Advanced IT Education for the Vision Impaired via e-Learning

Abstract

Executive SummaryLack of accessibility in the design of e-learning courses continues to hinder students with vision impairment. E-learning materials are predominantly vision-centric, incorporating images, animation, and interactive media, and as a result students with acute vision impairment do not have equal opportunity to gain tertiary qualifications or skills relevant to the marketplace and their disability. Due to its logical, rather than physical, nature IT help desk and network administration roles are ideal for people who are blind. This paper describes the development of a fully accessible e-learning environment to deliver advanced IT network curriculum to adults with acute vision disabilities. The components include a virtual classroom, accessible learning materials, a remote computer laboratory, and delivery of the learning materials by vision impaired instructors. Industry standard courses in advanced IT were redeveloped, and the accessible on-line learning environment was developed to deliver the courses. Vision impaired students who excelled in the pilot project were trained as instructors, gaining industry-standard instructor certifications. These instructors were used to assist with the design of accessible methods and delivered the materials to the vision impaired students.The project has been operational for four years with a pilot project being conducted over a two year period, followed by the delivery of the courses both local and remote vision impaired students across the globe using this accessible e-learning environment for the past two years. Evaluation results indicate that vision impaired students situated both locally and remotely gained equivalent grades to their sighted counterparts given additional time to comprehend and experiment via the virtual classroom and remote computer laboratory. In addition, the use of vision impaired instructors has resulted in more innovative approaches to accessible teaching methods and delivery of the curriculum.

Exploring Transformative Usability in the Business and Professional Writing Classroom

“…To expand on professional communicators’ understanding of accessible design, this article advocates grounding discussions of accessibility and usability in disability studies. Moreover, though I recognize accessible classrooms are also legally protected and we should strive to ensure our classrooms are accessible (Armstrong, 2009; Case & Davidson, 2011; Coombs, 2010; Nielsen, 2013, 2016; Oswal & Hewett, 2013), this article’s focus is to prepare students to create these accessible documents.…”

Enhancing Learning Management Systems Utility for Blind Students: A Task-oriented, User-Centered, Multi-Method Evaluation Technique

“…No rendition of graphics (Armstrong, 2009). BVI users cannot perceive or interpret information communicated through images, color, and layout.…”

“…However, very scant research examines whether blind and visually impaired (BVI) students can effectively use a LMS to derive desired learning outcomes (Babu, 2011). LMS often lack the accessibility and usability needed for non-visual interaction (NVI) (Armstrong, 2009), due to which completing e-learning tasks becomes difficult or impossible for BVI students (Babu, Singh & Ganesh, 2010). This leads to an un-empowered BVI user who is discouraged and disengaged from the process -they just give up.…”

Considerations on Barriers to Effective E-learning toward Accessible Virtual Campuses

“…There are several challenges associated with the implementation of effective learning outcomes via e-learning within a virtual campus. In this chapter in particular, the considerations on the use of e-learning to reach students with disabilities and the barriers [1][2][3][4][5] that they may have will be analyzed, providing the basic knowledge to prepare an accessible virtual campus.…”