short-paper

Guidance on How Learning at Scale Can be Made More Accessible

Authors:

Victoria MurphyAuthors Info & Claims

L@S '20: Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale

Pages 289 - 292

https://doi.org/10.1145/3386527.3406730

Published: 12 August 2020 Publication History

Get Access

Abstract

While learning at scale has the potential to widen access to education, the accessibility of courses offered on Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms has not been researched in depth. This paper begins to fill that gap. Data was gathered using the participatory 'Evidence Café' method. Thematic analysis identified characteristics of accessible courses on these platforms. These characteristics include elements of both technology and pedagogy. Capturing and analysing expert insights enables this paper to provide guidance on how online courses can be made more accessible. The findings suggest that course production teams need to work collaboratively with providers to address issues of accessibility and involve learners in design, testing and evaluation. Well-designed tutor-supported activities that follow web accessibility and usability guidelines are needed, as well as educator training on accessibility.

Supplementary Material

MP4 File (3386527.3406730.mp4)

Guidance on how Learning at Scale can be made more accessible

Download
4.73 MB

References

[1]

Yakup Akgül. 2018 Accessibility evaluation of MOOC websites in Turkey. Journal of Life Economics 5: 23--36.

Crossref

Google Scholar

[2]

Way Kiat Bong and Weiqin Chen. 2016. How accessible are MOOCs to the elderly? International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer.

Crossref

Google Scholar

[3]

Gill Clough and Anne Adams. 2017. Evidence Cafes: A how-to Guide. Milton Keynes, UK: The Open University.

Google Scholar

[4]

Gill Clough, Anne Adams, and Eric Halford. 2017. Evidence Cafés and Practitioner Cafés supported by online resources: A route to innovative training in practice-based approaches. European Police Science and Research Bulletin: Special Conference Edition No. 3(3) pp. 115--122.

Google Scholar

[5]

Mexhid Ferati, Njomza Mripa, and Ridvan Bunjaku. 2016. Accessibility of MOOCs for Blind People in Developing Non-English Speaking Countries. Advances in Design for Inclusion. Springer, 519--528.

Google Scholar

[6]

Francisco Iniesto. 2020. An Investigation into the Accessibilty of Massive Open Online Courses. PhD thesis. The Open University, UK.

Google Scholar

[7]

Francisco Iniesto, Patrick McAndrew, Shailey Minocha and Tim Coughlan. 2016. Accessibility of MOOCs: Understanding the Provider Perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education 1: article no 20.

Crossref

Google Scholar

[8]

Aleksandra Królak, Weiqin Chen, Norun C. Sanderson, and Siri Kessel. 2017. The Accessibility of MOOCs for Blind Learners. Proceedings of the 19th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. 401--402.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[9]

Jose L. Martin, Héctor Amado Salvatierra, and Jose R. Hilera. 2016. MOOCs for all: Evaluating the accessibility of top MOOC platforms. The International Journal of Engineering Education 32: 2274--2283.

Google Scholar

[10]

Lawrence A. Palinkas, Sarah M. Horwitz, Carla A. Green, Jennifer P. Wisdom, Naihua Duan, and Kimberly Hoagwood. 2015. Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 42: 533--544.

Crossref

Google Scholar

[11]

Tina Papathoma. 2019. MOOC Educators: Who They Are and How They Learn. Milton Keynes: PhD Thesis. The Open University.

Google Scholar

[12]

Sandra Sanchez-Gordon and Sergio Luján-Mora. 2018. Research challenges in accessible MOOCs: a systematic literature review 2008--2016. Universal Access in the Information Society 17: 775--789.

Digital Library

Google Scholar

[13]

Louisa Smith, Leanne Dowse, Karen Soldatic, and Mike Kent. 2017. Developing a MOOC: factoring in disability. Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What Went Right, What Went Wrong, and Where to Next? 123--134.

Google Scholar

[14]

Jian-Syuan Wong, Bart Pursel, Anna Divinsky, and Bernard J. Jansen. 2015. An analysis of MOOC discussion forum interactions from the most active users. International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction. Springer.

Google Scholar

Cited By

View all

Fung KPerrault SLee LFung KSong S(2023)Can Students With Dyslexia Learn Independently? A Seven-Week Study of Chinese Character Learning in an Informal Learning EnvironmentIEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies10.1109/TLT.2022.322901616:5(619-632)Online publication date: Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2022.3229016
Marras MBoratto LRamos GFenu G(2021)Equality of Learning Opportunity via Individual Fairness in Personalized RecommendationsInternational Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education10.1007/s40593-021-00271-132:3(636-684)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2021
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00271-1
Rets IRogaten J(2020) To simplify or not? Facilitating English L2 users' comprehension and processing of open educational resources in English using text simplification Journal of Computer Assisted Learning10.1111/jcal.1251737:3(705-717)Online publication date: 28-Dec-2020
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12517

Index Terms

Guidance on How Learning at Scale Can be Made More Accessible
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
    1. Distance learning
    2. E-learning
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Accessibility
    1. Accessibility design and evaluation methods
    2. Empirical studies in accessibility

Recommendations

E-Learning Accessibility Model: A Culture of Collaboration and Outcomes Assessment

Using data from 22 in-depth interviews with e-learning accessibility researchers, disability specialists, instructional designers, higher education administrators, and disabled current and former higher education students, a strategic model of e-...
Accessible eLearning - eLearning for Accessibility/AT: Introduction to the Special Thematic Session
Computers Helping People with Special Needs
Abstract
The special thematic session on eLearning for accessibility and assistive technologies is made up of a wide range of papers that illustrate a variety of approaches to teaching and learning that comes under the title ‘eLearning’ such as ...
Accessible e-learning material: a no-frills avenue for didactical experts
Special issue: Accessible hypermedia and multimedia

Different organizations adopt accessibility for various and diverse reasons. Interesting and inspiring as such reasons may be, it is important to ensure that the motivation for supporting accessibility is that it is the right thing to do, i.e. a ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

L@S '20: Proceedings of the Seventh ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale

August 2020

442 pages

ISBN:9781450379519

DOI:10.1145/3386527

General Chair:
David Joyner
Georgia Tech
,
Program Chairs:
Rene Kizilcec
Cornell University
,
Susan Singer
Rollins College

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 12 August 2020

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Short-paper

Conference

L@S '20

L@S '20: Seventh (2020) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale

August 12 - 14, 2020

Virtual Event, USA

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 117 of 440 submissions, 27%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

3
Total Citations
View Citations
111
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)18
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Reflects downloads up to 22 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all

Fung KPerrault SLee LFung KSong S(2023)Can Students With Dyslexia Learn Independently? A Seven-Week Study of Chinese Character Learning in an Informal Learning EnvironmentIEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies10.1109/TLT.2022.322901616:5(619-632)Online publication date: Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/TLT.2022.3229016
Marras MBoratto LRamos GFenu G(2021)Equality of Learning Opportunity via Individual Fairness in Personalized RecommendationsInternational Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education10.1007/s40593-021-00271-132:3(636-684)Online publication date: 8-Oct-2021
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00271-1
Rets IRogaten J(2020) To simplify or not? Facilitating English L2 users' comprehension and processing of open educational resources in English using text simplification Journal of Computer Assisted Learning10.1111/jcal.1251737:3(705-717)Online publication date: 28-Dec-2020
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12517

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Cited By

Index Terms

Recommendations

E-Learning Accessibility Model: A Culture of Collaboration and Outcomes Assessment

Accessible eLearning - eLearning for Accessibility/AT: Introduction to the Special Thematic Session

Accessible e-learning material: a no-frills avenue for didactical experts