ACCESSIBILITY OF eLEARNING IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION: STUDENT AND FACULTY
PERSPECTIVES
Presenter(s)
Jennison Asuncion, M.A.
Adaptech Research Network,
Email:
Asuncion@alcor.Concordia.ca
Catherine
Fichten, Ph.D.
Adaptech Research Network and Psychology
Department,
Email:
catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca
Joan
Wolforth, D.Ed.
Email:
joan.wolforth@staff.mcgill.ca
Maureen
Hewlett, M.Sc.
Email:
hewlettm@unbc.ca
Ryan
Klomp, B.A. (Honours)
Email:
rklomp@uottawa.ca
Maria
Barile, M.S.W.
Adaptech Research Network,
Email:
mbarile@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
All correspondence to:
Catherine
Fichten, Ph.D.
Adaptech Research Network,
West,
Email:
catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca
The
Adaptech Research Network <http://www.adaptech.org
> is currently conducting a three-year empirical investigation that focuses
on the accessibility of eLearning to students with various disabilities,
including learning disabilities, in Canadian postsecondary institutions. This
study defines eLearning broadly to include all information and communication
technologies, such as PowerPoint, CD-ROMs and the Internet, that professors use
in their classroom and online courses. As colleges and universities
increasingly employ eLearning tools to enhance teaching and learning, it
becomes essential that these technologies are evaluated to ensure they are
accessible to all students.
Our
research subscribes to the belief that in order to fully investigate and
address accessibility of eLearning in higher education, it is necessary to
understand the issues from the perspectives of the student(s) with a
disability, faculty, the campus-based professionals who provide
disability-related accommodations to students, and the individuals who play a
role in supporting/implementing eLearning at the institution.
OBJECTIVES
OF THE RESEARCH
By
examining current and foreseen eLearning initiatives in Canadian universities,
colleges and postsecondary distance education institutions our research: (1)
identifies barriers and facilitators for students with different disabilities; and
(2) helps develop best practices guidelines for the Canadian higher education
community and the postsecondary publishing industry.
Key
research questions include:
*
What eLearning initiatives and technologies currently exist, or are foreseen
for the next 5 years?
*
How accessible will these technologies be to students with disabilities?
*
What eLearning accommodations are presently being made for people with
disabilities?
*
What is the level of awareness about the accessibility of eLearning among the
following groups: students with disabilities, faculty, postsecondary eLearning
professionals, the publishing industry, and disability service providers
*
Do colleges and universities differ in the accessibility of their eLearning
courses and programs?
*
Do French and English institutions differ in the accessibility of their
eLearning courses and programs?
*
What are the specific barriers?
*
What are good solutions?
THREE
RESEARCH PHASES
In
Phase I, completed in the spring of 2005, 22 key informant interviews were
completed with: six students with various disabilities, three faculty, five
individuals who provide disability-related accommodations on campus, six
individuals who support/implement eLearning on campus, and two vendors of
eLearning material to the higher education community.
The
aim of the key informant interviews was to gain a broad perspective about:
*
the eLearning technologies currently used on Canadian
campuses;
*
the benefits and drawbacks of eLearning for students
with disabilities;
*
the specific accommodations involving eLearning
provided by campus-based disability service providers; and
*
the stakeholders involved in eLearning.
Phase
II, well underway at the time of submission of this paper (i.e., Fall 2005),
involves administering four web-based surveys to 80 participants representing
the following four stakeholder groups:
1.
college and university students with disabilities who
have taken at least one course in the last three years where the professor used
some form of eLearning;
2.
college and university professors who have taught at
least one student with a disability during the last three years in a course
where they used some form of eLearning;
3.
staff who provide disability-related services at
Canadian postsecondary institutions;
4.
individuals who support/implement eLearning at
Canadian postsecondary institutions, including VPs and managers of distance
education and instructional technology departments; persons who train faculty
to use technology or multimedia; designers and developers of eLearning on
campus.
To
reflect the Canadian experience, we are sampling both English and
French-speaking individuals from colleges and universities across the country.
Questions are based on data collected in Phase I. The questions are primarily
closed ended and use Likert-type scales (e.g.,
strongly disagree to strongly agree).
The
survey for students with disabilities is collecting data including: demographic
information; impairment/disabilities information; adaptive hardware/software
used; accessibility ratings of eighteen specific types of eLearning (e.g.,
course web pages, PowerPoint in the classroom); and benefits, problems and
solutions interacting with eLearning.
Data
collected from professors and other non-student participants includes: their
accessibility ratings of eighteen types of eLearning (e.g., course web pages,
PowerPoint in the classroom) to students who fall into five broad categories of
impairments/disabilities (totally blind, low vision, Deaf/hearing impairment,
learning disability/ADD/ADHD, mobility/neuromuscular impairment); overall
experiences and views about computer technologies and eLearning at their
institutions; and a series of "actual" versus "desired
situation" questions relative to their role in ensuring the accessibility
of eLearning to students with disabilities. As the title of our paper suggests,
we will discuss Phase II findings from the student and professor groups.
Phase
III will be conducted in 2006. During
this phase the questions will be refined and the survey will be administered to
larger, more representative samples from each of the four stakeholders
identified in Phase II.
PRELIMINARY
FINDINGS
Results
of Phase I indicate that course / learning management systems (content
management systems) such as WebCT (tm) and Blackboard
(tm) were the most common eLearning technologies used by Canadian postsecondary
institutions. Other popular eLearning technologies include (in order of
popularity): class presentations using software such as PowerPoint;
downloadable course related files in PDF, Word, Excel, and HTML; course web
pages; and email discussion lists / web-based threaded discussions / bulletin
boards.
In
general, the most accessible eLearning technologies included: course / learning
management systems; downloadable Word, Excel, and HTML files; and course web
pages. Accessibility of other forms of eLearning depended on the nature of
students' disabilities. For example, PowerPoint files were cited as problematic
by a JAWS using respondent. A campus-based disability service provider noted
that timed online quizzes posed difficulties for students requiring extra time.
ABOUT
THE DISABILITY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
Our
eLearning research represents one of four themes of the Disability and
Information Technology Research Alliance (Dis-IT).
The
1.
How can emerging information technologies be more inclusive of the needs of
people with disabilities in
2.
How can more inclusive information technologies enable greater participation of
people with disabilities in Canadian society and economy?
3.
How can information technologies developed or adapted to address the
accessibility requirements of people with disabilities also address the needs
of citizens, workers, learners, and consumers in broader domestic and
international markets?
For
more information about Dis-IT go to
http://www.dis-it.ca
ABOUT
THE ADAPTECH RESEARCH NETWORK
For
over eight years, the Adaptech Research Network has
been conducting bilingual national and provincial research studies involving
college and university students with disabilities, including students with
learning disabilities in
One
of our primary focuses has been looking at issues and experiences these students
face when attempting to access or interact with computer technologies. Two
common themes throughout our research coming from postsecondary students with
disabilities has been the high-cost associated with and lack of knowledge about
adaptive hardware and software. To help address these needs, we make available
a library of free or inexpensive software downloads from our site that students and others can try out and use. We are
continually evaluating and adding new titles in categories such as cursor enhancement,
word prediction and text-to-speech software. These in no way are meant to
replace the more sophisticated and function-rich adaptive products currently
available, however these provide alternatives and options.
To
learn more about us, to express interest in getting involved or to access our
'Downloads' library, visit us at http://www.Adaptech.org
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