Title:	ACCESSIBILITY IN A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM: A CASE STUDY FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED USING WEBCT
Author(s):	Shohreh Hadian , Margaret-anne Storey
ISBN:	972-8924-05-4
Editors:	Kinshuk, Demetrios Sampson and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2005
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Web-based Education, Accessibility, Disability, Visual Impairment
Type:	Poster/Demonstration
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	Web based education has become a norm in delivery of courses in universities, schools and corporations. In order to ensure universal access to this form of education, it is important for developers, authors and users to become aware of accessibility and of the potential barriers that may be encountered in these virtual environments. To this end, this paper investigates accessibility barriers faced by users with visual impairment in virtual classrooms. The research starts by introducing a definition of accessibility in the context of good software design practices. Here, accessibility has been looked at from interoperability, adaptability, learnability, operability, changeability and fault tolerance perspectives. The research was approached from two perspectives: the author's responsibilities to make their web material more accessible to assistive devices for the blind; and from a user's perspective, the barriers faced by visually impaired were noted during a case study and recommendations have been noted for administrators, authors and users of teaching and learning tools. From an authoring perspective, two commercial tools, WebCT and Blackboard, have been evaluated for their ability to help and guide the author in creating code that adheres to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines implemented by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). From the learner's point of view, a user study was designed and implemented to identify the barriers faced by the visually impaired. The study involved three participants covering a broad spectrum of disability from totally blind to partially blind. A fully sighted user was also selected for control purposes. To make the course material accessible to the blind, LIFT in combination with Dreamweaver, was selected for the user study. Also, assistive devices were identified for use by people with visual impairment and three devices were used during the testing phase: JAWS, Zoomtext and Braille. Recommendations have been put forward for developers and authors to better understand how people use assistive devices, and how design features can enhance or impede accessibility.
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