Educational Gaming Commons - Press Start

Whenever a new technology is incorporated into a course, the issue of accessibility will come up sooner or later.

As part of a discussion with the Office of Disability Services, we did some research into potential issues for Second Life. The most severe problem is that the information is not read by screen readers.

Second Life Class Action (Abhrahams Accessibility)

Second Life Open Source Client (Abrahams Accessibility)

Health Island to Provide Accessibility Resource Center in Second Life (Info Island.Org)

Although there may be some promise in an alternate client which recognizes Second Life information, it is not ready yet. A student relying solely on a screen reader will be shut out from Second Life.

What to do if you have a visually impaired student in a course using Second Life? Think about what learning objectives made you choose Second Life. Is it communication? Maybe alternate chatrooms or Skype could be enabled.

Is it a visual experience? Then you can treat Second Life as you would other graphics or animation - that is, provide lots of descriptive text.

It's important to have a Plan B for any new technology.