[nfb-talk] National Federation of the Blind Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification Granted to Instructure Learning Management System

[qubit]

who does this apply to? For example, I ran into access problems on the 
blackboard system used by an online university, and was thinking the 
difficulties would be easy to fix with a little tinkering.  The system was 
required to interface to class lectures, assignments and messages, as well 
as the virtual library.  They said they were working with Freedom Scientific 
to solve some of the problems, but there were still little fatal flaws.
Anyway, I thought I'd ask.
--le


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Freeh,Jessica (by way of David Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)" 
<JFreeh at nfb.org>
To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 7:45 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] National Federation of the Blind Nonvisual Accessibility 
Web Certification Granted to Instructure Learning Management System






FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



CONTACT:

Chris
Danielsen
Cory Reid, Vice President

Director of Public
Relations
Instructure

National Federation of the
Blind                                             (801) 436-8095

(410) 659-9314, extension
2330                                            cory at instructure.com

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)
<mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org






National Federation of the Blind Nonvisual Accessibility Web
Certification Granted to Instructure Learning Management System





  System Certified as Equally Accessible
  to Blind and Sighted Users



Baltimore, Maryland (September 29, 2010): The National Federation of
the Blind (NFB), the nation's leading advocate for Internet access by
blind Americans, has awarded the Gold Level NFB-NVA Certification to
Instructure for its learning management system, "Canvas."  The NFB
applauds Instructure's commitment to ensuring equal access to its
Web-based learning management system for blind students and commends
the company for its leadership in Web accessibility.



Instructure's Canvas is a new learning management system (LMS) that
takes usability to a whole new level, and saves instructors time,
providing more freedom for curriculum development and working with
students.  Since communication is key to the learning process, Canvas
incorporates up-to-date multimedia and social media tools for
reaching way beyond classroom discussions and e-mail to creating a
collaborative learning environment.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: "The Internet has become integrated into every aspect of life,
including education.  As more and more institutions of higher
learning employ online learning platforms, it is crucial to ensure
that blind students have equal access to these systems so that they
are not placed at a serious disadvantage relative to their sighted
peers.  We commend Instructure for making its online learning
management system fully accessible and therefore giving blind
students and teachers independent access to Instructure's services."



Anne Taylor, director of access technology for the National
Federation of the Blind, said: "It has been a pleasure working with
Instructure to make its Web site and learning management system
accessible to all blind users.  We appreciate the Instructure team's
hard work and congratulate them on achieving Gold Level NFB-NVA 
Certification."



Cory Reid, vice president of Instructure, said: "Accessibility has
been a priority since our inception, and we are committed to
providing all students and teachers with the same innovative
platform.  We're honored to be working with the NFB, and are grateful
for their pioneering work in accessibility, and their foundational
contributions to education."



The NFB Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification Program connects
Web site and application developers with leading experts on blindness
and accessibility to ensure that their Internet sites or applications
are fully accessible to and usable by blind people employing screen
access software.  Applicants go through a rigorous evaluation and
testing procedure and, if they choose to, work with a web
accessibility consultant (WAC) to address any accessibility issues
discovered during the evaluation.  Once the site or application has
addressed all accessibility issues, it is granted the right to
display an NFB-NVA certification seal on its site.  Sites are
continuously monitored to ensure that they remain compliant with
certification criteria.  If a site remains accessible, its
certification is renewed on an annual or a version basis.  If
accessibility issues arise, the National Federation of the Blind and
the WAC will work with the site developers to remedy them.



For more information on the NFB-NVA Certification, please visit
<http://www.nfb.org/nfb/certification_intro.asp>http://www.nfb.org/nfb/certification_intro.asp.
To learn more about the National Federation of the Blind, please
visit <http://www.nfb.org/>www.nfb.org.





###





About the National Federation of the Blind

With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind
is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind
people in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />United States.  The
NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education,
research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field
today and the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB
opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the
first research and training center in the United States for the blind
led by the blind.



About Instructure



Instructure set out to build a whole new kind of learning management
system by carefully listening to educators, students, and
administrators.  This user-driven approach to design produced Canvas,
a fully-hosted web-based LMS with a level of usability never seen
before in a collaborative learning environment.  Canvas is used at
numerous colleges, universities, and schools across the US, with
students in 27 countries.
<http://www.instructure.com/>http://www.instructure.com

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