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Re: meeting collaboration tools

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From: Diaz, Claudia
Date: Mar 2, 2016 11:26AM

I have using Blackboard Collaborate v 12.5 and my staff member who uses JAWS can manage the entire event. He's follows ppt content via the blackboard activity window. He can keyboard navigate to different sections in the platform, chat, vote, etc. He can assign privileges even setup the captioner with the system. It is the most inclusive I've found but It has its drawbacks in that a screen reader user has to prepare his computer with the right setting prior to using the platform in order to have access to the accessibility features. Outside of accessibility issues, the system requires you to download a file which a lot of companies block for security purposes which limits who can access the system.

I was considering Adobe Connect but I found that they work with third party vendors who knew nothing of accessibility. They could not demonstrate how to keyboard navigate the platform and I found that the captioning pod was a plug-in from another entity. The captioning pod was not developed by Adobe so I was concerned about support and maintenance. Adobe was not easy to keyboard navigate, chat did not work for JAWS user without assistance from a sighted person and the power point content could not be read by screen reader.

This is my two cents and I hope it helps.