Online Learning News and Research

Online Learning Update HOME

Times and Dates Coordinated Universal Time

Search Online Learning Blog Archives

Subscribe to Online Learning Update by Email

About this Blog

About Ray

About Ray's News Blogs

OTEL

UIS Online

Techno-News Blog

Educational Technlogy Blog

Ray's Home

Email Ray

Presented by Distance Learning at BellaOnline.com

Using Internet Audio to Enhance Online Accessibility - Linda Matula Schwartz, IRoDL

The impetus to provide accessibility in online learning comes from many sources. First and foremost, it is the moral thing to do. Houtenville (2003) indicates that 1 in 13 people aged 18-64 in the United States reports a disability; and this population may be expected to increase as the population ages. Blair, Goldmann and Relton (2004) report that 10 – 20 percent of post-secondary students in 2002 identified themselves as having a disability. Schmetzke (2001) found, however, that only 15 percent of 219 DE homepages examined with Bobby (an accessibility validation tool from the Center for Applied Special Technology) were free of major accessibility errors. Similarly, a study by the National Center for Education Statistics (2003) indicated that 95 percent of 2- and 4-year institutions offering distance education (DE) courses use websites for course delivery, but that only 18 percent of these sites ensured accessibility to a major extent. A recent British Disability Rights Commission study indicates that these trends still prevail, with more than 80 percent of websites unusable by persons with disabilities (Adams-Spink, 2004). Rowland, Burgsthaler, Smith and Coombs (2004), report the specific under-utilization of DE programs by disabled students, possibly due to the failure of those programs to adapt to their needs. DE institutions, no less than face-to-face (f2f) ones, should give accessibility issues a high priority.


  posted by Ray at 10/02/2004 10:12:00 AM permanent item link   

---