Virtual learning environments Enhancing the learning experience for students with disabilities

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1 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at wwwemeraldinsightcom/ htm Virtual learning environments Enhancing the learning experience for students with disabilities Catherine Gerrard Centre for Academic and Professional Development, University of Paisley, Paisley, UK VLEs: enhancing the learning experience 199 Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the need for accessible learning within the online environment by investigating disabled students levels of engagement with a virtual learning environment (VLE) and the extent to which lecturers use of the VLE made learning accessible Design/methodology/approach A small focus group of undergraduate students with various disabilities was used to create a case study approach Findings The paper presents key issues related to the pedagogical, practical and strategic use of a VLE, based on the perspectives of disabled students and raises many disability issues for teaching staff who are attempting to get to grips with the idea of bringing a VLE into their everyday teaching to complement their face-to-face teaching sessions It offers a considered approach to the use of a VLE in meeting the requirements of the UK disability legislation and in responding to the needs of disabled students Originality/value Based on the perspectives of students, the paper offers a first-hand insight into the pedagogical issues surrounding e-learning and students with disabilities Keywords Disabilities, E-learning, Worldwide web, Learning methods, United Kingdom Paper type Case study Introduction In the UK, The Disability Discrimination Act (Her Majesty s Stationery Office, 1995) was extended to higher education in the form of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) in 2001 (Her Majesty s Stationery Office, 2001) and made it unlawful to discriminate against any disabled students or other disabled people This extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to higher education brought new and significant challenges to teaching in that, amongst other things, it required all students to have equal opportunity in accessing information and resources whether printed or electronic This in turn raised many issues for teaching staff who were attempting to get to grips with the idea of bringing a virtual learning environment (VLE) into their everyday teaching to complement their face-to-face teaching sessions The following is a considered approach by one university in the use of its VLE in meeting the requirements of this new legislation and in responding to the needs of disabled students Key issues related to the pedagogical, practical and strategic use of a VLE, based on the perspectives of disabled students are presented The impact of the Disability Act on higher education in the UK Owing to the SENDA introduced in 2001, much emphasis is now placed on accessibility in education The term accessibility applies to all aspects of education from the admissions procedure for the students choice of course, curriculum design, Campus-Wide Information Systems Vol 24 No 3, 2007 pp q Emerald Group Publishing Limited DOI /

2 CWIS 24,3 200 the resources made available to the student, method of assessment, to the physical layout of laboratories and lecture theatres, and the inclusion of placements, field trips, recreation facilities, etc The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against disabled students by treating them less favourably and it requires what is termed as reasonable adjustment to any area of provision where a disabled student might be disadvantaged The Act covers all types of disabilities physical, sensory, specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia and mental health and unseen disabilities such as diabetes, chronic fatigue, etc The Act ensures that students with disabilities have equal opportunities to benefit from and contribute to learning and services in higher education As such, UK universities are now expected to make reasonable adjustments in all their learning and teaching activities and to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to students with disabilities These reasonable adjustments have to be made in all aspects of university life including the physical access to all areas of the university This paper will, however, only address the learning and teaching aspects and in particular, the application of the university s VLE, BlackBoard and its impact on disabled students learning When discussing the need for reasonable adjustment the question of what is reasonable is usually raised The Act is supported by a Code of Practice (Disability Rights Commission, 2002) that provides examples of reasonable adjustment but an important feature of the reasonable adjustment part of the Act is that it places an anticipatory duty on the University and adjustments must be done in anticipation hence the Act protects not just students who are presently studying at the University, but also potential students This means that for students with disabilities that could easily have been foreseen such as physical disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, dyslexia, etc, adjustments should not be ad hoc but already be in place Accessible learning through the use of the VLE The SENDA requires the university to ensure that all students have equal opportunity to accessing information and resources whether printed or electronic It is important therefore, that the university ensures that the information and resources made available to students can be fully accessed by all students and that learning and teaching practices are aimed towards creating an inclusive curriculum Much of this is achieved through the process of the university s subject health reviews The subject health review (SHR) is the internal and external peer review of the academic health of a subject delivered by the university The review forms part of the university s quality assurance system and provides an opportunity to focus on and to review quality enhancement in all aspects of learning and teaching The process is intended to be robust and holistic as well as useful to the subject team in providing an opportunity for reflection and evaluation and valuable feedback from internal and external peers From the SHR, good practice is validated, discussed and disseminated throughout the university Essentially, the student experience is at the heart of the subject health review and it is during this process that both module and programme documents are scrutinised to ensure that an inclusive curriculum is offered and that the chosen course delivery mode does not present barriers to students with disabilities Hence there is a need for forward thinking on issues such as disability and inclusivity to be displayed within the documentation provided for a subject health review panel

3 Meeting the demands of SENDA In 2002, the university adopted the BlackBoard VLE, and it was realised that the use of this technology could go some way towards meeting the demands of SENDA VLE software companies such as BlackBoard, WebCT, First Class, have accessibility policies to ensure that their products are in compliance with international legislation such as SENDA in the UK and the Disability Services Act in Australia However, the use of these VLEs in creating an inclusive learning experience for students with disabilities is mainly dependent on the extent to which academic staff are informed in their pedagogical application There is therefore, both the potential for these new technological developments to improve the effectiveness and efficiency to meet the needs of disabled students or to introduce additional barriers to learning if not used properly Docherty et al (2004) argue that academics hold dominant positions in the lives of people with learning disabilities and that there is a strong argument for involving people with disabilities in the production of knowledge about their disabilities Consultation with disabled students, regarding their disabilities and how that disability could affect their ability to learn, is always useful, however, it can become tiresome for a student to have to continually discuss his/her disability with various members of staff as they go through their degree programme in order for their needs to be met Embedding their needs into a staff development programme enables a better understanding of the problems students with certain disabilities face, reaches a far wider audience and provides greater opportunity for better design of e-learning programmes at the very outset Cooper (2006, p 104), points out that good design for disabled people is good design for all that consideration for the needs of disabled students often facilitates much needed reflection on the interactions required to support learning outcomes and that addressing the accessibility agenda promotes usability for all However, when discussing accessibility considerations of any electronic or online facility the focus is very often placed on the technical accessibility rather than on the accessibility of the learning What is often considered and emphasised in electronic delivery is colours, fonts, etc and what is often missed is the extent to which learning can be achieved within this environment and the gateways and barriers that can be presented to students with disabilities when using technology in teaching It was considered therefore, that by leveraging the potential of the university s VLE, BlackBoard, to a level above that of purely content delivery it could greatly improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which the university could meet the needs of its disabled students Disability is one of the most significant areas in learning and teaching which has required a shift from issues of access alone to an inclusive curriculum yet the need for accessible learning has not really been achieved in the practice of e-learning and as academics, we have been slow to respond to this issue in e-learning In our rush to get to grips with the technology we have not really taken issues of disability on board despite the fact that writers such as Parker in 1999 before the legislation was introduced in the UK, stated that Now more disabled students are in the sector, it is clear that they experience many difficulties in accessing the curriculum in all its aspects It is also becoming apparent that there is a need to ensure that innovations in learning and teaching enable the learning of all students and do not create new barriers for those with disabilities (Parker, 1999, p 19) It was realised that achieving new leverage of the VLE would not be easy or straightforward as many staff in the university do not have the time, resources or VLEs: enhancing the learning experience 201

4 CWIS 24,3 202 technical skills to use the VLE beyond that of content delivery It was decided therefore, that embedding the need for inclusivity within the e-learning staff development programme offered by the Centre for Academic and Professional Practice would be the best strategy and would catch a good number of staff at an early stage of their VLE use This programme is offered to staff throughout the university and is achieved through three stages Stage 1 is a theoretical and practical introduction to the concept of e-learning and it is at this stage that the need for disability awareness and learning and teaching methods to aid the learning process for students with disabilities is introduced Stage 2 concentrates on assessment and also investigates disability issues regarding online assessment Stage 3 focuses on fully online courses (mostly by distance learning) and the need to be responsiveness to any student who may have a disability For those academics who feel they do not need any staff development because they are already using BlackBoard, any barriers regarding the design of their course will be picked up during the preparation stage of the SHR process Very often, staff enrol on the e-learning staff development programme for this very reason Being able to give advice and raise awareness of accessibility issues at the outset alerts academic staff to the need for inclusiveness in the online environment and avoids what Cooper (2006) refers to as the need for a fix after the majority of the development work has been done Embedding the feedback from this study within the e-learning staff development programme avoided the bolt on technical approach which often occurs when staff become aware of the need for the inclusive curriculum either by just picking up information from colleagues or from a student who is having problems with their site When this happens, staff tend to view accessibility as the need for a few technical tweaks such as changing colours and altering fonts rather than addressing any real learning issues The study To determine the benefits and drawbacks that students with disabilities experienced from staff s use of the VLE, a focus group meeting consisting of ten students with various disabilities was held The questions asked were categorised into pedagogical, practical and strategic use of the VLE The feedback from this study was then used to inform the e-learning staff development programme offered by The Centre for Academic and Professional Development within the university The study involved ten students who regularly used the VLE and who had disabilities, which included: dyslexia, arthritis, mental health problems, visual and hearing impairments and mobility problems The meeting took place in an informal setting with refreshments on offer and the meeting was facilitated by the author of this paper who works in The Centre for Academic and Professional Development This last fact allowed the students to talk more freely about the benefits and drawbacks that they experienced from lecturers use of the virtual learning environment as anything they discussed was not seen as a complaint about any particular individual s BlackBoard site, but as an opportunity to provide informative feedback Pedagogical When asked whether they felt that the use of BlackBoard enhanced the quality of their face-to-face learning experiences, all of the students answered yes Examples of their responses included:

5 I suffer from arthritis so I m quite slow at taking down notes in lectures Having them placed on BlackBoard saves me from constantly having to ask each lecturer for the notes all the time I don t mind paying the printing costs, the convenience far outweighs that All of the students agreed that being able to print off the notes before the lecture helped them concentrate better on what the lecturer actually said at the lecture It also allowed them to annotate the notes and make them their own A few of the students particularly those suffering from dyslexia stated that it helped them keep their disability much more private: Last year I had one lecturer who didn t use BlackBoard He gave out handouts in the class, which was good, but because of my dyslexia I was the only person who got their handouts on yellow paper I don t mind people knowing that I have dyslexia but it did make me feel different It s great not being singled out anymore as the student who always gets their notes printed on yellow paper Eight out of the ten students felt that the access and convenience of getting the notes on BlackBoard prior to the lecture did not affect their attendance at lectures the two main reasons being offered were: (1) Students clearly felt that the VLE as a sole learning environment was not sufficient and that it could not replace the valuable face-to-face contact with tutors (2) Students felt that most lecturers made the notes real for them so attendance was worthwhile VLEs: enhancing the learning experience 203 Two students felt that there was no added value to be gained at some lectures and that attendance was sometimes, pointless On the topic of discussion boards there was a very mixed reaction amongst the students Students with dyslexia did not like using discussion boards and where their use included assessment, some had requested alternative methods of assessment Dyslexic students also pointed out that as disclosure of their disability was often strictly between them and their lecturer they felt much more exposed in the discussion board: I have quite severe dyslexia and having to write my ideas and thoughts down for other people to see was a bit of a nightmare and I really felt that my condition was being advertised to everyone else on the course so I stopped contributing One student whose disability affected her speech was very positive about the use of discussion boards in her tutorial class and really felt it gave her a voice: [] in the discussion board students respond to what I say rather than how I say it I feel much less isolated in this environment The development of an online community for collaborative learning through the use of discussion boards is extremely beneficial to all students but for disabled students in particular it offers greater opportunity for shared experiences Implications for the pedagogical application of the VLE by university staff Although most of the students did not feel that use of the VLE could replace face-to-face lectures and contact with lecturers, they did see it as an extremely valuable tool which offered them flexibility and a dependable resource

6 CWIS 24,3 204 The implications for the e-learning staff development programme, therefore, would be an emphasis on: The importance of promoting a blended learning approach, ie, where staff do not simply repeat the lecture notes put on BlackBoard, but see lectures as an opportunity to get students to engage with the information they have provided This would avoid students just picking up the notes and not attending lectures and may even result in a reduction in lectures and an increase in tutorials The need for staff using discussion boards as part of assessment to have a reasonable adjustment in place that offers an alternative assessment method One such method could be to ask the student to comment on the discussion topic within his/her own essay assignment Their ability to utilise the group work facility within BlackBoard Using the group work element can help prevent feelings of isolation for a student who may have a physical impairment that restricts them from engaging in face-to-face interactions or makes it difficult to meet other students in particular locations Practical Keeping their BlackBoard site simple was the main message coming through from the group of students interviewed All of the students felt that while BlackBoard itself was easy to navigate around and screenreader software such as Jaws and SupaNova could assist in this, the existence of unused areas and tools where nothing was stored was annoying and frustrating Students also commented on the need for uniformity Having some form of uniformity will undoubtedly help students with memory or concentration problems A consistent appearance and structure will help students recognise the learning space and make navigation much more straightforward Other issues that were raised by the students was the use of colours and fonts, the inclusion of diagrams and graphics that lacked descriptions and the placing of time limits on an online test Implications for the practical application of BlackBoard by staff From the comments received from the students on academic staff s practical use of BlackBoard, the e-learning programme would need to address the following areas: Layout of content and structure and the need to maintain their BlackBoard site to ensure that any outdated announcements, materials and discussion boards were removed Create a sense of uniformity that enables students to recognise where they are in this online environment and make sense of how content is structured Use colours and fonts in line with disability guidelines, add descriptions of diagrams and graphics used and be prepared to set up separate online tests that allow students with disabilities extra time Much of the practical issues mentioned above could be met by the use of a template However, there is a fine balance between restricting the innovative and creative use of BlackBoard whilst still providing ease of navigation and access to students with

7 disabilities Restricting the use of BlackBoard to the confines of a template may be helpful to those lecturers who are less technologically minded but for others such a restriction could cause conflict Phipps et al, 2005, point out that the application of standards and guidelines within a VLE can at best be a discouragement or at worst damaging, preventing staff from exploring the potential of e-learning Strategic In a study by Durham University on accessibility in learning environments, the research team drew attention to the need for an extended community within the VLE Such an approach would include the presence within the VLE of all other information from recreational, academic and pastoral services and groups and would provide a more holistic approach to the student s use of a VLE In doing so, all learning support would be provided from one central location The University of Paisley has not gone this far but it has introduced the following: A requirement to have all first year modules on BlackBoard it is expected to a certain extent, that this will promote a student-led approach to the application of the VLE The existence of an e-learning co-ordinator in each school who is fully trained and keeps regular contact with The Centre for Academic and Professional Development and is aware of the needs of those in his/her department The provision of e-learning workshops, which includes the need for disability awareness and where the content is informed by students with disabilities VLEs: enhancing the learning experience 205 Conclusion The adoption of BlackBoard has gone some way in helping the university to meet the requirements of SENDA and from this study, positive ways in which the virtual learning environment, BlackBoard has been applied, have been identified This in turn has helped to inform the staff development e-learning programme, through which this good practice has been disseminated However, it is important that we continue to identify good e-learning practice to enhance the quality of the learning experience for students with disabilities in order that such students have equal opportunity to benefit from and contribute to our learning and teaching activities It is also important to remember that all students benefit from good design and that leveraging the potential of VLEs can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of all student learning It should be borne in mind that many learning and teaching strategies and approaches that are adopted to meet the needs of disabled students are simple extensions of good practice and will benefit all students References Cooper, M (2006), Making online learning accessible to disabled students: an institutional case study, ALT-J, Research in Learning Technology, Vol 14 No 1, March, pp Disability Rights Commission (2002), The Disability Discrimination Act Part 4 Code of Practice (Education), available at: wwwdrc-gborg/the_law/legislation codes regulation/ codes_of_practiceaspx Docherty, D, Boxall, K and Carson, I (2004), Room at the academy? People with learning difficulties and higher education, Disability and Society, Vol 19 No 2, March, pp

8 CWIS 24,3 206 Her Majesty s Stationery Office (1995), The Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Her Majesty s Stationery Office, London Her Majesty s Stationery Office (2001), The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, Her Majesty s Stationery Office, London, available at: wwwopsigovuk/acts/acts2001/ htm Parker, V (1999), Thinking about disability access to HE, New Academic, Vol 8 No 2, Summer, pp Phipps, L, Kelly, B and Howell, C (2005), Implementing a holistic approach to e-learning accessibility, in Cook, C and Whitelock, D (Eds), Exploring the Frontiers of E-learning: Borders, Outposts and Migration; ALT-C th International Conference Research Proceedings, ALT, Oxford, available at: wwwukolnacuk/web-focus/papers/alt-c-2005/ Further reading Newland, B, Pavey, J and Boyd, V (2005), Alert: Accessibility in Learning Environments and Related Technologies, funded project by Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), University of Durham, Durham Corresponding author Catherine Gerrard can be contacted at: catherinegerrard@paisleyacuk To purchase reprints of this article please reprints@emeraldinsightcom Or visit our web site for further details: wwwemeraldinsightcom/reprints