2 Is Online Education Accessible?
Hann Bingham Brunner
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 sent K-12 and higher education alike scrambling to move classes and instruction online. While most schools and universities have since returned to in-person classes and instruction, disability rights activists and disability studies scholars advocate for online education as a more accessible alternative for students with disabilities. Students with mental health disabilities, physical disabilities, and neurodivergent students can all benefit from online classes, especially asynchronous online classes with flexible due dates. As schools and universities returned to normal operations, educators began to consider whether in-person classes are the best option for all students or whether some courses should continue to be offered online each semester to better accommodate students with disabilities.
Proponents of in-person learning argue that students learn more effectively in physical classrooms than in online environments. Some disability scholars also note that not all instructors are equipped to make online courses accessible to deaf/Deaf, blind, and low-vision students, who often require additional accommodations and accessibility measures to participate fully in online learning.
In short, advocates on both sides of the debate hold strong views on whether online education provides greater accessibility for students with disabilities. In this simulation, you will take on the role of one of these advocates. The next section explains how the Accessible Online Education Simulation works in practice and highlights the key skills you will develop through your participation.
Overview
This simulation engages you in critical discussions about accessibility and disability justice in higher education contexts. The chapter begins with an opportunity for you to discuss how the themes of the simulation relate to your own lived experience. You will engage with reading, listening, and research activities to help build your knowledge of debates around accessibility and online education. You will then take a position on the accessibility of online education by adopting a persona in the role-play phase. After reflecting on the role-play, you will either write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper or produce a podcast about whether online education is more accessible for people with disabilities. As shown below, the simulation has five distinct phases.
How the simulation works
| Phase | Phase Description | Activities |
| 1 | Activation | Discussion 1
Listening 1 |
| 2 | Comprehension | Listening 2
Reading 1 & 2 Role Assignment / Role Preparation |
| 3 | Simulation | Role Play |
| 4 | Reflection | Debriefing Activity
Critical Reflections |
| 5 | Application | Letter to the Dean or Podcast |
You will gain a number of important skills as you participate in the simulation. These skills are sequenced from simple tasks, such as defining and describing, to more complex tasks such as synthesizing and evaluating.
After completing this simulation, you will be able to:
- make connections between your own lived experience and disability.
- define key terms relating to accessibility and disability justice.
- describe the central arguments around whether online education is accessible for everyone.
- make predictions about the key factors that influence teachers and students to prefer in-person versus online education.
- summarize issues related to accessibility and online education.
- synthesize knowledge on disability access.
- evaluate the positions taken in the simulation.
Phase 1: Activation
In this phase of the simulation, you will draw on your background knowledge of in-person education, online education, and disability accessibility. This will prepare you for the listening, reading, and research activities in Phase 2 of the simulation. It will also allow you to share your experiences and ideas with your classmates.
Discussion Activity 1
Work in a small group. Discuss the following questions and be ready to share your responses with the class.
- What kinds of disabilities are you familiar with?
- What do you know about accessibility and accommodations for people with disabilities?
- What kind of accommodations are you familiar with for people with disabilities?
- Have you or a friend ever needed an accommodation to make school more accessible?
- What kind of accessibility do you think students with disabilities need in in-person classes?
- What kind of accessibility do you think students with disabilities need in online classes?
- Do you think in-person classes or online classes would be more accessible for students with disabilities? Why?
Listening Activity 1
Watch selection (0:00-4:36) from the Video “Creating an Accessible Digital Future” Creating an Accessible Digital Future (Brewer, 2019) and answer the following questions:
Timestamp – 00-1:33
1. According to Judy Brewer, how many people in the world have disabilities?
2. What is accessibility for people with disabilities?
3. What example does Judy Brewer give for accessibility in the physical world?
Timestamp – 1:34-3:07
4. What is inclusive design?
5. What are some examples of inclusive design on the web that Judy Brewer gives?
6. What other areas (besides the Internet) can digital accessibility affect?
Timestamp – 3:08-4:36
7. Why does Judy Brewer claim that awareness is one of the most important elements for creating an accessible world?
8. How does a lack of awareness of disability perpetuate the exclusion of disabled people?
Phase 2: Comprehension
The purpose of this phase is to help you expand your knowledge of the debates surrounding online education and accessibility. You will watch one short video and read two texts. In Listening Activity 2, the video will provide you with background information on accessibility. Ensure you review the questions below before watching the video. For Reading Activity 1, you will answer a series of comprehension questions. For Reading Activity 2, you will define some key terms and write a descriptive summary of the text.
Listening Activity 2
Watch the selected sections of the video (0:00-7:07): To Care & Comply: Accessibility of Online Course Content (Portland Community College, 2019) and answer the following questions:
Timestamp – 00-2:17
1. What kind of challenge is depicted at the opening of the video?
2. Why does Tanya say that some students with disabilities are unable to complete their assignments?
Timestamp – 2:18-3:29
3. What problems does Vanessa Robinson have with online class content?
4. Why does Vanessa have to go to campus in order to complete the online classwork?
Timestamp – 3:30-6:03
5. What kinds of programs does Bryan say are inaccessible to him?
6. What tool does Bryan use instead of a mouse?
Timestamp – 6:04-7:07
7. What reason does Tanya give for instructors to be ready and prepared for students with disabilities and different access needs?
Reading Activity 1
Read Flexible Online Education for Students with Disabilities (Lunsmann, 2023), then answer the following questions.
- Comprehension Questions
- What were some of the ‘barriers to learning’ that arose from the rapid shift to fully online education during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- Along with students with disabilities, what other groups of college students may benefit from online learning?
- What aspects of online learning may be difficult for students with disabilities?
- Why did people with health conditions and physical disabilities find online learning beneficial?
- What types of assistive technology are useful for students who are blind or have dyslexia?
- What are some of the social benefits of online education?
Reading Activity 2
DEFINITIONS
Before reading the text by Jesse Rice-Evans (2020), in a notebook or on a piece of paper, use a dictionary or your phone’s search engine to define the key terms: open digital pedagogy, open access, open educational resources (OER), intersectional, praxis, accommodation, accessibility
- How many of these terms were you familiar with before this activity?
- Were there any terms you thought you understood but discovered had a new or broader definition?
SUMMARY
Read Open Access Pedagogy: A Manifesto by Jesse Rice-Evans (2020), then write a summary using the prompt provided:
- Based on the reading, explain the concept “access pedagogy” and summarize why Rice-Evans argues that “when students ask for help, we must believe them” (word limit: 200-400 words).
Phase 3: Simulation
In this phase, you will be given a role to play in a simulated discussion event (e.g., a 45 -minute panel discussion). It is important that you understand the context and your role to prepare for the role-play.
The Context
You are serving on the advisory panel at your college to help determine whether sections of general education courses should be offered online each semester for students with disabilities. The university is hosting a series of panel discussions involving students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders to consider whether increasing the number of online general education courses would improve accessibility for students with disabilities.
Agenda
Should the university offer more online general education courses to benefit students with disabilities?
Roles
You will be assigned a role to play in this phase of the simulation. There are five participant roles on each side of the debate and one moderator role.
Moderator. University President
Description
- Your task is to introduce the issue at the beginning of the panel discussion, welcome the participants, and moderate the discussions. Allow every participant (role) about 3-5 minutes to talk and make sure that everyone gets a turn to express their opinion. Develop one question for each group’s presentation and ask the question after their presentations. The moderator role can be played by students or the instructor of the course.
In Favor of Additional Online General Education Classes
Role 1. Associate Professor of Disability Studies
Description
- You are in favor of offering online general education classes as an access measure for students with disabilities, because you saw that students with unseen disabilities like mental health conditions, neurodivergence, and chronic illnesses benefitted from online classes during the COVID pandemic. You believe that more online general education classes can offer greater flexibility to students with diverse access needs, which in-person classes, even with disability accommodations, cannot always offer.
Potential sources:
Role 2. Student with psychiatric disabilities
Description
- You are in favor of more online classes because your disability varies from day to day, making it hard to attend in-person classes all the time, which can affect your grades in classes that take attendance. More online general education classes will help you make progress in your degree, and build your confidence in your ability to complete college-level school work.
Potential sources:
Role 3. Director of Student Accessibility Services
Description
- You are for more online general education classes as an accessibility measure for students with disabilities. Many of the accommodations your office can offer students are limited to in-person classes and test-taking, and many students’ accommodations are unnecessary in online classes. Online learning allows students with disabilities to have more control over what they do or do not tell their professor or classmates about their disability(ies), allowing more privacy than in-person classes.
Potential sources:
Role 4. Head of Inclusion
Description
- You are in favor of more online general education classes because you believe they can benefit a wide range of students, including those who work full-time, student caregivers, commuter students, and students with disabilities. You argue that expanding online general education offerings would provide greater flexibility and help a diverse student population achieve academic success.
Potential source:
Role 5. Neurodivergent student
Description
- You are in favor of online classes because the flexibility of online classes makes it easier for you to keep up with your work without being distracted or overwhelmed during in-person classes. Since going online in spring 2020, you have had better grades and felt more accomplished in your classes, and you want other students to feel the same by being able to take their general education requirements online.
Potential sources:
Against Additional Online General Education Classes
Role 6. Associate Dean of Academics
Description
- You are against more online classes because you believe that students learn best in in-person classrooms. You are also concerned that the rapid transition to online instruction during COVID-19 left some students with disabilities facing greater accessibility challenges than in traditional classrooms. This suggests that online formats are not universally accessible and may not benefit all students with disabilities
Potential sources:
Role 7. Assistant Professor of Deaf Studies
Description
- You are against increasing online general education classes because you believe that online learning is not always more accessible for students with disabilities, like d/Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students, as well as blind and low-vision students. Online classes may create extra barriers for these students, especially when instructors are not trained to ensure that course materials are compatible with screen readers or to make sure all their audio and video content is captioned.
Potential sources:
Role 8. Deaf Student
Description
- You are against increasing online general education classes because, as a Deaf person, you do not find online classes to be more accessible. Although some technology has improved since 2020, such as the accuracy of live captions in Zoom, many instructors still upload video lectures with inaccurate or missing closed captions. The same issues often affect other videos assigned for students to watch. In-person classes allow you to work with an ASL interpreter who can help ensure that lectures and videos are fully accessible. When learning from home, however, you may miss important course content because these supports are not always available or effective.
Potential sources:
Role 9. Visually impaired student
Description
- You are against plans to increase the number of online general education classes because, during the COVID-19 pandemic, you found your coursework more difficult to access as a student with low vision. Professors were often unfamiliar with how to make PDFs accessible for screen-reading software, which made completing assignments and reading tasks difficult and time-consuming. In addition, PowerPoint slides and other instructional materials were not always compatible with your screen reader, further limiting your access to course content.
Potential sources:
Role 10. International student
Description
- You are against increasing online classes because it would reduce the number of in-person courses offered, making it more difficult for you to fulfill the in-person classroom hours required by your visa. You are also aware that many of your peers struggled to understand assignment expectations when communicating with professors over Zoom.
Potential sources:
Phase 4: Reflection
Debriefing Activity: In small groups, discuss the following questions. Be prepared to share your thoughts with the whole class.
- What did you think about the topic for this simulation? Were you already familiar with it?
- Was it easy or difficult to create an argument for your side of the issue? Why?
- What did you think of your role in the simulation? Did you personally agree or disagree with your role’s required stance on the issue?
Critical Reflection Activity
- Did any of the participants/ groups make particularly persuasive arguments? If so, which one/s? What made the arguments more persuasive?
- Did any of the participants/groups make arguments that you thought were weak? If so, what were the arguments? What made them weak?
- Which individual participant did you find the most knowledgeable / most persuasive in the role play? Why?
- Which group did you find most persuasive? Why?
Phase 5: Application
OPTION 1: Letter to the University President
After hearing arguments on both sides of the debate about online general education classes at the advisory panel, you will write an opinion letter to the University President.
Prompt: Write an opinion letter to the University President, either in favor of or against expanding online general education classes, specifically from the perspective of disability access. Your letter should persuade the President to support or reject the proposal, drawing on evidence from the simulation roles and outside sources to argue that online education is more or less accessible than traditional in-person classes.
OPTION 2: Podcast (Edmon Lowe Creative Studios)
You are the host of a weekly podcast for your university newspaper, where each week you focus on one campus issue and share your perspective.
Prompt: Write and record an 8–10 minute podcast episode, accompanied by a written transcript, about whether expanding online general education classes would be an effective way to make your institution more accessible for students with disabilities. Draw on evidence from the simulation roles and outside sources to support your position.
Option 3: Advantages/Disadvantages Essay
Prompt: Examine the advantages and disadvantages of online general education classes as an accessibility measure for students with disabilities. Develop a recommendation for the best path forward, using specific examples to support your discussion and overall recommendation. Your essay should draw on at least two provided sources and one source you locate independently.
References
Ashford, M. (2022, July 5). Digital Accessibility: Neurodiversity. Accessibility.com: Empowering digital accessibility for businesses. https://www.accessibility.com/blog/digital-accessibility-neurodiversity
Brewer, J. (2019). Creating an Accessible Digital Future. YouTube. Retrieved July 3, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2X9kYEvXc&feature=youtu.be.
Dwyer, D., & Yoo, J. (2020, April 29). Facing coronavirus while deaf and blind: “Everything relies on touch.” ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/facing-coronavirus-deaf-blind-relies-touch/story?id=70274235
Granados, A. (2020, April 7). How is covid-19 affecting esl students? EdNC.Org. Retrieved July 3, 2023, from https://www.ednc.org/how-is-covid-19-affecting-esl-students/.
Kotera, Y., Cockerill, V., Green, P., Hutchinson, L., Shaw, P., & Bowskill, N. (2019). Towards another kind of borderlessness: Online students with disabilities. Distance Education, 40(2), 170–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2019.1600369
Livingstone, K. (2021, May 18). The challenge of teaching students with visual disabilities from afar. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-challenge-of-teaching-students-with-visual-disabilities-from-afar/2021/05
Lunsmann, C. J. (2023, March 6). Flexible online education for students with disabilities. University of Maryland Global Campus Blog. https://www.umgc.edu/blog/flexible-education-students-disabilities
Meleo-Erwin, Z., Kollia, B., Fera, J., Jahren, A., & Basch, C. (2021). Online support information for students with disabilities in colleges and universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Disability and Health Journal, 14(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2020.101013
Morris, A., & Anthes, E. (2021, August 23). For some college students, remote learning is a game changer. The New York Times. Retrieved July 3, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/health/covid-college-disabilities-students.html.
Portland Community College. (2019). To Care & Comply: Accessibility of Online Course Content. Youtube. Retrieved July 3, 2023, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb2X9kYEvXc&feature=youtu.be.
Rice-Evans, J. (2020, November 13). Open Access Pedagogy: A Manifesto. Retrieved July 3, 2023, from https://antiableistcomposition.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/open-access-pedagogy-a-manifesto/.
University of Cincinatti. (n.d.). Covid creates academic gap for English language learners. University of Cincinnati Online. https://online.uc.edu/covid-creates-academic-gap-for-english-language-learners/
Why studying online can be more accessible to those with disabilities and neurodiversity. University College of Estate Management. (2021, February 11). https://www.ucem.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/why-studying-online-can-be-more-accessible-to-those-with-disabilities-and-neurodiversity/
About the author
name: Hann Bingham Brunner
institution: Oklahoma State University
Hann Bingham Brunner is a PhD Candidate in Applied Linguistics at Oklahoma State University with a focus on disability and identity. They are Associate Director of the International Composition program and Assistant Director of First Year Composition.
