scholarly journals Creating Online Instruction that is Accessible, Usable, and Inclusive

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheryl Burgstahler
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Online Instruction ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Online Content ◽  
Hybrid Courses ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Online Activities

As a consequence of the COVID19 pandemic, we have witnessed a swift movement of onsite and hybrid courses to fully online formats. This development has created an urgent need for the design and delivery of online content and engagement mechanisms that are equitable for all students. There is little evidence that many of these courses are accessible to, usable by, and inclusive of students with disabilities. The author of this article discusses challenges students with disabilities face in accessing online content and engaging in online activities as well as choices that instructors and online course designers can make with respect to pedagogy and information technology (IT) to ensure that their classes are accessible to, usable by, and inclusive of all students. She introduces for those new to this field the potential of the universal design (UD) framework to inform the design of online learning that addresses the needs of students with a wide range of characteristics.

scholarly journals Reimagining Disability and Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Doolittle Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
White Male ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Regular Classroom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design For Learning

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.

Using the SAMR and UDL Models to Differentiate Online Instruction

2020 ◽  
pp. 141-157
Author(s):  
Joanne Caniglia ◽  
Michelle Meadows
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Interactive Software ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Online Learning Environments ◽  
Inclusive Learning ◽  
Design For Learning

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss two frameworks that are useful for integrating and differentiating technology within online learning environments for students with disabilities: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition Model (SAMR). Following a review of the literature of each framework, the interactive software program, Desmos®, will be used to demonstrate how to integrate these two models. Finally, the authors make recommendations that will support all students to benefit from an online environment and engage in inclusive learning experiences.

Universal Design for Learning: Guidelines for Accessible Online Instruction

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Rogers-Shaw ◽  
Davin J. Carr-Chellman ◽  
Jinhee Choi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Online Instruction ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Learner Centered ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Teaching Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for the teaching–learning transaction that conceptualizes knowledge through learner-centered foci emphasizing accessibility, collaboration, and community. Given the importance of access to achieving social justice, UDL is a promising approach to meeting all learners’ needs more effectively. In this article, the history and philosophy of UDL are discussed and elaborated, followed by an explanation of how the principles of UDL were used to improve an existing online course offering for adult learners.

Operational Performance Guidelines for Online Instructors

2011 ◽  
pp. 1564-1570
Author(s):  
Lawrence C. Ragan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Operational Performance ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Institutional Response ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Recent Estimate ◽  
Wide Range

Demand for online education continues to grow as technology provides viable methods for the delivery of a wide range of learning experiences. The growth in online education is largely driven by learner demand for flexibility and convenience, and widespread institutional response to meet that demand. According to Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, (Allen and Seaman, 2007), “The number of students taking at least one online course continues to expand at a rate far in excess of the growth of overall higher education enrollments. The most recent estimate, for fall 2006, places this number at 3.48 million online students, an increase of 9.7 percent over the previous year” (p. 5). According to Allen and Seaman (2007), more than two-thirds of all higher education institutions offer online programming, the majority of which expect to see a mean-growth of 30% in enrollments (p. 11).

scholarly journals COVID-19 and Undergraduates with Disabilities: Challenges Resulting from the Rapid Transition to Online Course Delivery for Students with Disabilities in Undergraduate STEM at Large-Enrollment Institutions

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. ar36
Author(s):  
Logan E. Gin ◽  
Frank A. Guerrero ◽  
Sara E. Brownell ◽  
Katelyn M. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Online Instruction ◽  
Course Delivery ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Rapid Transition ◽  
Large Enrollment

This article explores how the rapid transition to online instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic affected students with disabilities. Findings suggest challenges related to access to existing accommodations, unique challenges in the online environment, and factors that prevented students from being properly accommodated in STEM courses.

UNDERSTANDING DISABILITIES & ONLINE STUDENT SUCCESS

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Betts ◽  
Bill Welsh ◽  
Kelly Hermann ◽  
Cheryl Pruitt ◽  
Gaeir Dietrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Disability Services ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Academic Goals ◽  
Online Student ◽  
Support Resources ◽  
Legislative Changes

Approximately 11% of all postsecondary students reported having a disability in 2008. Although the percentage of students with disabilities in 2008 closely reflects the percentage reported in 2004, the U.S. Government Accountability Office states that recent legislative changes have the potential to increase the diversity and number of students with disabilities pursing higher education. To support students with disabilities enrolled in higher education and in online learning, it is important to understand disabilities and the resources students need to actively engage in their courses and to achieve their academic goals. This article includes collaborative responses from a diverse group of leaders at eight higher education institutions and organizations who work with disability services and have experience in online learning. Some of the contributors also have disabilities so the collective responses build upon research, professional experience, and personal experience. For this article, the ten contributors answered 20 questions regarding disabilities and online student success as well as provided recommended practices. This article is designed to be interactive. It includes screenshots, simulation links, video demonstrations, and resources to provide a more detailed understanding of disabilities, accessibility, and support resources. JALN readers are encouraged to interact with the simulations and to watch the demonstration videos as a way to learn more about disabilities and supporting online student success.

Learning Analytics Considered Harmful

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie P Dringus
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Full Potential

This essay is written to present a prospective stance on how learning analytics, as a core evaluative approach, must help instructors uncover the important trends and evidence of quality learner data in the online course. A critique is presented of strategic and tactical issues of learning analytics. The approach to the critique is taken through the lens of questioning the current status of applying learning analytics to online courses. The goal of the discussion is twofold: (1) to inform online learning practitioners (e.g., instructors and administrators) of the potential of learning analytics in online courses and (2) to broaden discussion in the research community about the advancement of learning analytics in online learning. In recognizing the full potential of formalizing big data in online coures, the community must address this issue also in the context of the potentially "harmful" application of learning analytics.

scholarly journals REAPing the benefits: development and use of a structured evaluation framework to codify learning resources for Global Health professionals

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Schleiff ◽  
Elizabeth Hahn ◽  
Caroline Dolive ◽  
Lillian James ◽  
Anant Mishra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Health Leadership ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Meaningful Engagement ◽  
Online Activities ◽  
Competency Domains

Abstract Background The learning opportunities for global health professionals have expanded rapidly in recent years. The diverse array of learners and wide range in course quality underscore the need for an improved course vetting process to better match learners with appropriate learning opportunities. Methods We developed a framework to assess overall course quality by determining performance across four defined domains Relevance, Engagement, Access, and Pedagogy (REAP). We applied this framework across a learning catalogue developed for participants enrolled in the Sustaining Technical and Analytic Resources (STAR) project, a global health leadership training program. Results The STAR learning activities database included a total of 382 courses, workshops, and web-based resources which fulfilled 531 competencies across three levels: core, content, and skill. Relevance: The majority of activities were at an understanding or practicing level across all competency domains (486/531, 91.5%). Engagement: Many activities lacked any peer engagement (202/531, 38.0%) and had limited to no faculty engagement (260/531, 49.0%). Access: The plurality of courses across competencies were offered on demand (227/531, 42.7%) and were highly flexible in pace (240/531, 45.2%). Pedagogy: Of the activities that included an assessment, most matched activity learning objectives (217/531, 40.9%). Conclusions Through applying REAP to the STAR project learning catalogue, we found many online activities lacked meaningful engagement with faculty and peers. Further development of structured online activities providing learners with flexibility in access, a range of levels of advancement for content, and opportunities to engage and apply learning are needed for the field of global health.

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