Opinions of disabled university students on the distance education process

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the views of university students with disabilities, regarding the distance education process. The data collection tool of this qualitative research carried out in a phenomenological design is a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher, which aims to get the opinions of the disabled students studying at the university on the distance education process. The study group of the research consists of 30 students with visual, hearing and orthopedic disabilities who are studying at various universities in the cities of Almaty, Nur-Sultan, Aktobe and Karaganda in Kazakhstan, and have agreed to participate in the research voluntarily. As a result of the research, it was revealed that university students with disabilities found distance education inadequate in terms of teacher-learner, learner-learner, learner-content and learner-technology relations in line with the answers they gave in the semi-structured interview form. Improving teacher and peer relations in the distance education process of disabled university students, reorganizing the educational content and creating the technological infrastructure suitable for their needs are among the important tasks of the education approach of contemporary higher education.
 Keywords: Distance education, hearing impaired students, higher education. orthopedically impaired students, visually impaired students