A note from Macmillan Learning CEO Ken Michaels on Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Macmillan Learning CEO Ken Michaels sent a note to the company's employees earlier today to spotlight what we’re doing to become even more accessible and better support students of all abilities.

Dear Colleagues,

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, more than one out of every ten college students has a disability. There is no better day than today, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, to emphasize the importance of our collective diligence to ensure all students have access to the learning materials they need. I want to spotlight what we’re doing to become more accessible and better support students of all abilities. At Macmillan Learning if student success is our mission, then we must advocate for all learners.

Many of you have seen the media coverage about Macmillan Learning becoming the first company to achieve the Global Certified Accessible (GCA) designation, and we’re incredibly proud of that. The certification means that our eBooks with a 2019 copyright and beyond are born accessible, and are ready for learners with reading barriers such as blindness, low vision, dyslexia, or a physical disability when they first to go market. Additionally, we have more than 200 other accessible titles, and we’ve partnered with VitalSource on an accessibility badging initiative that will make them easier to find for students and instructors.

Recently our General Manager Susan Winslow noted, “In this digital age there’s no reason that students with disabilities shouldn’t have the same access to learning materials as their peers.” She is right. To that end, becoming GCA certified is just one of the many important initiatives our passionate employees have in place.

We also work to foster knowledge of accessibility in higher education communities by holding workshops, actively participating in industry events and organizations, using our in-house testing center, and regularly convening an Advisory Board to let us know if we’re on track. In partnership with Tech For All, we developed freely available guidelines and checklists for creating accessible materials with the hope that we can help others on their journey.

Just last week, Macmillan Learning employees participated in a W3C meeting, an international community creating web standards, and helping to write the next generation of eBook specifications -- a task that will help improve reading for all learners. Macmillan Learning also hosted an interactive workshop yesterday, “Make Some Noise: Design and Build Your Own Educational App with Sonification” during the John Slatin AccessU 2019. In the coming months, we will continue our partnership with Benetech and AccessText Network by participating in a series of webinars about eBook accessibility, including "Accessibility Initiatives of Major Publishers" on May 21 and "Enhancing the Accessibility of EPUB Files" on June 11.

Despite all of this positive progress, we also know our process isn’t perfect. We are still working on fully updating all of our learning systems to address the continued evolution of education technologies and pedagogies. But learning is a collective endeavor, and we will continue to partner with like-minded organizations like Benetech with the goal of improving our students’ educational journeys.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day was established eight years ago to “get everyone talking, thinking and learning” about how digital products and technologies can be better designed for people with different disabilities. We’re proud to be part of that conversation and of our role in making education more accessible for all learners and are forever grateful to the women and men within Macmillan Learning that continue to champion achievement for all learners.

#GAAD #Accessibility #HigherEd #Learning