Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University

This article reports on a study into students with disabilities and their experiences of eLearning at Curtin University in Australia. The results are compared to an earlier study of students at Open Universities Australia (OUA) (Kent 2016). The results confirm the earlier study’s findings that these...

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Main Authors: Kent, Michael, Ellis, Katie, Giles, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72646
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author Kent, Michael
Ellis, Katie
Giles, M.
author_facet Kent, Michael
Ellis, Katie
Giles, M.
author_sort Kent, Michael
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This article reports on a study into students with disabilities and their experiences of eLearning at Curtin University in Australia. The results are compared to an earlier study of students at Open Universities Australia (OUA) (Kent 2016). The results confirm the earlier study’s findings that these students are drawn to eLearning. The prevalence of mental illness and medical disabilities as the two most frequent impairment types amongst students with disabilities in Australia was confirmed, along with a need to rethink universal design for eLearning to better accommodate these students. It also finds that the students had difficulty accessing online platforms and notably those provided directly by the university. This survey confirmed that students at Curtin University were more aware than their OUA counterparts of accommodations that could be made to help with their studies. It also showed that, when used, those accommodations were more successful. However, the study also reported that Curtin University students were more likely to not disclose their disability as part of their studies.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-726462019-06-06T05:32:16Z Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University Kent, Michael Ellis, Katie Giles, M. This article reports on a study into students with disabilities and their experiences of eLearning at Curtin University in Australia. The results are compared to an earlier study of students at Open Universities Australia (OUA) (Kent 2016). The results confirm the earlier study’s findings that these students are drawn to eLearning. The prevalence of mental illness and medical disabilities as the two most frequent impairment types amongst students with disabilities in Australia was confirmed, along with a need to rethink universal design for eLearning to better accommodate these students. It also finds that the students had difficulty accessing online platforms and notably those provided directly by the university. This survey confirmed that students at Curtin University were more aware than their OUA counterparts of accommodations that could be made to help with their studies. It also showed that, when used, those accommodations were more successful. However, the study also reported that Curtin University students were more likely to not disclose their disability as part of their studies. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72646 10.1007/s11528-018-0337-y restricted
spellingShingle Kent, Michael
Ellis, Katie
Giles, M.
Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title_full Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title_fullStr Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title_full_unstemmed Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title_short Students with Disabilities and eLearning in Australia: Experiences of Accessibility and Disclosure at Curtin University
title_sort students with disabilities and elearning in australia: experiences of accessibility and disclosure at curtin university
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72646