Accessibility within open educational resources and practices for disabled learners: a systematic literature review

Xiangling Zhang,Ting-Wen Chang,Ronghuai Huang,Mohamed Koutheair Khribi,Ahmed Tlili,Fabio Nascimbeni,Daniel Burgos,Mohamed Jemni

doi:10.1186/s40561-019-0113-2

Abstract

The number of disabled students is rapidly increasing worldwide, but many schools and universities have failed to keep up with their learning needs. Consequently, large numbers of disabled students are dropping out of school or university. Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) contain several relevant features, including the possibility of reusing and remixing, which have led researchers to consider using OER and OEP to facilitate meeting the needs of disabled and functional-diverse students in order to increase their accessibility and e-inclusion capabilities in educational settings. The very limited research to date, however, has provided a limited holistic understanding of accessibility within OER and OEP in order to aid researchers in pursuing future directions in this field. Therefore, this paper systematically reviewed 31 papers to provide insights about functional diversity within OER and OEP. The results obtained highlighted that accessibility is still in its infancy within OER and that researchers should focus more on considering the four accessibility principles — perceivable, operable, understandable and robust — when providing OER. Additionally, while several researchers have focused on several issues related to accessibility within OER, limited focus has been given to assistive technologies using OER. Finally, this paper provides several recommendations to increase accessibility within OER and help design more accessible OER for students with functional diversity.

Highlights

According to the World Health Organization, disability cover[s] impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions
An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations. (World Health Organization, 2015)
Experts have realised the importance and necessity of research on the topic of accessibility and open education, intended here as education based on Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP)

Summary

Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, disability cover[s] impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Accessibility for disabled students means that, in order for all to have equitable learning experiences, the learning experience, including its learning content and teaching process, should be adjusted according to students’ needs, including their disabilities. While people with disabilities have the same educational needs as others, they are less likely to attend schools and graduate, and may face difficulties in finding jobs in future (Ingram, 1971; Iwarsson & Ståhl, 2003; World Health Organization and World Bank, 2011). A great proportion of schools and universities fail to properly address equitable access, especially with regard to disabled students (Catlin & Blamires, 2019), partly due to the lack of effective teaching methods and content targeted to these student categories (Virnes, 2008)

Methods

Results

Conclusion