Perceptions of U.S. teachers of the visually imparied on commercially-produced, described video within educational multimedia.

A nationwide survey was conducted to gain insight into how Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVIs) perceive commercially-produced, described video within educational multimedia for students with visual impairments and blindness. Of the 490 TVIs who responded, 374 were included in the study based upon its inclusion requirements of being a certified TVIs employed in a K-12, school work setting in the U.S. Data were collected pertaining to the TVIs\u27 levels of knowledge, use, support and recommendation of commercially-produced, described video for educational purposes. Relationships between these variables were explored. Descriptive information was highlighted to add to this exploratory study. Data were gathered to identify whether or not there were significant differences between the TVIs\u27 academic work settings (i.e., schools for the blind, public schools and “other” schools) and the extent of their recommendation levels of commercially-produced, described video for students with visual impairments. The results indicated that there were relationships between each of the TVIs\u27 levels of knowledge, use and support of commercially-produced, described video and their recommendation of described video for their students with visual impairments. Furthermore, a significant difference within the TVIs’ level of recommendation of commercially-produced, described video was found between the TVIs who worked in the schools for the blind and TVIs who worked in public schools. Additionally, a significant difference in the TVIs\u27 recommendation levels was discovered between TVIs who were employed in schools for the blind and TVIs who worked in “other” schools. Implications and limitations of the study were identified and suggestions were given for future research. Specific implications from the study\u27s findings were outlined for educators, administrators, educational media companies and policy makers who may affect the supply and demand of described video within education. Recommendations for increasing TVIs\u27 educational opportunities on learning how to request and use described video for students in educational settings were made based upon the study\u27s findings. In addition, the findings stressed the crucial need for educational media companies and vendors to increase the supply of commercially-produced, described video. This study\u27s findings added to the sparse previous research on the topic of video description in educational settings