It quickly became clear that this method was costly and very inconvenient for trainees. “The cost of relocating trainees quickly became prohibitive--add to that the disruption in the individual's life, and it was a no-brainer, there had to be another way”, Benson stated. Patrick wanted to create distance learning courses that met Lighthouse’s educational philosophy: They had to be engaging, interactive, and accessible to the full continuum of users with vision loss.
The VRA program targets students with virtually no career skills who have only a high-school equivalent (GED) education, and engages them in a structured career-based educational program. Many of the VRA students are themselves visually impaired. Patrick explained “Naturally people with visual impairments are able to effectively understand and train those who have recently lost their vision because it comes from a place of personal experience.” Other trainees come from welfare to work programs, may be low literacy and are likely to have little to no familiarity with the computer environment.
Lighthouse required a solution that would allow flexibility for the instructors and students, that would be easy to use for users with little or no computer experience and was also accessible to users of assistive technologies. Patrick added, “No such system really existed that would allow us to create the dynamic type of content we needed, so we created our own learning management system using Flash”
Lighthouse: Providing a clear signal to navigators
Knowing that their students may not be able to afford assistive technologies, Lighthouse designed a text to speech feature using Flash which automatically converts text information to speech. A great solution for users with visual impairments, this feature was also a fantastic example of the way that accessible design can benefit all users. Lighthouse found that the audio option better simulates a classroom environment, where students can listen and watch as material is presented. Many users who are low literacy or simply learn better through listening also use the text to speech feature which can be turned on or off on every page. Patrick elaborated, “The student is not passively reading a screen, which, if you’ve ever taken an online course, can be a real snoozer. Students are engaged in the learning process.”
One of the most significant accessibility challenges Lighthouse faced was managing the order in which content was read. In a dynamic environment with complex layout and design, it can be very difficult to predict the order in which content will be displayed. Yet, in order to make content accessible to users of assistive technology, the reading order for every object on the stage must be established. Lighthouse devised a very clever technique to resolve this issue using their own reading order engine. This engine dynamically places a copy of every object as it’s displayed on the stage in a single column of text that sits offstage. Screen readers ignore the content on the screen, instead they read content from the copy; a single column of objects which is automatically listed in the order in which content was displayed. This guarantees that content is displayed in the correct order and eliminates the need to use action script to hand code a static reading order. This innovative technique has since been adopted by many other sites.
Patrick was able to resolve the screen reader design hurdles, but he also had to consider users with low vision. He explained, “We always have, near and dear to our hearts, people who have diminished vision, so we wanted everything to be presented in large type as well.” Courses are designed so that text can be magnified. Lighthouse was able to deliver this solution using the power of the Internet so that whether students are visual learners, learn by example, or auditory learners the training module stimulates the way students learn the best.
“The economics of the distance learning courses we created using Flash are amazing. The savings of just the airfare and temporary accommodations to house people, not to mention putting trainer’s lives on hold for months while they go through this training, are tremendously beneficial.” Patrick stated.
The course developer Lighthouse designed to create online courses has been a tremendous success. Using Flash they were able to provide an easy-to-use accessible interface which allows teachers and administrators to quickly and easily add and modify content. “This has been one of the most important developments going forward. Having the accessible course builder means that teacher can easily create courses regardless of their computer experience, or disability.”
Teachers are able to, screen by screen, panel by panel, select what they want to see in the different frames for the various sections of the courses. Story boarding the course and adding content is a simple straightforward process. Patrick added, “We call it the ‘easy bake oven’ approach because it is so simple for anyone to use.” This sustainable self-managing system has become a key part of the Lighthouse strategy going forward.
Plans for the Future; an extended reach
Because the training module is online, it has never been easier for an organization like Lighthouse to rapidly deploy this kind of training globally. “We plan to take this program to the national and international level - Lighthouse has long-standing relationships with the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute and Aravind Eye Hospital in India where they would like to set up VRA training”.
In addition to expanding the VRA program geographically, Lighthouse plans to expand the use of the Course Builder content management system and Distance Learning course delivery to Continuing Education classes (for CE Credits) to professionals. “The potential of this system is unlimited” Patrick concludes.
Benefits for Lighthouse
- Using the Flash created distance learning course Lighthouse saves time, man-power, and travel costs (over $30,000 for one four month VRA course)
- Training courses can be offered anywhere in the world
- The system allows for instructors to use templates created by other instructors resulting in a powerful system for sharing creativity
- System is easy to use for students and teachers who are not trained in a computer environment
Benefits for Users
- VRA trainees can access lessons from anywhere
- Lessons can be repeated as many times as necessary
- Trainees do not have to relocate to New York City for 4 months
- Text to voice features allow users to listen while they watch, an effective learning technique
- Users with visual impairments can use text to speech feature and access content without costly screen readers
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