May 2005 — Features
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Raising the Awareness of Online Accessibility
Student Accounts
Those with learning disabilities account for the largest proportion of special-needs students, so I was particularly
interested in their experiences with the online course format. Fortunately, this past semester, two students enrolled in online
classes were eager to share their observations on how the online format impacted their learning. The first student, Beth, is
diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. And although ADHD is technically not a learning disability, students
with the disorder do have difficulty concentrating and processing speech amid ambient noise. Beth initially thought that an online
course required too much reading and would make her feel unsupported. However, because Beth has difficulty absorbing
information in a traditional lecture-format class, an online course seemed like a good option to consider. According to Beth,
she benefited greatly from the online forum because she could work asynchronously, at her own pace
and without distraction. Although there was a lot of reading, she felt motivated because the activities were designed as
short, individual, manageable tasks. Beth commented on how access to online course materials could enrich the classroom
experience for many students.
Another student, Sarah, shared her experiences after finishing her first online course. Sarah has dyslexia; thus, she has difficulty reading and decoding information. She had a more difficult time in her online course because it was a skill-building, technical course in which the detailed instructions were instrumental to her success. Sarah felt she would have benefited from either an audio book or a screen reader. However, Sarah offered an interesting suggestion when sharing how she searches for Web sites that have content similar to course concepts and are geared more for children, which help her with conceptual comprehension. While Sarah’s comments suggested the use of clear, simple explanations and the benefits of images and/or sound, the use of images and sound opens up another set of issues to consider since they are not always compatible with assistive technology.
Access to Course Materials
The typical secondary or postsecondary classroom teacher is not likely to encounter a student using assistive technology until its use becomes mainstream. However, students are accessing course materials using assistive technology, and educators should take this into consideration as they choose instructional strategies and learning technologies. In the course of my own research, I had the opportunity to review the features and functions of common assistive technology tools such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text software. But while it’s one thing to see a software demonstration and marvel at what it can do, it is another to talk with students and discover how they really use the technology and what implications it has for them. To gain insight, I met with a couple of students who use assistive technology to access online course materials.
