Universal design (UD), a concept that grew from the field of architecture, has recently emerged as a paradigm for designing instructional methods, curriculum, and assessments that are welcoming and accessible to students with a wide range of characteristics, including those related to race, ethnicity, native language, gender, age, and disability.…

This discussion of how technology can and should be incorporated into the design of instructional systems for the use of disabled learners emphasizes the importance of the instructional designer being aware of the characteristics of the target population, including the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective factors involved. A "user-oriented…

This paper makes the case that if e-learning research and development projects are to be successfully adopted in real-world teaching and learning contexts, then they must effectively address accessibility and usability issues; and that these need to be integrated throughout the project. As such, accessibility and usability issues need to be made…

This brief paper presents principles of universal design of learning (UDL) and applies these principles directly to good classroom practices. UDL is an approach to learning in which curriculum designers consider the full scope of student abilities including varying abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, comprehend English, attend,…

The importance of accessibility to digital e-learning resources is widely acknowledged. The World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative has played a leading role in promoting the importance of accessibility and developing guidelines that can help when developing accessible web resources. The accessibility of e-learning resources…

A study was undertaken to explore program policies and practices related to the accessibility of American distance learning courses to qualified students with disabilities. A literature review was conducted, a draft list of accessibility indicators was created, examples of applications of the indicators in existing distance learning programs were…

This report discusses access issues related to distance learning for individuals with disabilities and presents design considerations for assuring that a course is accessible to potential instructors and students with a wide range of disabilities. The field of universal design provides a framework for this discussion. It begins by describing…

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible…