Practice Guides
One of NCDB's current product development projects is the creation of practice guides that outline essential components of instructional practices commonly used with children who are deaf-blind. They are primarily intended as a tool for state deaf-blind project personnel and practitioners to inform training and coaching needs.

A key purpose is to let technical assistance providers or coaches and practitioners know what a practice involves when implemented correctly. The more clearly the components of an intervention are known and defined, the better it can be successfully implemented (Fixsen et al., 2013). NCDB Practice Guides also serve as quick reminders of the purpose and key elements of a practice. The guides are not intended to provide instruction on how to implement a practice and should be used in combination with technical assistance/coaching and information resources (e.g., factsheets, articles, videos, modules).

Accessibility & Accommodations
Assessments should be designed to ensure that all test takers have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on what the assessment is measuring. Critical to realizing this is providing accessibility features so that assessments are fair, valid, and reliable.

“Accessibility” is a general term currently used for three levels of supports. Universal features, which might include use of a highlighter for example, are available to all test takers. Designated features, which might include text-to-speech, are available to all students for whom an adult or team of adults has indicated a need for them. Accommodations are provided only to students with disabilities and English learners for content assessments (general and alternate), and only for English learners with disabilities for English language proficiency (ELP) assessments.

Accessibility policies are state-determined, and often vary by content area. Universal features, designated features, and accommodations may be embedded in technology-based assessments or may be provided by a human. The terminology used for the levels, and the specific features included in each level, may differ by state and by assessment.

We believe that all deaf people can THRIVE.GROW.BLOSSOM.
As deaf people leave high school and prepare for college or careers, the National Deaf Center wants them to succeed. Our research shows that deaf people are not completing college degrees, getting jobs, or earning as much as hearing people. We’re here to change that.

Find guides, templates, overviews, publications, videos and more. Our resources are developed by experts, covering a variety of topics to support evidence-based practices in postsecondary outcomes for deaf individuals.

This website provides a list of webinars on the topic of Deaf education.

The OER Accessibility Evaluation Rubric is an evaluation tool for faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and other stakeholders in open educational resources to determine the accessibility of the OER they are creating and/or adopting for use in their courses.

The focus of many open education projects is to provide access to education. But what does access mean? If the materials are not accessible for each and every student, do they fulfill the mandate to deliver fully open education? The open education movement has helped people in different parts of the world access content that they would otherwise not be able to view or interact with. Open education resources reduce costs for students and allow for greater flexibility for instructors. Accessibility can help push the movement even further forward.

The goal of the OER Accessibility Toolkit is to provide the needed resources needed to each content creator, instructor, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open and accessible educational resource — one that is accessible for all students.

Learn how to use OER Commons Learner Options to change your viewing preferences.

This guide is intended as a strategic planning tool for district leaders wishing to promote the already pedagogically and financially compelling practice of creating or adapting open educational resources (OER) to help achieve district goals in serving all students through diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility (DEIA) lens.  The guide provides step-by-step planning tools, including examples, templates, and resources to help district leaders articulate and establish action plans for what we refer to as "OER-DEIA."  The entire guide is an open educational resource itself, free and openly licensed for reuse, remixing, and resharing.

essay exam and multiple choice question exams for OER film text Cinema Scenes

Open Educational Resources (OER) offer opportunities for increasing equity and access to high-quality K–12 education. Many state education agencies now have offices devoted to identifying and using OERs and other digital resources in their states. To help states, districts, teachers, and other users determine the degree of alignment of OERs to the Common Core State Standards, and to determine aspects of quality of OERs, Achieve has developed eight rubrics in collaboration with leaders from the OER community.

Open education is a term you have probably heard, but do you know what it means? As its name suggests, it relates to two concepts – openness and education – but it means a whole lot more. What are its aims, benefits and limits? This guide offers a number of tips and avenues for action to help answer these questions and encourage you to make the most of open education. There is a strong focus on open education in the Louvain 2020 strategic plan. UCLouvain wishes to align itself with a vision of the future and the need to share resources, practices, knowledge, tools and more in order to improve access to education, including outside the confines of the University, and education itself. The open education movement is already well established at UCLouvain. Many teachers have shown an interest and have already embraced it. What about you? This guide is intended to help you navigate open education. It explains concepts such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Open Educational Resources (OERs), OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Creative Commons (CC) licences.
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Open Education, un terme que vous avez probablement déjà entendu mais savez-vous pour autant ce qu’il signifie ? Un terme qui sous-entend l’ouverture, l’éducation mais qui ne s’y limite pas. Quel objectif ? Quels avantages ? Quelles limites ? Autant de questions auxquelles ce cahier tentera de répondre en vous livrant quelques clés et pistes d’action pour vous emparer de l’Open Education. Dans son plan stratégique Louvain 2020, l’UCLouvain accorde une attention parti-culière au mouvement de l’Open Education. L’université souhaite répondre à une vision d’avenir, à un besoin de partage des ressources, de mise à disposition de pratiques, de connaissances, d’outils, etc. afin d’améliorer l’accès et l’efficacité de l’éducation y compris au-delà de ses frontières. Le mouvement de l’Open Education est déjà bien ancré au sein de l’université. Nombreux sont les enseignant·e·s qui s’y intéressent et se sont déjà lancés dans la pratique. Et vous ? Ce cahier se veut être un guide pour vous accompagner dans l’Open Education. Il ouvre les portes de certaines notions telles que les Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), les Open Educational Resources (OER), les OpenCourseWare (OCW) ou encore les licences Creative Commons (CC). Bonne lecture !
Ce cahier est une ressource libre, couverte par une licence CC. La version "livret broché imprimé" peut être commandé et acheté en ligne via le site https://secure.i6doc.com/fr/cart//?fa=additem&gcoi=28001103861450&item_id=3_9732_165736

On Thursday, March 9, 2023, as part of Open Education Week, the #GoOpen Network hosted the webinar, "OER and Accessibility," featuring Cynthia Curry of the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (AEM Center) at CAST, in conversation with Oregon Department of Education leaders, Vanessa Clark and Aujalee Moore, who are deeply engaged in this work with educators.

This is a list of the IDEA Part B and Part C Leads for each state.

The purpose of providing accessible educational materials (AEM), formerly known as accessible instructional materials (AIM), is to ensure that all students with print disabilities have the opportunity to perceive the information contained in educational materials. This site is designed for Oklahoma educators, parents and students. AEM services offered throughout our state are outlined below.

The links within this resource are designed to provide educators with background context regarding the development of the K-12 Voices for Open OER-DEIA Action Plan for K-12 District Implementation.  Presented as a poster session at the 2022 OpenEd Conference, the slides explain the purpose of the Guide, as well as the development process.This guide is intendend as a strategic planning tool for district leaders wishing to promote the already pedagogically and financially compelling practice of creating or adapting open educational resources (OER) to help achieve district goals in serving all students through diversity, equity, inclusion, or accessibility (DEIA) lens.  The guide provides step-by-step planning tools, including examples, templates, and resources to help district leaders articulate and establish action plans for what we refer to as "OER-DEIA."  The entire guide is an open educational resource itself, free and openly licensed for reuse, remixing, and resharing.

This poster helps to explain the development process of the OER-DEIA Guide developed by K-12 Voices for Open, which can also be found on OER Commons.

This Guide details a variety of resources useful for evaluating and selecting appropriate and accessible OERs that will be usable by the broadest range of learners

Welcome to the Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit! The goal of this toolkit is to provide you, the student, a self-paced resource that will guide you through the ins and outs of open pedagogy, including defining open pedagogy, the benefits of open pedagogy, and student creator rights.

How To Use This Toolkit

For Students: If this is your first time in a class that uses open pedagogy we are excited for you! Your instructor is working towards creating a more equitable and engaging environment for you to learn in, and this is an opportunity to take agency over your own educational experience. We hope this toolkit will provide the support you need to understand not only why your instructor is incorporating open pedagogy into your class, but also the benefits of open pedagogy, and your rights and responsibilities as a creator.

The toolkit is broken down into two parts: What is Open Pedagogy? and So You're the Creator, Now What? The first part will introduce you to open pedagogy, its benefits, and some examples you might experience in your class. The second part focuses on the more logistical side of open pedagogy: your rights and responsibilities as a creator and how to exercise those rights and responsibilities.

Your instructor might assign just a few chapters and sections of this toolkit to further build your knowledge on open pedagogy, or you might be asked to go through the whole toolkit at your own pace.

For Instructors: If this is the first time you are incorporating open pedagogy and renewable assignments into your class, congratulations! You are working towards creating a more equitable and engaging environment for you students to learn in and to take agency in their own education. With that said, there is a lot to think about to ensure that your students get the most out of their experience in your class. This toolkit is a resource to provide additional context, background, and scaffolding for your students on the basics of open pedagogy, the benefits of open pedagogy, and student creator rights and responsibilities.

The toolkit is broken down into two parts: What is Open Pedagogy? and So You're the Creator, Now What? The first part will introduce your students to open pedagogy, its benefits, and some examples they might experience in your class. The second part focuses on the more logistical side of open pedagogy: student creator rights and responsibilities and how they can exercise those rights and responsibilities.

You can adapt any section of this toolkit for your class, or use it as a whole to give your students a self-paced guide.