Accessibility Of Learning Management Systems Research Articles

Remote Education Trajectories for Learners with Special Needs During the Covid-19 Outbreak

In order to stop the COVID-19 virus spreading, most universities replaced traditional in-class education with remote teaching and learning. The whole situation was stressful for all, particularly for the students with special needs. It seems that these students were literally abandoned, and many differently abled students completely missed out on their education. Learning results of those who were enabled remote learning significantly decreased, which additionally undermined their already present low self-esteem. To resolve the dilemma whether the essential groundwork for inclusiveness exists, this paper examines the accessibility of learning management systems, audio and video teleconferencing applications, and massive open online courses. Four impairments: motor, vision, hearing and cognitive were carefully explored in line with WCAG 2.1 recommendations. The current state of the synergy between the components was assessed carefully and thoroughly. Based on the research findings, recommendations towards making online learning more accessible to students with special needs are proposed, aiming to enable broad education to everyone, with no discrimination on the basis of disability.

Accessible Learning Management Systems: Students’ Experiences and Insights

Learning Management System (LMS) is a type of an e-learning system is one of the main infrastructural requirements that improves access to higher education for persons with disabilities. The primary aim of the research study[1] was to explore perceptions of students with disabilities regarding the use and accessibility of learning management systems and benefits and/or barriers in e-learning. Students mainly have negative experiences while attempting to enter university web-sites/libraries/LMSs because of the inadequate adaptation to the specific needs of students with disabilities. In countries that do not have a developed LMS, the prevalent mean of communication with professors is via e-mail, in those where there is a LMS, there is not a fully accessibility of entire content and services for students with special needs. This research defined the need for creation of an accessible LMS or adjusted already existing LMS with accessibility solutions such as: a text-to-speech engine for blind students, a mode with sign language support for deaf students and a mode which supports dyslexic.

Evaluating The Usability And Accessibility Of LMS “Blackboard” At King Saud University

King Saud University is in the process of adopting and implementing the interactive Blackboard Learning Management Systems (LMSs) with features that allow members of staff and teachers from different faculties to access, upload assignments, send quizzes, download content, and evaluate the academic progress of the members of faculty. However, many faculty members complain about the accessibility and usability of the e-learning software because of the perceptions that the interactive features are not user friendly. Little research has been done to evaluate the accessibility and usability of the e-learning software. The current study was conducted to answer the research questions on the accessibility and usability of the blackboard vista e-learning software and the barriers of user experience when interacting with blackboard. The study was based on the hypothesis that Blackboard LMS is highly accessible and usable by teachers in the King Saud University and a hypothesis that stated otherwise. The elements that were evaluated using questionnaires include the design user interface, navigational features, and ease of use to answer the research questions. The results proved the hypothesis that ‘Blackboard LMS is accessible and usable by the teachers from different faculties for the delivery of content in the King Saud University. However, the study recommends that university should customize the e-learning software to the needs of the teachers to offer courses in English and in Arabic to increase and enhance the accessibility and usability of the software.

Heuristic evaluations of the accessibility of learning management systems (LMSs) as authoring tools for teachers

With the development of e-education and e-society it is important for information and communication systems and services to be equally accessible to all users, including people with disabilities. Learning management systems (LMSs) are becoming a necessity in higher education and making them accessible to all users, both students and teachers, is crucial. Existing studies on accessibility of LMSs mostly focus on students and their access to learning materials. Very few studies have focused on the accessibility of LMSs for teachers who are responsible for using LMSs to create accessible contents for students. This paper presents the heuristic evaluations of two learning management systems (Fronter and Sakai) focusing on their accessibility from teachers’ perspective. Based on universal design principles and guidelines we aim to identify accessibility issues and to propose possible improvements. The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0 were adopted in the heuristic evaluations and qualitative data have been collected. We have also compared the findings from the evaluations of Fronter and Sakai, as well as Moodle, an open source LMS which was evaluated in our previous heuristic evaluation. The analysis of the data shows that the level of conformance of the systems to the ATAG2.0 guidelines is very low and many issues needs to be solved for them to be fully accessible for teachers with disabilities.

Learning Managent Systems and Face-to-Face Teaching in Bilingual Modality (Libras/Portuguese)

Discussions related to new approaches in deaf education are highlighting the underexplored potencial of the Information and Communication Technologies for this persons. This paper presents an study carried out under Learning Management Systems (LMS) in order to subsizide the selection of a LMS to support face-to-face classes in the form of bilingual education (Libras/Portuguese). The study was conducted in the context of Instituto Federal de Educacao, Ciencia e Tecnologia de Santa Catarina (IFSC) - Campus Palhoca-Bilingue. For this, the analysis was accomplished over open source platforms and grounded in issues related to accessibility of learning management systems to deaf people. In this way, subjects related to conformance with present accessibility guidelines and recommendations, the interoperability standards and the use of captions were analyzed, besides the identification of tools supporting interaction and communication in sign language and the engaged communities aiming the improvement of the environments studied. The selected LMS must have the featured characteristics to provide the assignment of a bilingual education propose, presenting the possibilities to explore the characteristics of the visual-spatial modality of communication present in the Lingua Brasileira de Sinais (Libras), as well as the tools to stimulate the sharing and construction of knowledge in the teachers and students community. This is just the first step considering the need of development of a series of technological devices consonant with this approach.