What makes online learning accessible?

The designing of accessible online learning should include inclusion, removal of barriers and flexibility. The design of learning resources should cater for both current and future needs. Seale (2006) highlights elements of online learning that need to be made accessible and some ideas about the use of accessibility guidelines and standards. The list of elements […]

17.2 Alternative formats

Types and formats of resources, teaching materials and activities that are used in my context: Class presentations are normally created using Powerpoint. Blind students may need an audio file describing the contents of the presentation or software such as a narrator. Probably creating an audio file for each presentation used in class is not feasible […]

Activity 16.3

From your activities this week, the case studies and readings in Block 1 and your own experience, write notes about the factors that contribute to a student either stopping using assistive technology or becoming a successful user. From your notes pick out one or two factors that interested you and discuss them in your tutor […]

Activity 15.1

For each of slides 7 to 14, choose the one technology that you are least familiar with and do an internet search to find out more. What are its main features? How expensive is it? Do suppliers also supply training? Planning Tools: Outliners These tools are computer programs ‘that allows text to be organized into […]

Activity 15.3 Students’ voices

Digital technology has brought about improvement in accessibility. In one of the videos, Neal Ewers of the Trace Research Center works on whether application software work well with screen readers. Whilst I was using a screen reader I was not able to think from the perspective of a blind student e.g. It never crossed my […]

7.1 Disability Awareness

In the institutions I work in, the disability awareness guide (resource 1) may be used to introduce training in this subject. Staff may better understand how disabilities and accessibility may be dealt with. In resource 1, information on various disabilties is given. This made me aware of disabilities and how these may be identified. My […]

Equal opportunities – Global Context

Due to our colonial history, Maltese legislation is usually an adaptation of the UK laws. Yet the Maltese government has not yet ratified the UN convention due to specific issues i.e. abortion (which is illegal in Malta) and voting practices. Moreover the legislation on Equal opportunities dates back to the year 2000, so actually it […]

Activity 5.1 Legislation

Resource 1 – Seale (2006) Chapter 4 Legislation on online accessibility is still in its infancy (Seale, 2006). ‘Random websites had become progressively inaccessible through the years, whilst the complexity of the websites had increased.’ (Seale, 2006). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-1 and WCAG-) give developers clear guidelines on how a site should be built […]

Rumbling…week 2

Whilst reading some of this week’s material, this question is cropping in my head but don’t think there can be a straight forward answer for it… What about students who are not aware of their disability? Students who think that they are ‘not good’ at school? Is the system help them? Is the system actually […]

4.1 Challenges for disabled students

As asked in this activity, I have made a list of activities that might be challenging for students who have disabilities. As asked in the coursenotes, each activity is tentatively matched with the students who might find each of the activities challenging. Yet such matching may not be so straight forward and such a list […]