Transcript Petal – Accessibility

MyWorld e-Portfolio Project
A case study and usability study
Ellen Lessner
Abingdon and
Witney College
George Roberts
Oxford Brookes
University
22 June 2006
With thanks to…
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Richard Francis
Fawei Geng
Neil Smith
Zack Wragg
Liam Kilgarriff
Ian Ibbotson
Rob Tice
Stan Stanier
Joe Rosa
Sasha East
Shirley Borrett
Chris Foss
John Webber
Bonnie Ferguson
Edwina Bell
Artie Vossell-Newman
Abingdon and Witney College
Ellen Lessner
Irmgard Huppe
Rhona Sharpe
Jim Hyndman
Nick Jeans
Dave Pickersgill
Seb Schmoller
Julia Duggleby
Alan Dibble
Anne Jones
Ruth Hilbourne
Alice Fox
Cherie Woolmer
John Lidgey
Glenis Lambert
Adja Cici
and many many more
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Travel required
Brookes:
Certificate Teaching
in HE
Brookes: Social Care
CMALT
Access to HE in FE
Professional
Pathways
BLITZ
CV Builder
Professional CVs for
Recruitment
HND Multimedia
Access to Art
Refugees in HE
Arts Foundation
Abingdon
andStudies
Witney College
Wine
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PGCE Primary
myWORLD Project Aims
• Implement the Petal ePortfolio Software and
pilot up to 10 case studies in post compulsory
education
• Evaluate these case studies and their impact
on learners and institutions
• Develop a stable installation configuration of
the Petal ePortfolio tool and pilot this
installation on at least four servers
• Enrich the eportfolio experience for the learner
by integrating Web Services
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e-Portfolio Programme
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Key scaling issues
1. installation
2. localisation of the hierarchy
3. localisation of the presentation
template(s)
4. localisation of the UI (principally as
regards data input)
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Evaluation
OSP1.5 not good enough (but we knew that)
• Wait for 2.1 on Sakai - out now
– But, only suited for institutions with high IT
readiness factors
• Develop “simple” appropriate technology
solutions for smaller institutions
– e.g. php “CV Builder” as a Moodle activity to be
run in a Moodle module
• Learner centred?
– less so than some e-portfolio systems
– but, are any?
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MyWorld Scenarios
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Higher Education
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Further Education
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Abingdon and Witney College: Tutorial process on an Access to HE course
Plumpton College, Wine Studies: Mature students HND – BA/Sc level
Sussex Downs : HND Media studies
Adult Community Education
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Oxford Brookes University, Health and Social Care: “Fit for Practice” – Eportfolios as tools in competency assessment for future social workers
University of Brighton, Arts and Music Degree
CUPP: Refugees: Variety of literacy levels plus ESOL
CUPP: Community Arts: Entry level literacy
Oxon CLSU: CV creator
Professional Institutes
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CILIP: E portfolios for practical use by a professional body
CMI: e-portfolio for Chartered Professionals
CIPD: ePortfolio alternative to CV
ALT: Learning Technology Professionals
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Access to HE – Tutorial module
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The plan was…
Use the ePortfolio to begin the reflective
process needed to produce a good personal
statement for a UCAS application
 Make the ePortfolio available to the
interviewing tutor at the university
 Be a third type of CV – part of the criteria for
tutorial credit
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What the students (both IT novices)
said…
“I wish this worked better. It is really
useful to put all your experiences and
qualifications in one place.”
 “When I went for my interview, I was the
only one there who knew what an ePortfolio was! I was really chuffed to be
able to hold my own with the tutor who
interviewed me.”
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What happened in reality…
The software didn’t work until October so the
students didn’t use it to reflect on their ‘life’
experiences to develop their UCAS statement.
 Graphic guides needed designing for each
step of using PETAL.
 Customising the software to suit the students
was not straightforward.
 I had help from others but PETAL was located
on the ALT server and I’m not technical!
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Lessons learned
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The learners really liked the idea of the e-Portfolio and
were disappointed that it didn’t work better.
The software has to work from the start of the year.
It must be easy to customise to suit the group and
easy to use by the individual.
Too many logins were involved for the IT novice – the
network, the VLE, remote access if off site and the
PETAL login
Use of the e-Portfolio had to be linked to a credit or
there wouldn’t have been any incentive for them to use
it in its current state.
A considerable amount of time was needed to
demonstrate it and to sit with those who were not IT
competent.
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Petal and Accessibility Meetings
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June 05 with George Roberts and Ellen Lessner
 Initial look at what accessibility tools worked and
what needed further consideration
13 October with TechDis, K-Int, selected Case
Study partners
 Agreed to produce an accessibility report using
TechDis expertise
December 2006 with Alistair McNaught and Ellen
Lessner
 Looked at the practical issues of accessibility
(accessibility statement)
 Commissioned Peter Rainger to do an accessibility
audit (now completed)
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Accessibility and usability
Formal ‘accessibility’ testing might show Petal
is ‘accessible’
 Is it usable by the range of people included in
the case studies?
 ‘Wish’ list contains features which cross the
boundary
 “…the concept of needing helpsheets is a bit
of a dead giveaway regarding usability…. I
don’t see many helpsheets on Amazon!”
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Examples from the ‘wish’ list
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Accessibility statement to include how to customise
browser views for font/size/colour and a link to free
TechDis toolbar
Accessibility statement link here (first
in line) on all pages. Statement to
include link to TechDis tool download
plus how to customise browser options
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Back button on each page plus
symbol explanation
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If you use the browser back button, you
can get thrown out of the portfolio
Key to symbols
1. delete
back
Back button needed on all pages or
browser back button will be used (also
back to Welcome page)
Key to what the symbols mean on each page
(information/delete/add/edit)
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Customise settings before or on
entering Petal
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User preferences could be available on
the Welcome page with links, including
back to the Welcome page, on all other
pages
If possible to customise setting or choose a
different look of PETAL, option here.
‘Enter’ ‘Share’ on centre page should be
hyperlinks as well as menu on the side
(usability/accessibility)
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Pop up comments
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Used on some areas – ‘add’ and ‘delete’ –
but not on ‘edit’
No comment pop up to say ‘edit element (as it does with
‘add’ and ‘delete’)
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The ability to manage what displays on a
screen is fundamental to accessibility
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Management of the data structure
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Publishing and then being unable to edit or
hide various elements
Template output
 Setting user preferences as part of
PETAL instead of relying on browsers,
Windows/Mac interface or independent
software
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Was it worth doing?
We have said ‘yes’ to participating in the
extension to the project if the software
upgrade increases usability.
 Everyone has seen the value of it in the long
run. A colleague who used it decided to apply
for a management position.
 For more information:
[email protected]
01235 216276
[email protected]
 01865 484871
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Continuation
OCSLD
Blitz
Joe
Rosa
AWC
Plump
ALT
Brookes
K-Int
Interoperation
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Continuation project aims
• Implement OSPv2.1 software
• Repeat a cycle of trials with three successful case
studies
– Abingdon and Witney College, access to HE in FE
– Plumpton College, career planning in Wine Studies
– ALT, Certified Member of ALT scheme (CMALT)
• Run a CPD trial with academic staff at Oxford
Brookes University
• Implement PHP-based CV builder, in a Moodle
course and trial
– Blackbird Leys Community IT Hub
• To test interoperability between
– the CV Builder and the ALT CMALT system
– the Brookes CPD system and the ALT CMALT system
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Thank you!
George Roberts
Oxford Brookes University
Ellen Lessner
Abingdon and Witney College
[email protected]
[email protected]
+44 (0) 1865 484871
+44 (0) 7711 698465
+44 (0) 1235 216276
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