Accessibility in Digital Learning Increasingly Complex | T.H.E. Journal

Dian Schaffhauser, senior contributing editor says "The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) has introduced a series of reports to keep people in education up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of digital learning." 

Photo: T.H.E. Journal

The first report covers accessibility and addresses both K-12 and higher education. The series is being produced by OLC's Research Center for Digital Learning & Leadership.

The initial report addresses four broad areas tied to accessibility:

• The national laws governing disability and access and how they apply to online courses;
• What legal cases exist to guide online course design and delivery in various educational settings;
• The issues that emerge regarding online course access that might be unique to higher ed or to K-12, and which ones might be shared; and
• What support online course designers need to generate accessible courses for learners across the education life span (from K-12 to higher education).

As the first report concluded, college and K-12 considerations come into play at multiple levels: institutional, department, program and course for higher ed; and federal, state, district, school and classroom for K-12...

Next up will be an examination of instructional design (expected this month), followed by leadership in August, business models in September, learning sciences in October and workforce development in November. 

All reports in the OLC Outlook series will be available in the OLC Research Center for Digital Learning & Leadership (registration required).

Source: T.H.E. Journal