Access is More Than A Ramp: Assessing the Usability of Educational Information Technologies

In the past at the University of Montana, architectural barriers to accessibility of the campus environment have closed the door to Post Secondary Higher Education for students with disabilities. Through effective retrofits to the existing facilities and the creation of a Strategic Plan for continued identification, most of these barriers have been removed. Today programmatic barriers to accessibility for students with disabilities have moved into a new space of fragmented accessibility within the virtual environment. Educational materials have transitioned to utilize emerging web technologies and learning management systems. However, presently, an audit has not been conducted o measure the usability and accessibility of these technologies for students with disabilities enrolled on our campus. Building a new web environment that is fully accessible to students with disabilities requires gathering information about the experiences student with disabilities have had using current technologies utilized for completion of coursework. Creating an objective assessment on the usability and navigability of university web technology is an opportunity for students with disabilities to collaborate with qualified university staff to effectively remove barriers and develop lasting measures to assess institutional procurement of future technologies. By conducting a qualitative questionnaire survey with students currently registered with Disability Services at U of M, I will be working to discover and document any barriers that have not been identified and presenting my findings from this research to the campus community in a 25 minute presentation. The need to document these barriers will help to provide the University of Montana with necessary insight for removal and assist the campus community in continued efforts to effectively implement the creation of a campus that is technologically, architecturally, programmatically, and attitudinally accessible to students with disabilities