Development and validation of the accessibility of campus computing for students with disabilities scale: Service providers’ perspective

Responses by 156 Canadian college and university professionals who provide disability-related services to students were used to construct, develop, and validate the Accessibility of Campus Computing for Students With Disabilities Scale (ACCSDS): Service Provider Version. This is a 19-item, self-administered tool that evaluates institutional computing accessibility for students with disabilities from the perspective of disability service pro-viders. The measure contains 4 empirically derived subscales: Access to Adaptive Computers, Infrastructure and Collaboration, Academic Inclusion, and Adaptive Technology Competence. Results indicate that these 4 factors account for 54 % of the variability in total scores. The data also show good internal consistency for the subscales and the full scale. Data concerning validity show strong relationships between scores and a key criterion vari-able. The ACCSDS can be used to evaluate disability service providers ’ views about an institution’s technology accessibility, to provide empirical data to influence information and instructional technology policy, and to pin-point areas of strength as well as areas needing improvement. The integration of educational technologies with campus computing infrastructure is an ongoing activ-ity on North American campuses (e.g., Educause, 2002