JISC

The JISC TechDis service aims to be the leading educational advisory service, working across the UK, in the fields of technology, disability and inclusion. TechDis aims to enhance provision for disabled students and staff in higher, further and specialist education and adult and community learning, through the use of technology.

TechDis has been undertaking research for the JISC on the issues of guidelines and advice that is available to services involved in its Exchange for Learning (X4L) and Digital Libraries in the Classroom (DLiC) projects. This report discusses some of the outcomes and areas that will need further clarification, research and development.

It should be stated at the outset that this work bears relevance only to elearning in UK education institutions, it does not, nor does it seek to influence any existing guidelines pertaining to the Internet (Such as the W3C WCAG 1.0 guidelines) nor any issues of interoperability and metadata.

Guidelines

TechDis are conscious of not reinventing the wheel and undertook to look at existing advice and guidance rather than immediately set out to establish a TechDis set. To that end 13 sets were reviewed that offered a broad spectrum of the kind of material available. These included advice from a range of National and International organisations, Charities and Institutions. What became apparent very early in the research was that no one set of guidelines would encapsulate the advice that was needed. In many cases the guidelines addressed the technical issues but either did not recognise the learning in e learning or isolated it.

Suggested Approach for future

In recognising that the issues of accessibility and e-learning are not just technical but also social it was felt that a social statement was needed to highlight acceptance of an underpinning belief. This statement used at the beginning of the process provides a base for the creation of e-learning materials that are inclusive; it is the starting tenet from which this approach to supporting learners developed and will continue to develop. All learners, regardless of disability, social and cultural background or previous experience, should be provided with educational experiences that meet their learning needs. Therefore, the following framework aims to provide a process that will assist staff involved in the development, deployment and use of e-learning to assess how disabled learners needs are being met either in the use of elearning or by the use of e-learning.

Read the final report below