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Read Seale Chapter 12 Individual responses to accessibility: tools, activities and contradictions. Make notes in response to the following questions:

1. Seale identifies six potential areas for conflict or contradiction within an organisation or activity system. What potential contradictions exist in your organisation and why?

In my own organization there are the subject, object, community and tools.  There are the teachers who are responsible in delivering knowledge to the students and they are also responsible to help disabled students too and make their learning resources as accessible as possible.  Without the teachers then it will not be possible to deliver knowledge using another role, i.e. learning technologist.  As all the roles have to work together in order to successfully deliver the knowledge and make their resources available to their students.  There are the tools; however, the legislation is not so strict from what I am experiencing.  Maybe this is due to the fact that in my school there are no disabled students in that extent as to need assistive technology to help teachers to make their resources accessible.  There is only one kid that just cannot concentrate in the classroom properly but they take it away in a separate classroom when needed.  Not the best way though of treating such a kind of situation.  The community exists but in a very small part that includes the students themselves, support services and Principal of the school.  This is due to the fact that by employing learning technologists, staff developers etc will cost more money to the government.  Thus, they might have very few specialists who have to control each and every school in Cyprus.  I am not sure about this point, but I am talking from my own experience.

2. How helpful is it to conceptualise the development of accessibility within your organisation as an activity system?

From the one hand, it would definitely be helpful, but on the other hand it will not be as there are areas that my own school does not actually fulfill, i.e. rules and division of labour.

Do you think that Figure 12.1 on page 165 would be useful as a trigger for discussion within your organisation?

Having examined the figure I can say that it would have been useful but not many things could be made in order to apply something in the school I am working.  However, it would give an idea to the Principal of the school about this accessibility matter that will one day become more formal in the evaluation of this system.  I think that if this was presented to the Minister of Education in Cyprus it would have been better to see other views of this matter but still it would be very difficult to do something.

Would it enable you and your colleagues to identify what changes or developments are needed and why they are needed?

It is a very helpful figure in helping us identifying these changes or developments and the reasons why these changes should be applied in the school in order to achieve our objectives regarding accessibility issues.

I have created a resource about the beautiful island of Cyprus (where I am currently living) using Xerte an Open Learning Resource.  Here is my reflection upon the creation of my resource:

• Why did you choose the particular topic?

I thought that as we are adults and we all come from different places in the world to create something about the place I am coming from and in consequence to attract my colleagues attention in order to learn some more information about Cyprus.  At least general info.

• Why did you include particular elements?

I have included pictures, text and videos from you tube, one table etc.  I have included a table just because it was required to do so and an image too.  But mainly because through the images, video and text I could deliver the message more effectively and even achieve my learning outcomes I had set from the beginning.

• What guidelines did you refer to when creating the resource?

I did not use any specific guideline but I was taking something from each one provided to us from the course and I was researching through the internet too while I was creating my resource but to be honest as I have read too many guidelines before starting to create my resource every tiny detail was in my head.  Every step I was making I had to check it and re-check it!  So, I think that I took something from each guideline. Maybe not too professional but my time was precious to start finding the guidelines and reference them here now.  The point is that most of the guidelines provided to us from the course were useful in the creation of this resource but at the same time a little bit technical and tricky!!

• What areas were particularly difficult and why do you think this to be the case?

Having to decide what resource to create till the last moment that you finally create it and develop it is difficult! I am not exaggerating because having to attend to a tutorial to check for Xerte and missing it out then I had to go back and look on some links to learn a little more about it and not just what I have read about it in the internet, was time consuming and it took me a very long time.  I did not want to create something in word, or powerpoint or whatever.  I wanted to experience and try something new, that Xerte offered me and I wanted to give it a try!!! There were all new to me and I had to make mistakes go back and forth many times, check again and re-check so that I could make it accessible at least to the point that I had the ability and the knowledge to make it.  I had to insert a table that was a compulsory item and I just did not know how to do it. As an image or not I had to include it.  Finally after a long time of thinking and trial and error I made it as a drawing and I inserted it!  Provision of transcript, alt text, narrating and deciding what is proper and what is not to include in the resource was another question and how navigation could be obtained to be simple and clear to the user.  Also, the structure of the resource was another issue but while I was in the process I was thinking and moving forwards. I am a novice teacher with no online resources in my career and it was the first time to do this maybe this is one of the reasons plus that we had to think not only the technological aspects but also the pedagogical,why this and why that...

• Do you think the act of making an accessible resource affected the way that the learning outcomes were addressed?

Not at all!!!! Everything was working normally but maybe this is due to the fact that Xerte has a user friendly interface and it is created to provided more accessible resources to the students that helped me a lot.

• How many of the decisions you made about the resource were influenced by technical considerations?

I suppose that just like the pedagogical decisions the same applies for technological decisions, meaning that they are on the same balance.  I had to make a resource that is accessible in a way.  I wanted to try at least and have good technological base and characteristics in order to work for all the students.

• How many of your decisions were influenced by pedagogical or other considerations?

My reply is the same as the previous one.  Whatever I was doing I was asking myself why to do it like that and not like that what I will gain and what I will achieve. They are both important in the creation of an online resource!

My role and context in education

I am a teacher in primary school, but not an active one yet. There is a big catalogue with names awaiting to get a job in the government as a teacher, thus I am in the waiting list for 2 years now and I am moving on to the third year.  I am working full time in a completely different job and at the same time I am helping kids with their homework everyday.

When I was in the University years we had to make our practice as teachers in various schools.  Taking into consideration that I would like to mention it as my current context as I am not having actually an active job as a teacher.  I would like therefore to refer to those experiences and to that specific context.

How they relate to accessibility and online learning

While I was making my practice, I did notice any matter for accessibility in my classes due to the fact that it did not happen to have any kid with impairments or any kind of disability.  However, it happened to me, to have one case with a kid I was helping with homework in the afternoons.  That kid is stil having a mental disability. Teaching in this case and trying to help the kid overcome some obsessions is really difficult!  Online learning is still a little bit behind in our country, as I am coming from Cyprus.  Online learning in primary school is still a "dream" here.  There is actually only 1 or 2 personal computers in each class and there are other classes that do not have at all.  Some schools have computer labs but still, there are many things that need to be done in order to make it work effectively and not only for disabled students but also for the rest of the students.

What I would like to achieve from the course

• to understand the various accessibility issues raised by the different roles in a school or organisation who are working online
• learn about educational policies issues as far as accessibility and disability is concerned
• take a look in the research area that covers the above aspects and develop an opinion in certain issues
• how to value accessibility in different organisations through particular technologies and assess it whether it does support the needs of the learners and the teaching staff