Design and Evaluation of a Universally Accessible Academic Course Search Portal

Abstract

The number of disabled students enrolling in postsecondary education is increasing. Many online academic resources have accessibility issues that make them difficult to use by those with temporary or permanent disabilities. This current state exists despite the enactment of laws and regulations regarding accessibility as well as growing interest in the research community in accessibility and universal access. Inaccessibility of these academic resources comes to the fore in time-pressured activities such as registration, where students have a limited time to plan their classes, layout their schedule and register using these tools. In this study an alternative academic course search interface will be designed and developed. It will incorporate existing accessibility guidelines alongside universal design principles to ensure universal and equal access. The new design will be evaluated in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, subjective satisfaction and learnability by people with different abilities and disabilities. Statistical analysis will reveal whether this approach yields significant improvements over the existing tools. The goal of the new design is to significantly increase the efficiency of the current tool both for able bodied and disabled users, by simplifying the process and removing the redundant steps, while addressing the needs of all users from the outset of the design process.