RFB&D® uses cmScribe for Section 508 accessible Learning Through Listening® educators' support website
| 6/11/2007 |
RFB&D uses NetReach’s cmScribe Content Management System (CMS) for innovative, Section 508 accessible Learning Through Listening support website for educators.
AMBLER, PA – June 11, 2007 – Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), the nation’s educational audiobook library for students of all ages who cannot read standard print effectively because of a learning disability, visual impairment, or other physical disability, in an innovative collaboration with the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), announced the launch of its new educator support website at www.learningthroughlistening.org. The site was deployed using NetReach’s web-based Content Management System (CMS), cmScribe, to deliver information and resources to educators that is fully accessible and compliant with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act and the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The new website, entitled Learning Through Listening, provides free resources 24/7 to powerfully assist all educators seeking to integrate listening skills into their classrooms. The site provides easy-to-use, research-based information developed by educators, targeted to the K-12 classroom. A special customized Curriculum Builder was added to cmScribe to deliver and manage lesson plans and other downloadable materials that are grouped and searchable by subject and grade level. By design, the intended audience has varying degrees of knowledge, comfort, and proficiency with print disabilities, technology, and RFB&D as an organization and service. The cmScribe toolset allows for easy and compliant upload of both stand-alone audio and video content, including integration of text-based transcripts and forced inclusion of alt tags on imagery and image-type buttons as well as the addition of form controls, such as “for” tags to associate form controls with their labels making the site easy to use for persons visiting using text-readers and other assistive technologies. “The Learning Through Listening website was created to support and build the skills of K-12 educators so they will be even more successful in teaching students with different learning styles,” says John Kelly, RFB&D President and CEO. “This new website will provide greater access to helpful educational materials developed by and for educators.” “As multimedia technologies bring listening back to a central role in literacy, this website provides educators with the practical ideas and resources they need to prepare diverse learners for success in a multimedia world,” says David Rose, Founder and Chief Education Officer of CAST. “My background in educational research made it particularly gratifying for me to participate in a project like this that addresses different learners needs,” said Stephen Bouikidis, Executive VP of NetReach. “In order to perform to the stringent specifications for accessibility compliance that both RFB&D and CAST required for this project, cmScribe, which is built using Microsoft’s .NET 2.0 platform, was rigorously tested and retested using Watchfire Bobby to ensure programmatic compliance with WC3 and Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
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