Identifying Challenges to EPUB Adoption

Media

Presented at 11:15am in Westminster II on Wednesday, November 14, 2018.

Speaker(s)

• Christian Vinten-Johansen, Manager, IT Accessibility Team, Penn State University
• Philip Voorhees, Assistive Technology/Accessibility Specialist, University of Nevada Las Vegas
• Jamie Axelrod, Director, Disability Resources, Northern Arizona University

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Panel
• Expertise Level: Intermediate
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Instructional materials and ebooks in the EPUB format have been slow to be adopted by students, institutions and consumers. What might be the real and perceived barriers to acceptance? The panel will facilitate a discussion with attendees to discover the possible reasons.

Abstract

Instructional materials and ebooks in the EPUB format have been slow to be adopted by students, institutions and consumers. What might be the real and perceived barriers to acceptance? The panel will facilitate a discussion with attendees to discover the possible reasons.

Some of the possible causes for user resistance is lack of DSO staff training in using and modifying materials for accommodations, student preferences for familiar tools they already use, lack of faculty awareness of accessibility and born-digital advantages of the EPUB format, textbook selection processes and marketing, institutional purchasing policies, and reader application support for STEAM content and media.

Keypoints

1. Adoption of EPUB format materials is slower than expected.
2. Barriers to adoption are not well known; it is important to discover what those barriers are.
3. There may be misconceptions or unfilled preconditions about the EPUB format.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

EPUB Track, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Christian Vinten-Johansen

Christian Vinten-Johansen is a staff member in Penn State’s Information Technology Services, Teaching and Learning with Technology. He is manager of the IT Accessibility Team and co-chair of the university-wide Accessible Technology and Information Initiative (ATI), where he provides leadership in implementing the sweeping terms of Penn State’s settlement with the National Federation of the Blind and the Office of Civil Rights. The IT Accessibility Team provides user testing, technology support and consulting services to the university, as well as vendors, organizations and institutions of higher education.

Christian is a contributor to several important initiatives in higher education. He is co-chair of the EDUCAUSE Accessibility Constituent Group and the IMS Global Accessibility Community of Practice. He is also a member of the Educational Accessibility Committee, a collaboration of 20 universities, disability advocacy organizations and higher education associations.

He is a member of accessibility advisory groups for Adobe, Workday, Instructure, Elsevier, and Box, and the ServiceNow product advisory council; and , and serves on the Certification Committee of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.

Christian has been an advocate and practitioner of universal web and software design since 2000. He participates in multi-institution IT accessibility collaborations; leads or participates in numerous university web, technology, and administrative task groups and communities of practice; consults on web accessibility and universal design; and presents on the topics of accessibility standards and regulation, and organizational change, at local and national conferences. New activities are promoting EPUB publishing standards and workflows, especially for STEM educational materials; and developing strategies for organizational change.

Philip Voorhees

Jamie Axelrod

Jamie Axelrod is the Director of Disability Resources and the ADA/504 Coordinator at Northern Arizona University. Jamie was the President of the Association on Higher Education and Disability from 7/16-7/18. Jamie holds a Master’s Degree in Counselor Education and worked for 10 years as a children’s mental health therapist. He then joined Protection and Advocacy Systems Inc. of Wyoming where he served as an advocate assisting individuals with disabilities, with a focus on ensuring their rights to educational opportunities. Jamie has presented across the United States about educational access for individuals with disabilities in post-secondary education. A significant part of his work focuses on ensuring access to educational and scholarly materials, for individuals with vision and print disabilities as more of those materials are delivered digitally.