Hi there!
My thread for this week puts accessibility for special needs learners under the microscope. I have always had a keen interest in learners with disabilities; and I always wanted to help such learners achieve their educational goals. So, I am quite ecstatic that I was able to explore this niche in this week’s readings and zero in on it in this blog. Happy reading!
There is a growing number of special needs learners in the distance education landscape. Barnard-Brak and Sulak (2010) noted that such learners represent a student population that is diverse and growing and that their needs in the online climate can vary (as cited inPittman & Heiselt, 2014). To explicate further, special needs learners may have an array of disabilities. According to Crow (2008), their disabilities can be categorized into four major groups which are: mobility disabilities, auditory disabilities, cognitive disabilities, and visual disabilities (as cited inPittman & Heiselt, 2014). It is essential that DE practitioners accommodate and take these wide ranges of disabilities into account in their instructional and course designs. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. In fact, Edmond (2001) highlighted that the needs of such learners may be neglected by higher education institutions in an attempt to increase opportunities in the DE environment (as cited inPittman & Heiselt, 2014). However, with the continual rise of special needs learners in DE, accessibility is crucial now more than ever before. Although it may have the greatest impact on those providing support to these learners, it is still imperative that accessibility is considered in the DE landscape.
But what exactly is accessibility and how does it impact DE practitioners? According to Scale and Cooper (2010), “Accessibility is the ensuring that all students regardless of disability can access course materials and other offered technologies” (as cited in Pittman & Heiselt, 2014, p. 4). As previously mentioned, several distance learning institutions often provide limited accessibility for special needs students while others have access barriers and accessibility issues. In such cases, legal intervention may transpire. A classic exemplar of this is the lawsuit against the University of California at Berkeley. The lawsuit was filed in federal court by the plaintiff kaaryn Gustafson. At the time, she was a doctoral and law student with a mobility disability who experienced access issues. A settlement for this case was eventually reached which resulted in the removal of countless access barriers at the university (New, 2013 as cited in Pittman & Heiselt, 2014). This case illustrates the need for institutions and DE practitioners to be proactive and not reactive where special needs consideration is concerned.
As such, to avoid legal implications, DE practitioners and schools can address accessibility issues at the course level. One can only imagine how difficult it will be to design a course or material that addresses the diverse array of disabilities. In fact, this becomes even more challenging for teachers who are inexperienced and lack training in course design and development. According to Pittman and Heiselt (2014), “helping to prepare instructors could ensure accessibility for all students. Not all instructors are experienced in the development of online courses. To aid in this, administrators could provide instructors with templates that can be used as a guide to make courses more accessible” (p. 7). In addition to this, instructors who are inexperienced can be trained to use the universal design principles. Essentially, Mace’s universal design encompasses seven principles. They are “equitable use, flexibility in use, simple and intuitive use, perceptible information, tolerance for error, low physical effort, and size and space for approach and use” (The Center for Universal Design, 2010 as cited in Pittman & Heiselt, 2014, p. 4). In essence, these universal design principles can help DE practitioners like instructional designers develop courses that are accessible to students with disabilities.
That concludes my thread on supporting special needs learners! I anticipate your feedback and if you have any experience working with special needs learners in DE, feel free to share them with me!
Krista
MDE student
University of Maryland Global Campus
University of Maryland Global Campus | UMGC
References
Pittman, C., & Heiselt, A. (2014). Increasing accessibility: Using universal design principles to address disability impairments in the online learning environment. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 17(3). Click here to access the article