Jennison Asuncion

Catherine and I would like to thank everyone here, whether you contributed once or actively. For those of you who lurked and absorbed the material, we also hope you learned along with us. Thanks of course also goes to Sylvia Currie who came to Catherine and I with the suggestion to host such a seminar.

In terms of the actual accessibility of eLearning in Canadian postsecondary education research, our team will be continuing to do a robust analysis of the students with disabilities data. Not discussed here were responses from our other three groups: individuals who provide disability-related accommodations on college and university campuses, faculty who have had the experience of teaching at least one course in the last three years in where they used some form of eLearning and had a student with a disability take that course; and the professionals who support/implement eLearning at postsecondary institutions across Canada. The types of questions we asked these three groups were similar to allow for comparison of responses and include:
* their accessibility ratings of eighteen types of eLearning (e.g., course web pages, PowerPoint in the classroom) to students who fall into five broad categories of impairments/disabilities (totally
blind, low vision, Deaf/hearing impairment, learning disability/ADD/ADHD, mobility/neuromuscular impairment);
* overall experiences and views about computer technologies and eLearning at their institutions; and
* a series of "actual" versus "desired situation" questions relative to their role in assuring the accessibility of eLearning to students with disabilities.

And now for some exciting news. Sylvia has approached us with an offer to allow for this community of learning to continue via the ScoPE facilities beginning in the new year for an indefinite period of time. Judging from the discussions here, and because eLearning and accessibility for learners with disabilities is a major topic within the broad accessibility umbrella, we have decided to take Sylvia up on her offer, with myself, and members of our research team acting as facilitators.

Once details are ironed out over the next few days, we will advise you all via this forum.

Should you have individual questions about the research itself, feel free to contact either myself or Catherine by email
- asuncion@alcor.concordia.ca for myself; and
- catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca for Catherine.

We will hopefully see many of you again soon in our new home!

Jennison

Catherine and I would like to thank everyone here, whether you contributed once or actively. For those of you who lurked and absorbed the material, we also hope you learned along with us. Thanks of course also goes to Sylvia Currie who came to Catherine and I with the suggestion to host such a seminar.

In terms of the actual accessibility of eLearning in Canadian postsecondary education research, our team will be continuing to do a robust analysis of the students with disabilities data. Not discussed here were responses from our other three groups: individuals who provide disability-related accommodations on college and university campuses, faculty who have had the experience of teaching at least one course in the last three years in where they used some form of eLearning and had a student with a disability take that course; and the professionals who support/implement eLearning at postsecondary institutions across Canada. The types of questions we asked these three groups were similar to allow for comparison of responses and include:
* their accessibility ratings of eighteen types of eLearning (e.g., course web pages, PowerPoint in the classroom) to students who fall into five broad categories of impairments/disabilities (totally
blind, low vision, Deaf/hearing impairment, learning disability/ADD/ADHD, mobility/neuromuscular impairment);
* overall experiences and views about computer technologies and eLearning at their institutions; and
* a series of "actual" versus "desired situation" questions relative to their role in assuring the accessibility of eLearning to students with disabilities.

And now for some exciting news. Sylvia has approached us with an offer to allow for this community of learning to continue via the ScoPE facilities beginning in the new year for an indefinite period of time. Judging from the discussions here, and because eLearning and accessibility for learners with disabilities is a major topic within the broad accessibility umbrella, we have decided to take Sylvia up on her offer, with myself, and members of our research team acting as facilitators.

Once details are ironed out over the next few days, we will advise you all via this forum.

Should you have individual questions about the research itself, feel free to contact either myself or Catherine by email
- asuncion@alcor.concordia.ca for myself; and
- catherine.fichten@mcgill.ca for Catherine.

We will hopefully see many of you again soon in our new home!

Jennison

We asked students who responded to our online survey to list the three most troublesome problems they experienced while using some form of eLearning in the courses they took. For each problem they provided, we also asked them to tell us how that problem was resolved, and to indicate “unresolved” if that were the case.

 The results show that the most common problems noted by the entire sample of students with all disabilities/impairments were:
* technical difficulties
* inaccessibility of websites/course management systems
* poor use of eLearning by professors

We are in the process of examining how each of the eLearning problems that students listed was resolved. However, looking at the overall frequencies of how problems were generally resolved, the most surprising finding is that the most common "solution" mentioned by students is that at least one of their three most important problems remained unresolved. Other common solutions were that the professor provided assistance and that the student obtained an/or used needed computer technologies and alternate formats.

For those of you who have approached a professor to resolve potential eLearning-related accessibility problems for students with disabilities (e.g., requests for copies of PowerPoint presentations used in class, extending existing or removal of timed requirements for online quizzes, inaccessibility of course web pages), what has been their typical reaction?

For those of you who are professors or eLearning professionals, do you typically address eLearning accessibility problems for students with disabilities yourself, or do you look elsewhere within your institution? If the latter, where/who do you seek support from?

Jennison

We asked students who responded to our online survey to list the three most troublesome problems they experienced while using some form of eLearning in the courses they took. For each problem they provided, we also asked them to tell us how that problem was resolved, and to indicate “unresolved” if that were the case.

 The results show that the most common problems noted by the entire sample of students with all disabilities/impairments were:
* technical difficulties
* inaccessibility of websites/course management systems
* poor use of eLearning by professors

We are in the process of examining how each of the eLearning problems that students listed was resolved. However, looking at the overall frequencies of how problems were generally resolved, the most surprising finding is that the most common "solution" mentioned by students is that at least one of their three most important problems remained unresolved. Other common solutions were that the professor provided assistance and that the student obtained an/or used needed computer technologies and alternate formats.

For those of you who have approached a professor to resolve potential eLearning-related accessibility problems for students with disabilities (e.g., requests for copies of PowerPoint presentations used in class, extending existing or removal of timed requirements for online quizzes, inaccessibility of course web pages), what has been their typical reaction?

For those of you who are professors or eLearning professionals, do you typically address eLearning accessibility problems for students with disabilities yourself, or do you look elsewhere within your institution? If the latter, where/who do you seek support from?

Jennison

We asked our students with disabilities participants to list the benefits that they derived from using eLearning. The top five, for all students were:

* Availability of online course notes
* Help in learning and academic success
* Help in understanding course lecture content
* Ability to work at own an individual pace
* Ability to work or learn from home

What will be interesting will be to see if there are any differences once we analyze participants based on specific disability/impairment.

Jennison