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Every so often, a new product enters our awareness that impresses us so much we want to share it. Last week, Marc Zablatsky, Vice President and General Manager of Sitecues, came to our offices to give a talk about web accessibility and how they are approaching this problem — specifically, for those users with visual impairments, english as a second language, low literacy and other print disabilities.

ExtensionEngine has always been conscious about accessibility in the projects we have taken on and executed. After all, students can’t learn if they don’t have complete access to the material — and, in fact, public educational institutions are required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to provide accessibility. More on 508 compliance below.

It’s always gratifying to read an article that validates your position and provides evidence that you have, indeed, been making the right decisions and are providing a valuable and much-needed service.

For us, one such publication is a recent white paper, Report on Coursera online course for University of Chicago and Booth School of Business written by John H. Cochrane. The white paper enumerates various “lessons learned” from Cochrane’s venture into online course development as he adapted a Ph.D. level course, Asset Pricing, for the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) environment.

Last week, a diverse crowd from four continents, 25 institutions and 26 corporations gathered to attend the inaugural Business Education Online Learning Summit

 Here at ExtensionEngine, we create custom learning experiences. These are online and blended courses and programs that are custom designed specifically for each client. We work on a fee-for-service basis and never get involved in either revenue sharing or our client’s intellectual property concerns.

ExtensionEngine teamed up with Eduventures to present a webinar on “Online Learning without Revenue Sharing.” What did we learn? Well first, we learned you can cover a lot of ground in 30 minutes if you speak fast and stay focused. We love short webinars — they are better learning experiences. We also learned that many of those who attended were excited to learn about the fee-for-service and a la carte models. The OPM model, which has dominated online learning in higher education for many years, is changing — new entrants, new approaches, and new demands from institutions.

Nazeeri to Highlight Need for Compelling, Distinct Learning Experiences

Canvas and edX cater to learning for the masses and it’s no surprise that their UX/UI (user experience and user interface) matches this approach. But what are the key UI/UX elements that make up MOOCs (massive open online courses) on these platforms? 

The challenge comes when you want to do something that strays from this learning path or alter the navigation items.