Institutional, Legal, and Attitudinal Barriers to the Accessibility of University Digital Libraries

This chapter takes a look at the impact of accessibility barriers to today's digital libraries on disabled students' ability to succeed and considers the wider institutional implications of such barriers in light of disability laws in the United States. It analyzes the implications of these barriers from the broader institutional policy perspective in improving the access to higher education for users with print disabilities. The author concludes by reiterating that achieving technical accessibility through adherence to industry or legal standards alone is not adequate for making usable research and teaching libraries available to students and scholars with print disabilities. The author also emphasizes that engaging actual disabled users both in the design and development stages of the platforms, user interfaces, and content presentation schemas for these knowledge repositories is of utmost importance.

Tackling the Emerging New Norms in Higher Education in Post-Recession America

This chapter will examine emerging new norms across higher education in the United States following the recession of 2008-09. Colleges and universities face an environment increasingly made up of prospective students and their families shopping and bargaining for the best college deal; institutions are struggling to control student costs by raising discount rates; administrators are seeking to find new sources of revenue and programmatic niches; and faculty are increasingly focused on how to make their curriculum more unique and relevant. Finally, higher education leaders should closely examine long-held recruitment and financial aid strategies, cost structures, academic calendars and mission to meet the new situation. This chapter will summarize the development of the new landscape in public and private higher education, including the growing similarities facing public and private institutions including their common efforts to keep higher education affordable and accessible, and conclude with recommendations for administrators as they navigate their way through the new norm.

Higher Education for Whom? Higher Education for What?

This chapter provides a critical quantitative examination of issues related to increasing access to higher education in the United States. The chapter first offers insights into the utility of using empirical evidence within a critical, theoretical framework to unpack underlying issues of expanding accessibility. Specifically, critical theory is used to excavate the limits of liberal approaches to expanding higher education through increasing access, coupled with empirical analysis of disparities in college completion rates. That is, while increasing access is important, access is hardly enough to decrease social and economic gaps. Issues of hegemony within higher education are examined through an examination of which students, despite increased access to higher education broadly, have access to specific types of post-secondary educational experiences.

The Future of Accessibility in Higher Education

Higher education worldwide is facing unprecedented challenges - the dramatic rise of college tuition, rapidly increasing demands for accountability, and a complex society that demands college graduates with even more skills and capacities. To understand how higher education can effectively address these challenges, this chapter investigates the economic and social benefits of higher education and what it means for the future of accessibility in higher education. Utilizing Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) and signaling theory, a comprehensive search of the literature selected 60 peer-reviewed journal articles and twenty-five books published between 2000 and 2016. The findings suggest that student expectations for a college degree tends to be very instrumental and personal, while higher education purpose of undergraduate education tend towards highly ideal life- and society-changing consequences. Eight recommendations for teacher-scholars, policymakers, and campus leaders are proposed. The ultimate goal is to help make colleges skills and degrees more accessible for students.

An Investigation Into the Gamification of E-Learning in Higher Education

The concept of gamification has gained significant attention from practitioners and academics alike. Using game mechanics and dynamics to support an e-learning platform can increase learners' motivation, engagement, and retention areas, which have been proven to be challenging in the past. This chapter proposes a conceptual gamified e-learning framework which addresses some of the issues facing such environments. Further work needs to be done to standardize the framework by testing and applying it to a gamified e-learning environment.

Part-Time Students and Performance-Based Funding 2.0 in United States Public Higher Education

Meeting the college completion goals set by the United States Government, the Lumina Foundation, and others will require the completion of an additional eight million associate's or bachelor's degrees (Kelly & Schneider, 2012). As part-time students will make up to 40 percent of college students by 2023 (NCES, 2015), educational policymakers will need to adjust their completion agenda to account for the high number of part-time students in higher education. Drawing from the literature on part-time students and performance-based funding, the authors in this chapter propose that better attention to part-time students and factors that signal their success, combined with performance-based funding that acknowledges the need for the success of more part-time students, would be a worthwhile approach for increasing the accessibility of higher education.

Accessibility and Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This chapter contributes to important conversations about accessibility in higher education by examining legal issues that shape experiences of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The chapter begins by outlining the relationship between reasonable accommodations and academic success. Then, it provides an overview of ASD in relation to postsecondary education. A substantive portion of the chapter delineates current legal topics, including federal law, case law, and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) letters. Functional limitations associated with ASD are social or sensory in nature. However, legal precedent in the United States defines the major life activity of learning in a manner that does not usually include these components, thereby limiting access to sensory and social accommodations. The chapter concludes by discussing Title IX and students with ASD that experience sexual assault, the value of neurodiversity, and future implications for accessibility as the number of students with ASD in postsecondary education increases.

Laws, Finance, and Policies of Higher Education Accessibility

Historically, educational accessibility in higher education appeared to be a dynamic and fluid scale with individual rights and accessibility on one side while institutional policies and procedures balanced the other side. Additional weights were applied to both sides of the scale. United States (U.S.) federal laws applied weight to the individual rights and accessibility side. Meanwhile, financial considerations applied weight to the institutional policies side. U.S. universities may have found this balancing act difficult through ongoing legal cases and law revisions. Critical Disability Theory (CDT) provides an alternative viewpoint to review education accessibility. CDT also encourages participation by more campus stakeholders to resolve accessibility issues and promote full accessibility on university campuses. This chapter will explore and explain the complex interconnections of laws, finances and policies in supporting accessibility on campuses and discuss potential guidelines for future institutional policies and procedures related to students with disabilities.

Access and Accessibility of Academic Libraries' Electronic Resources and Services

An analysis of the literature on access and accessibility in academic libraries identified five themes including: evaluating electronic resources and services for disabled users, examining the digital divide and electronic access in countries with limited resources, analyzing access to library collections and services, increasing access to electronic resources and services, and utilizing tools to promote access to resources. The review highlighted the importance of assessment, user studies, collaboration, skills instruction, and technologies in fostering access and accessibility in academic libraries. Assessing all users' access to library resources remains essential in identifying issues with the delivery of services and materials through the web. User studies foster improved access to resources by revealing individuals' resource and instructional needs as well their physical impairments. Collaboration among various entities supports funding, resource acquisition, and service development, especially in countries with limited resources. Instruction, like collaboration, enhances users' access through the improvement of their information and digital literacy skills. Lastly, access and accessibility of library resources centers on the use of technology to support all users' abilities to utilize libraries materials and services. Students' access to library resources and services is critical for their completion of course work as well as their development of 21st Century skills.

Expanding Notions of Access

This chapter focuses on disability access in higher education and the role that Universal Design has played in improving meaningful participation and inclusion of students with disabilities. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of several frameworks of Universal Design that are specific to the context of instruction and learning, as well as the scholarship and theory related to implementation of these frameworks in postsecondary classroom environments. Scholarship on how current Universal Design frameworks might be expanded to address a broader set of access and equity issues, as well as the limitation of the current research about its application and effectiveness are also discussed. The chapter closes with a synthesis of opportunities and future directions for research, scholarship, and practice related to the development and implementation of Universal Design frameworks in higher education.