Are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Really Open to Everyone?: A Study of Accessibility Evaluation from the Perspective of Universal Design for Learning

Abstract

Recently, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have emerged as an open learning space with the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the movement of knowledge sharing. MOOCs are an open online learning space based on unconstrained interaction among learners unlike traditional e-learning systems. Despite the promise of openness in learning, there is lack of research studies to elucidate the accessibility of MOOCs for learners with disabilities. The main goals of this paper are 1) to evaluate the accessibility of MOOCs from the perspective of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and 2) to identify critical barriers diminishing the accessibility issues. First, we performed a manual testing to evaluate three MOOC platforms (i.e., Coursera, edX, and Khan Academy) on the computer and the mobile platform with the UDL principles. Second, we conducted a user study with four participants with visual impairment. From the walkthrough experience in the interview sessions, we identified critical obstacles in accessibility of MOOCs. The results indicate that the three MOOCs platforms met only 52% of the 40 UDL categories. Overall, the computer-based MOOC platform received higher accessibility scores than that of the mobile-based MOOC platform though the difference was marginal. Finally, we present four main obstacles related to the low accessibility issues in MOOCs.