Don’t go hungry: visit the Cougar Cupboard
Golf takes first at Derek Dolenc Invitational
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thursday, 09.27.18
alton — east st. louis — edwardsville
vol. LXXI no. XII
New Blackboard Ally caters to different learning preferences MADDI LAMMERT reporter
Homecoming horseplay
Freshman elementary education student Kaeli Goodwin, of Mascoutah, Illinois, tries to stay on the mechanical bull in the Goshen Lounge Monday Sept. 24. | Bre Booker / The Alestle
Changes to sexual harassment policy proposed at student government meeting KAIT BAKER opinion editior
SIUE’s director of equal opportunity, access and Title IX coordination, Jamie Ball, proposed three new changes to SIUE’s sexual harassment policy at a student government senate meeting. Ball proposed that the description of the sexual harassment panel used in sexual assault appeals be changed so that it no longer refers to 12 members. Doing so would allow the addition of more members to the panel. “It is just based on my very quick observation of the needs of our community,” Ball said. ”I think only having 12 panelists at the ready will not serve the needs of the community adequately.” Another proposal that Ball made was for parties involved in sexual harassment appeals to ask questions through the panel instead of directly to each other. Di-
rectly asking the questions to one another can be difficult for those involved and this way would allow them to get the information they needed, without having to directly ask. This proposal would also allow either party to participate in the hearing process remotely. The most significant proposal that Ball made was to remove the second layer of appeal in which, following the use of a panel, those involved choose to take the case to Chancellor Randy Pembrook for review. Ball believes that doing so does not allow for finality for those involved and that despite training, the chancellor doesn’t have the expertise it takes to make rulings on these cases. The President of the Faculty Senate Sorin Nastasia also spoke at the meeting, regarding the faculty senate, which also uses students within their committees.
He stressed the importance of this involvement within the committees of the student senate. “Sometimes, if there is a new policy being augmented or proposed for the faculty senate, there is the place that you can have a voice,” Nastasia said. Michelle Krichevsky, student government’s student diversity officer, announced that for disability awareness month, the Student Diversity Council will be teaming up with New Horizons and ACCESS for a spoken word night on Oct. 11. “As it was explained, diversity is for the inclusion of all people,” Krichevsky said. “And we kind of want to start the conversation on disabilities and how diversity can include them on that as well.”
KAIT BAKER
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With funding from the Office of Educational Outreach, SIUE’s Informational Technology Services and Accessible Campus Community and Equitable Student Support departments came together to implement Blackboard Ally, an extension of Blackboard that aims to appeal to a broader range of learners. The new extension was first introduced during a trial period for summer classes and was made available for all fall classes on Aug. 9. It shows professors how to make posted content accessible to students with different learning needs. In turn, students can choose from a drop-down menu of alternative formats for their course content, including ebook, audio, HTML and electronic braille versions of text. Emily Keener and Jennifer Albat, from Instructional Design and Learning Technologies, along with ACCESS Coordinator for Instructional Accessibility Andy Koch say that Blackboard Ally draws from the concept of universal design. “[Universal design] is an idea that disability isn’t caused by a person’s diagnosis … or what they can do physically or mentally; it’s caused by the environment that they are in and if they can navigate through that environment,” Koch said. Federal school systems are required under the Rehabilitation Act to provide all accessible materials to all students. Blackboard Ally takes a more proactive approach by allowing students to more readily obtain content that fits their learning preferences, allowing them to take agency over their learning. “It’s important for everyone that’s at a college or university to have agency in general, but I think it’s especially important for students who have disabilities because, usually, their parents have been more watchful [or have] given them more guidance,” Koch said. Blackboard Ally intends to be useful for all students, not just those with learning or physical
disabilities. “[With universal design], you’re not just designing for accessibility,” Albat said. “You’re designing for all learners, to reach them where they are and to meet their needs.” For example, students with long commutes can use the audio feature to listen to assigned readings while driving. Because Blackboard Ally aids students both with and without diagnosed disabilities, it can break down the stigma that our culture creates. “There’s a stigma in our society,” Jennifer Hernandez, assistant professor of teaching and learning, said. “We are socialized to be a culture that is able-dominant, so we create our spaces, our lectures and our classes with the belief or the assumption that everybody in the room is 100 percent able and doesn’t have any learning disabilities at all, whether it be a learning preference or a physical one.” Because Hernandez taught secondary special education before teaching at SIUE, she is well aware of how to make her materials accessible to students with different learning needs. However, not all professors recognize the ways in which their posted content may create avoidable barriers to students without the help of Blackboard Ally. On the faculty end, Blackboard Ally includes the “Ally Indicator.” The feature rates the accessibility of the content, tells the instructor why the content can be inaccessible to some students and how to fix the problem. Potential problems include low-quality texts that cannot be translated to audio and pictures with content that exclude the visually impaired. While the process of making course content accessible for all learners may seem overwhelming for faculty, there are ways to make editing the content manageable. “We tell faculty to start small,” Albat said. “Set goals for yourself; you don’t have to do this all at once.”
MADDI LAMMERT
650-3527 @mlammert_alestle mlammert@alestlelive.com
New parking meters added to select lots, changes still coming to Vadalabene Center
MADDI LAMMERT reporter
New pay-by-space machines went into effect in parking lots A, E and F on Sept. 17. They will eventually be installed in front of the Vadalabene Center. These new machines replaced the single-spaced meters that once occupied these lots and were already in use in lots C and B. While the original single-spaced meters only accepted change, the new machines accept credit cards, change and dollar bills. The new machines also re-
quire that students pay in 30-minute increments, instead of the 15-minute increments that the single-space meters offered. Director of Parking Services Tony Langendorf believes these changes will be more convenient for students and will decrease the total number of parking citations. “Because you’re paying by credit card or via the Woosh app, people tend to give themselves enough time rather than cut it too close,” Langendorf said. The Woosh app is a free app that students can use to add time to their parking meters from their
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phone or computer. It has a $0.35 service fee per transaction, which includes both initial purchases and time extensions. “If you pay with the Woosh app, it will even send you a reminder on your phone saying ‘Your time is about to expire. Do you want to add more time to it?’” Langendorf said. The price of parking using these new machines reflects the $0.50 increase per hour that went into effect at the beginning of the school year. In order to raise revenue, the parking and traffic committee suggested this increase.
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“[The parking and traffic committee] tried to affect the fewest number of people and do the meters instead of looking at a higher increase for the parking permits,” Director of Administrative Services Robert Vanzo said. In this way, students pay extra at the metered spots to park closer to their classes. However, some students like senior public health major Lakendria Heard of East St. Louis, Illinois, have found that there are more issues with metered parking than just the increased pricing. “I was upset the other day be-
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cause I didn’t have to come to class early so I came a little late and I came to [lot A] and there were not any meter spaces,” Heard said. Overall, Parking Services believes that the changes are positive. “The reason we switched is because [pay-by-space] meters are an outdated technology. With these, it’s more user-friendly,” Langendorf said.
MADDI LAMMERT
650-3527 @mlammert_alestle mlammert@alestlelive.com
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