|
|
|
|
|
|
| Orientation |
| Purpose of the discover IDEA CD 2002 |
This Mac and PC compatible CD includes key resources about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA '97). This CD is designed as a research and training tool for administrators, professors and students in higher education, families, advocates, policy makers and service providers who strive for quality education for all children. NEW FEATURES on this updated version include IDEA Basics, Information by Topic, Tips for Trainers, and improved searchability.
Contents of the CD include the Statute (PL105-17); indexed Final Regulations; hundreds of print-ready policy and practices documents; overheads and fact sheets; links to related laws (No Child Left Behind, Rehab Act, Headstart, ADA, FERPA); and contact information for federally funded technical assistance projects.
| Tips for users, including pointers on browsing, searching, and printing. |
Browsing The CD works just like browsing the Web. Clicking on a button or an underlined text "link" will take you to other pages on the CD.
The opening page of the CD is the table of contents and it provides an outline of the information the CD contains. You can move between pages by clicking on the navigation bars (Contents, Law & Regulations, Training Resources, Topical Documents, Links and Contacts and Search) at the top and bottom of pages, or by using your browser's "back" button. Some of the documents on the CD do not have navigation link bars and require that you use your back button. In cases where a link takes you off the CD you can use your browser's "back" button to return to the CD. You may also want to bookmark frequently used pages to return to them more quickly.
The majority of the links on these pages will take you to another page on the CD. Some links point to sites on the Web, beyond the material packaged on the CD. To the largest extent possible, links that lead off the CD have been italicized. These links require a live Internet connection to successfully navigate to the linked page. If you are browsing the CD without a live Internet connection you will receive an alert message when you select these particular links.
E-mail links will only function properly if your computer has been set up so that your browser can send e-mail and if you have a live connection to the Internet. If you are not able to use the e-mail links, simply copy the e-mail address and paste it into your e-mail software.
You may also adjust the way pages appear by making changes from within your web browser. The Preferences choice under the Edit menu in Netscape allows changes in the size, color and font type. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can change the size of the font by increasing or decreasing font size under the View menu. Use the Help menu in your browser to learn more about browser functions. The Adobe Acrobat reader also allows for adjustments to the view and font size which can be helpful when reading PDF documents.
Searching Search the regulations:
Use the Topic Index. This alphabetical index lists over 2,000 terms or phrases that can help you find sections of interest within Part 300 of the Regulations (Parts 301, 303 and 304 are not indexed.) You can either scroll to the terms you are interested in, or use the Find function on your browser (usually located under the Edit menu). This is a large file and takes time to finish loading. Do not click until the file is complete. To search the Index with the Find function, you will have to click once on the Index window to select it before using the Find command. Once you locate the term you are interested in (e.g., "participation in assessment"), clicking on the section number (e.g., 300.138) will take you directly to that point in the Regulations.Selecting the magnifying glass icon will take you to a separate web page for that section of the Regulations including related sections of Attachment 1 Analysis of Comments and Changes.
Search the full CD:
Use the search engine. The search engine on this CD contains an index of all the HTML files and most PDF documents on the discover IDEA CD. It is a simple tool. Results will vary based on the terms you use. Type the term or phrase of your choice into the search window select the search button. The results page will provide links to CD pages and give a "%" match. A single word will get only 100% matches. Two words will often produce a 50% match, meaning that only one of the words is found in that selection. For example, the search term "secondary transition" results in four documents on that topic with 100% match and the remaining links at 50% meaning that they contain "secondary" or "transition".Use the Information by Topic pages. A new feature on this version of the discover IDEA CD is the Information by Topic guides. These guides have been created to assist you in providing training or conducting research on 21 different topics.
Search an individual page or document:
For HTML pages: Use the Find function in your web browser to search for terms. The Find command is usually located under the edit menu or can be used via keystroke - Command F (Mac) or Control F (Windows). Use the Find Again command to search for further instances of the term within a page - Command G (Mac) or Control G (Windows).For PDF documents: The Acrobat Reader also contains a find function which operates in a similar manner. Select the binocular icon or a keystroke - Command F (Mac) or Control F (Windows). Use the Find Again command to search for further instances of the term within a page - Command G (Mac) or Control G (Windows).
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. The majority of the files on this CD are in HTML. HTML documents are, generally, the type of document you view when you surf the web. Because of the way HTML documents are formatted they do not have page numbers and this can make printing tricky. You may want to print an entire document or, if you only want to print a small portion, you can cut and paste sections into a word processing file and print the result.
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. Materials in this format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print. The Reader is free and is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html Adobe also provides free access tools at http://access.adobe.com/tools.html that can be used to create text versions of the PDF documents supplied.
Printing This CD includes a variety of word processed versions of the Law and Regulations package, for both Windows and Macintosh platforms, as well as cross-platform PDF and HTML versions. They are accessible via your browser by following links from the Law and Regulations section to Download the Law or Regulations.
The HTML documents provided on the CD can be printed by using the Print command in your web browser. PDF files can be printed by using the Adobe Acrobat print command and MS Word files can be printed by using the Print command in MS Word.
PDF files are the best source for print, since they are designed in a print ready layout, with more sensible page breaks, original fonts and better spacing. The Adobe format also allows you to designate the printing of particular pages. These functions are not possible to control in HTML page printing.
| System requirements and start up instructions. |
A Macintosh computer with Mac OS 7.1 or later, or a PC running Windows 95, 98, NT or newer.
An Internet browser, for example Netscape or MS Internet Explorer. Some of the pages on this CD are in "frames" which require an Internet browser with "frames" capability (browser versions 4.0 or newer).
To view and print some materials, you will need Acrobat Reader 4.0 or newer. The reader is available for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
To view, edit or select portions of some materials and print them, you will need current word processing software (MS Word 5.1 or newer, Word Perfect 5 or newer).
Windows 95/98 or above 1. Put the discover IDEA CD 2002 into your CD drive. The CD should automatically launch your web browser and open the table of contents page.
If the CD does not auto start...
a. Double-click on the "My Computer" icon. A window will open.
b. Locate the icon representing your CD drive. This is usually the D, E or F drive.
c. Double-click on that icon. A window will open.
d. Locate the Starthere.htm file, and double-click on it. Your web browser should launch, and the contents page of this disk will open.
e. If the Starthere.htm file does not open with a double-click, open the Internet browser on your machine first. Use the Open command to choose the file Starthere.htm from within your browser.
Macintosh 1. Put the discover IDEA CD 2002 into your CD drive. An icon of the disk will appear on the desktop.
2. Double-click on the CD icon. A window will open.
3. Locate the Starthere.htm file, double-click on it. Your web browser should launch, and the Table of Contents page of this disk will open.
4. If the Starthere.htm file does not open with a double-click, open the Internet browser on your machine first. Use the Open File command (Explorer) or Open Page command (Netscape) to choose the file Starthere.htm from within your web browser.
| Copying this material onto your hard drive |
You may use the CD directly and read the files from the CD only, or you may wish to load the files onto your computer (either from a network, or directly from a CD). If you have at least 150 MB of free space available on your drive, you may download the files from the CD to your hard drive by copying the files in one batch to your computer.
Due to the nature of hypertext, changing the names of files and folders will result in broken links, as will changing the structure of the file hierarchy. For that reason, we recommend that you do not alter file or folder names when transferring the entire CD.
While you are welcome to post the CD files on a local network server, please do not post them on a web site. Rather than duplicate what already exists on the web, we prefer that users be pointed to existing sites for the most current versions of the CD information. The IDEA Practices web site contains the the law and Regulations materials, and online locations for updates are noted on other documents included on the CD.
Copying to Windows 95/98 or above 1. Open My Computer.
2. Select a location for the discover IDEA files (for example, Drive C/My Documents). Open the chosen location and select new folder from the file menu.
3. Name your new folder (for example, discidea). Double-click on the folder to open it in a new window. Keep the window open.
4. Open or return to the My Computer window.
5. Select the discover IDEA CD (usually drive D, E or F).
6. Choose the Open command under File on the menu bar. The contents of the CD will display in a new window.
7. Choose Select All under Edit on the menu bar (Ctrl + A).
8. Select copy (Ctrl + C).
9. Click on the open window for the folder created in Step 3.
10. Paste (Ctrl + V) into the new folder window. The files should copy from the CD into your new folder.*
11. Double-click on the Starthere.htm file to open the files.
* It is also possible to drag the selected files from the CD to the folder you have created.
Copying to Macintosh 1. Select a location on your computer hard drive for the discover IDEA files. Open the location and select New Folder from the File menu (Apple key + N) .
2. Name your new folder (for example, discoverideaCD). Double-click on the folder to open it in a new window. Keep the window open.
3. Select the discover IDEA CD on your desktop and double-click to open it. The contents of the CD will display in a new window.
4. Choose Select All under Edit on the menu bar (Apple key + A).
5. Drag the selected files from the CD to the folder you have created.
6. Double-click on the Starthere.htm file to open the files. (Select browser application as needed.)
| Accessibility |
This CD has been designed to meet all accessibility standards for Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. All graphics have been provided with "alt tags", text has a high level of contrast and the formatting has been kept free of excess decoration.
|
|
|
|
|
|