Barriers to learning online experienced by students with a mental health disability

Online education is widely regarded as increasing accessibility to higher education to individuals with disadvantage and disability, including those with a mental health disability. However, the learning challenges these students experience within the online learning environment are not well understood. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to better understand the barriers to learning that these students face in this environment. A qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 students revealed three major learning barriers: (a) impact of impairment, (b) personal and situational circumstances, and (c) learning environment. These barriers were found to have wide-ranging consequences for the students’ ability to fully engage in study and their overall wellbeing. The findings lend insight into the low retention rates for this cohort of students and the learning barriers that need to be addressed by online education providers to better enhance the educational experience of these students.     

CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE WEB SITES

Community colleges frequently are the points of access to postsecondary training and education for members of special populations. Physical barriers are obvious problems that limit access for individuals with disabilities, and community colleges have made reasonable accommodations in this regard. One area that often is overlooked, however, is the on-line barriers that limit access to Web-based content. This study examined the Web-based content accessibility of community college home pages. A total of 253 community college home pages were evaluated for content accessibility. Only 23% of the community college home pages evaluated were determined to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Types of accessibility problems, resources for designing accessible Web sites, and methods for validating Web sites are reported.     

Maslow and Team Organization

Many middle schools use the Web to disseminate and gather information. Online barriers often limit the accessibility of the Web for students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accessibility of home pages of a sample of middle schools. The authors located 165 Web sites using a popular online directory and evaluated the sites for accessibility. A software program quantified the number of accessibility errors at each site. Most middle school home pages had accessibility problems, and the majority of them represented severe concerns that should be given a high priority for improvement. The good news is that the majority of the errors can easily be corrected. The work reflects a need for middle schools to continuously examine the accessibility of their home pages. Direction for improving accessibility is provided.     

State Perspectives on Implementing,or Choosing Not to Implement,an Alternate Assessment Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards

Since Federal regulations have given states the option to implement alternate assessments based on modified academic achievement standards (AA-MAS) as part of their accountability systems for a small group of students with disabilities, a number of states have made decisions about whether or not to develop and implement such an assessment. State-level directors of assessment and directors of special education were surveyed about their state's decisions on implementing AA-MAS. Improvements in accessibility and appropriateness were reasons given for choosing to implement an AA-MAS, whereas lack of resources and guidance were identified as barriers. This article presents the findings from a survey on 22 states' decisions concerning implementation of AA-MAS.     

Content accessibility of special education organisations' Web sites

Professional organisations play a central role in efforts to make public and private facilities and resources accessible. Hundreds of organisations have formed to support the development and maintenance of services to individuals with disabilities. The World Wide Web (WWW) has become a valuable resource for individuals with disabilities, but on-line barriers create significant limitations in content accessibility. This study evaluated the content accessibility of professional organisation home pages. One hundred and eighty-seven home pages were evaluated for content accessibility. The results indicated that 72% of them had significant accessibility problems that severely affect their usability by people with disabilities. The types of accessibility problems are presented, as well as methods for validating and areas for improving Web sites.     

Ensuring the Provision of Accessible Digital Resources

A lack of awareness of disability issues in the provision of digital educational material is resulting in a situation where much of this material is, to some degree, inaccessible to people with certain disabilities. Current and proposed disability legislation in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom means that any educational material produced by institutions, and which has accessibility barriers, may soon be illegal. This paper discusses the issues involved in the provision of accessible digital material, with a heavy emphasis on Web‐based resources, with a view to raising awareness and avoiding a potentially embarrassing situation for educational institutions. The various assistive technologies used by disabled people to access digital material are discussed, along with the problems by inaccessible material, illustrated by examples of inaccessible Web pages. Solutions for ensuring the accessibility of digital material are provided, including a discussion of open standards and guidelines and principles of accessible content design     

Changes in secondary teachers' perceptions of barriers to portfolio assessment

Portfolio assessment has become a popular medium for merging classroom assessment with large-scale testing, but adoption of portfolios in the classroom for external assessment purposes may be difficult because the use of such portfolios may require changes in the curriculum, instructions, and assessments used by teachers. As a result, there are numerous potential barriers to the adoption of portfolios that can be used for large-scale assessment purposes. This study investigates how secondary teachers' perceptions of portfolio implementation barriers changed when teachers participated in a 1-year portfolio implementation effort. Survey results are analyzed with a Rasch rating scale model. Results suggest that teachers' apprehension about portfolio barriers increased slightly, but that this increase can be attributable to teachers with little portfolio experience. Furthermore, teachers' concerns about the amount of time required to develop and score portfolios increased substantially while concerns about the availability of resources and resistance from parents decreased.     

Support services for higher degree research students: a survey of three Australian universities

A survey was conducted across three Australian universities to identify the types and format of support services available for higher degree research (HDR, or MA and Ph.D.) students. The services were classified with regards to availability, location and accessibility. A comparative tool was developed to help institutions categorise their services in terms of academic, administrative, social and settlement, language and miscellaneous (other) supports. All three universities showed similarities in the type of academic support services offered, while differing in social and settlement and language support services in terms of the location and the level of accessibility of these services. The study also examined the specific support services available for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students. The three universities differed in their emphases in catering to CALD needs, with their allocation of resources reflecting these differences. The organisation of these services within the universities was further assessed to determine possible factors that may influence the effective delivery of these services, by considering HDR and CALD student specific issues. The findings and tools developed by this study may be useful to HDR supervisors and university administrators in identifying key support services to better improve outcomes for the HDR students and universities.     

Why do children not play in nearby nature? Results from a Norwegian survey

Based on a nationwide Norwegian survey among 3160 parents of children aged 6–12 years, this article identifies and discusses barriers for children’s engagement with nearby nature. A set of social factors related to time pressure are evaluated as more significant barriers than environmental factors such as accessibility, safety and landscape quality. Children’s free play in nearby nature does not seem to be an alternative to a target-orientated and time-scheduled everyday life. Instead, parents give themselves, other adults and public institutions more responsibility to stimulate increased nature contact. Despite strong traditions in outdoor life and good accessibility to nearby nature, social and cultural trends seem to influence children’s engagement with nature in the same way in ‘Green Norway’ as it does in many other European countries. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of policy and promotion according to nature management and adults’ roles.     

The role of family preservation therapists in facilitating use of aftercare services

OBJECTIVE: The aims were to: (1) examine the process that family preservation therapists use when developing and implementing aftercare plans, and (2) examine how family preservation therapists perceive the availability and accessibility of community services that families need after short-term family preservation services. METHOD: Focus groups were conducted with therapists (n = 26) from five agencies that provide family preservation services in a large Midwest city. One agency was the local public child welfare agency, and the other four were nonprofit agencies with state contracts to provide family preservation services. RESULTS: Therapists viewed aftercare services as important and necessary, yet perceived barriers to families' use of aftercare services. Therapists undertook a number of activities to help families access and use services, though some therapists took a less active role than others did in helping families link to services. It was perceived that more follow-up was needed to ensure service use. Participants viewed certain services as especially difficult to access or unavailable, including services for men and adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: More explicit and focused attention to facilitating service use is needed. This can be accomplished by therapists focusing on service use during assessment and treatment planning. Regular follow-ups after short-term family preservation services for the purpose of helping families to productively use services may be needed. However, systemic changes are also needed to ensure that needed services are available and accessible.     

Assessment in early childhood education: threats and challenges to effective assessment of immigrant children

Research indicates that early childhood professionals gather assessment information to monitor child development and learning, to guide curriculum planning and decision making, to identify children who may have special needs, to report and communicate with others, and to evaluate programmes. A review of literature indicates that immigrant children have low achievement assessment scores as compared with mainstream American children, also immigrant children enter kindergarten already behind their mainstream American peers. The current study explored early childhood teachers' perceptions of assessment measures used with immigrant children and the challenges faced when assessing immigrant children. Findings of the study reveal that there are several factors that make early childhood teachers fail to gather effective assessment information from immigrant children. Unless the factors are addressed, planning for effective curriculum for immigrant children using assessment data will continue to be a challenge for early childhood teachers. Factors that continue to affect gathering effective assessment data from immigrant children include language barriers, cultural clashes, socio‐economic factors, and culturally and linguistically biased assessment measures.     

The Case of Turkish University Students and MOOCs

Though initially proposed as a means of overcoming common barriers to higher education, MOOCs often exacerbate the very issues of accessibility and exclusivity that they were designed to avoid. Students from developing countries in particular face considerable obstacles that hinder or outright prevent their enrollment in and completion of MOOCs. This study finds that, for these students, participation in MOOCs is often complicated by language barriers, limited technological resources, and prevailing Americentric or Eurocentric designs and mindsets, among other issues. These findings were determined and reinforced by a study of Turkish college students from a large state-sponsored metropolitan university, who indicated different levels of knowledge regarding MOOCs as well as various issues, concerns, and complaints. These issues of accessibility and exclusivity must be addressed before MOOCs will truly be able to democratize access to high-quality university-level education, and the best solutions are those that acknowledge the multicultural nature of their user communities.     

Effects of Item Modifications on Test Accessibility for Persistently Low-Performing Students with Disabilities

ABSTRACT

Construct-irrelevant cognitive complexity of some items in the statewide grade-level assessments may impose performance barriers for students with disabilities who are ineligible for alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards. This has spurred research into whether items can be modified to reduce complexity without affecting item construct. This study uses a generalized linear mixed modeling analysis to investigate the effects of item modifications on improving test accessibility by reducing construct-irrelevant cognitive barriers for persistently low-performing fifth-grade students with cognitive disabilities. The results showed item scaffolding was an effective modification for both mathematics and reading. Other modifications, such as bolding/underlining of key words, hindered test performance for low-performing students. We discuss the findings’ potential impact on test development with universal design.     

Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design

Authenticity has been identified as a key characteristic of assessment design which promotes learning. Authentic assessment aims to replicate the tasks and performance standards typically found in the world of work, and has been found to have a positive impact on student learning, autonomy, motivation, self-regulation and metacognition; abilities highly related to employability. Despite these benefits, there are significant barriers to the introduction of authentic assessment, particularly where there is a tradition of ‘testing’ decontextualised subject knowledge. One barrier may be the lack of conceptualisation of the term authentic assessment sufficient to inform assessment design at the individual course level. This article tackles that omission by a systematic review of literature from 1988 to 2015. Thirteen consistent characteristics of authentic assessment are identified leading to the classification of three conceptual dimensions: realism, cognitive challenge and evaluative judgement. These dimensions are elaborated and used to propose a step-based model for designing and operating authentic assessment in individual higher education subjects.     

Adolescents' Views of Preferred Helper Characteristics and Barriers to Seeking Help From School-Based Adults

Focus groups of 9th graders were conducted to obtain their views of preferred characteristics of school-based adults to whom they would turn for help with a personal concern and to determine their perception of barriers to seeking help from adults in their schools. Students identified several positive characteristics of adult helpers such as "nonjudgmental,' "makes self available," and "relates to teens." Barriers to seeking help included "dual roles," "psychologically inaccessible," and "too busy." Responses reflected qualities of school-based adults, conflicting adult roles, and characteristics of secondary schools that may affect help seeking. The results have implications for increasing the accessibility of school-based adults as a central protective factor for adolescents.     

Curb Cuts on the Information Highway: Older Adults and the Internet

With demographic and social trends in mind, technical communicators should be examining the online communication needs of elderly people who may share certain characteristics with other Internet users, particularly the disabled community. Although education, universal design, and accessibility initiatives help us address many of the developmental and cultural barriers elderly Internet users face, this article examines some current offerings, analyzing the growing elderly audience to better incorporate usability into Web design.     

Rhetoric and Communication Perspectives on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

With demographic and social trends in mind, technical communicators should be examining the online communication needs of elderly people who may share certain characteristics with other Internet users, particularly the disabled community. Although education, universal design, and accessibility initiatives help us address many of the developmental and cultural barriers elderly Internet users face, this article examines some current offerings, analyzing the growing elderly audience to better incorporate usability into Web design.     

Creating family-centered services in early intervention: perceptions of professionals in four states.

This article describes professional perceptions of the current status of family involvement in early intervention programs in four states. Significant discrepancies between current and ideal practices were found in four dimensions: parent involvement in decisions about child assessment, parent participation in assessment, parent participation in the team meeting and decision making, and the provision of family goals and services. In identifying barriers to ideal programs, professionals most frequently mentioned family barriers (35.8%) and system barriers (35.1%). Professional barriers, or those related to a lack of skill, accounted for only 14.8% of the barriers mentioned.     

The geographic accessibility and inequality of community-based elderly learning resources: a remodeling assessment, 2009–2017

Continuous elderly learning activities not only empower elderly populations’ knowledge about health but also enhance these populations’ social connections and social abilities, which can enhance their overall quality of life. Geographic accessibility is a determinant factor for elderly participation in social activities. In this study, we proposed six measurement methods and employed the Gini coefficient to discuss the geographic accessibility and geographic inequality of community-based elderly learning resources. This study provides three methodological contributions for future research. First, we propose an origin–destination cost matrix analysis that incorporates a post-pruning technique. Applying this technique allows for the consideration of policy restrictions in relation to resource utilization. This approach also contributes to the ability to obtain a reliable assessment of the accessibility of resources. Second, this study proposes a new, more direct and convenient, method of calculating the Gini coefficient. Third, we find that the different distance-decay index β indicates the impact of distance factors on the efficiency of resource utilization. The distance-decay index β should carefully discern when distance is under 1 km. These results indicate that assessing accessibility does not only consider length and traffic distance but also requires a deliberate and weighted calculating process depending on the distance, elderly demand population, and supply capacities of learning centers. Although our study focuses on Taiwanese cases, our methodologies and results illustrate possibilities for other contributions that assess geographic accessibility and resource-allocation inequality for elderly learning policy planning and implementation.     

A Study of Participant Educational Objectives in Selected Management Institute Programs

Abstract

A questionnaire designed to determine accessibility of a car was given to a Senior class of a suburban high school. Two grade-point averages were collected: the first before the students were legally able to drive, and the second after they had been legally able to drive for about one and one-half to two years. An IQ score was also collected. The subjects were divided into boys and girls. Car accessibility was divided into three categories: (1) no driver's license; (2) moderate accessibility; and (3) a group having maximum accessibility. It was concluded that the students' access to cars has no effect on the grade-point average over this period. This Is true even when their Hi is taken into account. It was determined that there is a differential pattern of access to cars by intellectual ability levels. Questions regarding the Interpretations of previous work seem justified.