Overall, the interview went well. The user is a very knowledgeable TTAC/TAC staff member representing VCU Regions 1 & 8 and a member of the Task Force.

VCU’s T/TAC staff has welcomed T/TAC online and is willing to use it when it is launched. There is some concern about when T/TAC Online will be available. The expectations are as follows:

· T/TAC Online must meet 508 compliance
· The upload process for converting PowerPoint content related issues needs to be streamlined
· The process must be as user friendly as possible
· Delivery of T/TAC Online soon. (We will have to determine this and gain approval).
· Incorporate a built in help system as you go through the process (hand holding for new users).

She would like to come visit with us. She gave Leslie some possible dates.

How many content delivers are there?

Currently there are 5 content delivers at VCU in assistive technology. Of the five, 50% are technically savvy; the others have a learning curve.

Who has gone through the process of uploading content?

All but one staff members tried using the templates to deliver content on T/TAC online.

How was the experience?

Fran Smith tested and trained on the T/TAC Online with Lucinda and with Mary Wilds as well. The staff of 5 members also had the opportunity to test drive the system. This is what Fran had to say about the experience:

What types of software are they using?

Office XP & Office Clip Art Gallery, Adobe Acrobat 5.0, IBM Lotus QuickPlace (intranet), Blackboard, Dreamweaver with Lift (for accessibility), PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Learning.com for more clip art (but Leslie couldn’t find any clip art there, maybe she means another site). She didn’t know if the staff had tried to upload Word content.

Our staff were very excited about the potential of the debut of TTAC online yet had reservations when we arrived at the importing of PowerPoint slides into the system. I must agree that the current design of taking a PowerPoint, converting to gif or jpeg and then uploading each file separately is quite cumbersome and time consuming.

I must note that Fran successfully uploaded content to workshops using the current templates on T/TAC online with a pleasurable experience. This process was done in a reasonable time frame. [I totally missed this, are you sure your not talking about using adding Resources to the site, not content?] I heard that website links and calendar events uploaded easily. I wrote down that she never could get a webshop to upload.

She explained that the process relating to converting PowerPoint images needed to be streamlined and took too long. The T/TAC STAFF lost interest and did not complete the process.

What are the user overall experience and views of T/TAC Online?

· T/TAC online is well received but incomplete.
· Staff is loosing interest due to the product missing the delivery date. They had been told by someone that it would be available this September.
· The staff will welcome future use with the completion of the product.
· She would highly recommend using the product when complete.

What would you accept as an initial deliverable?

· Must be 508 compliant
· Uploading PowerPoint content with images must be streamlined
· All known problems should be corrected.

Teacher issues:

Teachers should not have issues receiving the content, but there is some concern about system performance with images the video. She estimates that 30 to 40 percent of teachers are still using dial-up connections.

Courses:

They have not done much work in this area; however, she did mention that Mary Wilds has a course that they worked with in the pass. This is not related to T/TAC Online, but may be good to see an online course.

Training Us:

Fran thinks we should go to the assistive tech conference in Boulder, Co. Nov. 11-14. This is THE assistive tech conference for higher ed she says. This might be the one she meant, couldn’t find the original url she gave, but these dates are a little off.
http://www.colorado.edu/sacs/ATconference/atc2000.html

Fran’s’ Site suggestions:

· Include some demonstration links on the main page to better explain components of a webshop (This can be incorporated at the website level).
· Add a next page of "best practices" or "guidelines" that summarize important points to consider when designing a webshop such as file types, copyright, using images, etc.
· Add a page when starting a webshop that offers a numbered step-by-step approach, offering suggested guides such as 1) begin with an outline and list of objectives, 2) offer an opening statement or page of narrative, 3) add some life to your webshop through pictures or some PowerPoint slides, 4) add a list of websites, etc.
· Is it possible for a PowerPoint to be converted to a PDF and then made into an accessible file and treated as a separate document? If not, it might be to our advantage if this process can be streamlined a bit more.
· See if the University of Ill's Office Export Wizard could help with making PowerPoint accessible, http://www.webaim.org/howto/powerpoint/
· Summarize the process of uploading content on a page somewhere in the site.
· Links to clip art appropriate for educators.

Again, we tried to upload a PowerPoint and some graphics when Mary was here with me but ran into programming issues.

We asked Fran if she thought that converting their existing material to a webshop would in any way be detrimental to the presentation.

Her answer was that it could be, in that they would have to remove some of the material in the presentation before they could put it on the web.
There are copyright issues with some of the images, and I am assuming articles, charts or other items used, although she did not specify anything beyond images. She did feel that it could affect the resulting quality of the presentation. they do have access to some image libraries, although it sounded like it might not be an extensive collection. She felt that this would be something useful for T/TAC to provide.