JITP summary

There is a fear of online students with disabilities being invisible and not being attended to properly, which is the problem in Australian higher education (universities). At OUA, a university in Australia, a survey was emailed to students who have registered for disability support; regarding how accessible online platforms used for teaching by different institutions were, and what motivated the students to disclose their disability or not. The study found that 46.3 percent of students responded as having a mental illness. The article talks about how eLearning can help those who have a disability and are studying in a higher education. One advantage that comes with online courses is that the information can be accessible anywhere in any format. The articles states that the students are attracted to eLearning because of three attributes accessibility, flexibility, and disclosure. Students do not have to face the problems they would if they were in a physical classroom and can change their environment if needed. The article claims that students have their own ideas on eLearning and institutions should find a way to make it easy for them to share these ideas. The students want their voices heard it is just the matter of doing it properly without discouraging them. The article claims that change needs to happen, students with disabilities should not be left out or disappear behind the screen. When the numbers of the surveys are released and acknowledged hopefully that is enough to shed some light into this topic.

Kent , Mike. “Disability, Mental Illness, and ELearning: Invisible Behind the Screen?” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/disability-mental-illness-and-elearning-invisible-behind-the-screen/.

 

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