EditU - A national online support center for people with disabilities

In an effort to provide digital divide support for people with disability, I have been project director since 1999 of Project EditU. EditU at http://www.editu.org serves as a national online support center for people with disabilities and the professionals that serve them. EditU is a public-private consortium including: the Association of Rehabilitation Programs in Computer Technology (ARPCT) the Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation (CARF), the Educational Leadership, Research and Technlogy Department and the Career Connection Research Center at my Western Michigan University, and Skillsoft, Inc.m the world largest provider of online learning content.

The results is that EditU offers corporate quality, tuition-free, multi-modal learning in a variety of career related areas. Information Technology, Office Skills, Business Skills, Professional Development and Personal Development are offered to people with disabilities and to the professionals that serve them. ARPCT is an international association dedicated to bridging the digital divide since it started in 1977 under IBM sponsorship. It is estimated that over 2o,000 graduates of ARPCT affilated programs (see http://www.arpct.org) have been trained and found employment to become independent tax paying citizens. Currently, there are about 62 community colleges, technical institutes, state support comprehensive rehabilitation centers, colleges, universities and post secondary organizations that are members of ARPCT and the EditU consortium.

EditU numbers for 2006.

During the 2006 calendar year, EditU had a total of 4,873 users with a cumulative training time of 1073 days, 23 hours and 34 minutes. EditU users completed a total of 2,111 entire courses and 152 full simulations and 57 test preps. The number were about the same as 2005. During the previous 2005 calendar year, 3,398 courses were completed with 348 completed SkillSims and 54 Test Prep Exams given to a total of 4,912 users that spend 1,096 days, 3 hours and 48 cumulative time on the EditU/Skillsoft learning management system.