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Evaluating Faculty Attitudes and Accessibility in UCF Online Courses

This study investigates the accessibility of online courses at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and examines faculty attitudes toward disability. Through a pilot research design utilizing the LIFT assessment tool and the Disability Rights Attitude Scale (DRAS), key research questions focus on the correlation between accessibility metrics and faculty perspectives. The findings aim to highlight the importance of improving course accessibility and faculty awareness, ultimately enhancing online education for all students, while addressing federal and ethical mandates for inclusivity.

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Evaluating Faculty Attitudes and Accessibility in UCF Online Courses

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  1. All Things to All Online Students:Assessing Faculty Attitudes and the Accessibility of Their Online Courses Paul Dombrowski, Assoc. Prof., UCF Patrick Fleming, Ph.D. Candidate, UCF Sloan-C ALN Conf., November 2002

  2. Background • ADA • Section 508/W3C • Digital Divide • Ethics • UCF Distributed Learning • Ph.D. Program in Texts and Technology

  3. Pilot Study • Diverse convenience sample • Permission • Potential scope • Generalizability

  4. Research Questions • What is the measured accessibility of web courses at UCF? • What are the attitudes toward disability of faculty responsible for these courses? • What is the correlation between accessibility and attitudes? • Perception vs. reality?

  5. Research Design • Accessibility - LIFT (UsableNet) • Attitudes - Disability Rights Attitude Scale (DRAS) • Coordinate with UCF Course Development and Web Services • Coordinate with Dr. Dziuban, Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness

  6. LIFT (UsableNet and Nielsen) • Automated (reliability) • Objective (impersonal) • Widely used (validity) • Authoritative (validity) • Suggests improvements • Pre- and post-intervention in later research

  7. Disability Rights Attitude Scale (DRAS) • Source • Suitability • Validated

  8. Data Collection and Analysis • Measure accessibility • Measure attitudes • Correlate • Narrative comments

  9. Interpretation • Meaning of correlation • Limitations • Interrelation of attitudes and accessibility – which comes first? • Possible avenues of intervention

  10. Recommendations & Application • Extend pilot to larger sample • University-wide • State-wide • Nation-wide • Non-academic • Maximize accessibility • Improve attitudes • Maximize positive correlation

  11. Application • Educate faculty on need for accessibility • Educate faculty on attitudes • Educate faculty on measured accessibility • Educate faculty on techniques to increase accessibility • Re-assess

  12. Conclusion • Federal and state mandates • Ethical responsibility • Automated, objective measures • Perception vs. reality

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