Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the Italian universities outlining their degree of accessibility and usability using digital technologies. Considering the crucial role played by the digital technologies in supporting educational and training processes and making them much more accessible and used in practice for students with disability and special needs, we aim to provide a portrait of the Italian universities and their way to be accessible and inclusive adopting the digital technologies (accessible website; visual content in PowerPoint slides; student-facing online tools, such as, clickers, discussion boards, chat bots, and WIKIs accessible, etc.). Starting from a deep review of the literature on the topic, we investigate the Italian universities mapping them considering some specific main features (i.e. the degree of accessibility and usability of website, the adoption of e-learning solutions, etc.). Our qualitative research, through a multiple case study, aims to provide interesting insights for the future analysing one specific country, where some relevant cultural, contextual, geographic and organizational factors can significantly impact the way the universities try to be much more inclusive, adopting digital technologies, and consequently becoming ‘smart’ universities.
Highlights
IntroductionEspecially ICT, are a fundamental element of the current technological and globalized world
Digital technologies, especially ICT, are a fundamental element of the current technological and globalized world
This study provides a synthetic analysis of the Italian context by taking a picture of the Italian universities from the perspective of inclusion and technological innovativeness
Summary
Especially ICT, are a fundamental element of the current technological and globalized world. The use of ICT and in general all the digital technologies, is becoming fundamental to make higher education services accessible and usable especially for people with special needs, achieving and fulfilling sustainable development goals (SDGs) (UN Agenda 2030), in terms of infrastructure, industrialization, and innovation (SDG 9), good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), quality and inclusive education (SDG 4). It should be important to adopt innovative solutions using technology for making the website of educational institutions accessible and used in practice. Research shows improvements in accessibility and usability for students with disabilities by combining special methods and materials with the use of ICT. There are various technical aids to incorporate technologies, and each of them is aimed at the accessibility of a certain type of disability (visual, auditory, motor, cognitive)
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