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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU">This report from Australia was released yesterday and might be of interest.  It reports on a series of surveys and interviews that looked at the accessibility of online learning for students with disabilities in higher
 education.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Access and Barriers to Online Education for People with Disabilities<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Written by Dr Mike Kent, Curtin University<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">EXECUTIVE SUMMARY<br>
This paper reports on a study conducted in 2014 and 2015 that explored the accessibility of eLearning for students with disabilities studying fully online in Australia. The study looked at students studying through Open Universities Australia (OUA). OUA brings
 together 15 different independent higher education institutions to teach students fully online across a number of different fields. This diversity of institutions allowed a number of different eLearning environments, technologies and learning and teaching
 strategies to be canvassed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">The study had two phases. Firstly, a survey that explored students’ experience related to the accessibility of online learning and teaching platforms, and students’ approach
 to disclosure of their disability and the effectiveness of any accommodation offered by the different institutions. The survey had 356 responses. The second phase of the research consisted of a series of 143 interviews that expanded on the information collected
 in the surveys and also explored the accessibility of different approaches to learning and teaching and assessment<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/access-and-barriers-to-online-education-for-people-with-disabilities/">https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/publications/access-and-barriers-to-online-education-for-people-with-disabilities/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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