Inclusion in an Electronic Classroom

Disability Group: LOW VISION

ID 2002

Summary of problems observed in each of the various protocols and the corresponding sources of these problems for each of the subjects.

Major accessibility problems (requiring either verbal instructions or physical intervention) were not experienced by this participant in the following Modules: Web Course in a Box and Mallard.

Course Info.

Item 14 (Try the electric blackboard linked from the Student Tools page, posting a message or typing a few lines of text).

This participant was having difficulties accessing the blackboard with the use of the keyboard. She was however able to overcome these accessibility problems by resorting to the use of her vision and the mouse. Hence, accessing the blackboard with an exclusive reliance on the keyboard may present a problem (This will be cross-checked with participants who completely replied on the keyboard to verify if they too experienced problems with this item).

The problems experienced with this item are due to a combination of the subject’s inexperience and particular accessibility issues with regards to the courseware. This participant consistently asked for clarifications and demanded constant approval of the steps that she was taking or about to take to complete the task. This lack of confidence could be a result of a number of factors including her visual difficulties, novelty of the courseware environment, novelty of the type of task that she was being asked to complete, anxiety and other psychosocial factors. This was exasperated by the difficulties presented by the courseware itself. The subject attempted to access the "browse" button with the keyboard by pressing the "enter" key but was unable to do so. The browse button presented difficulties in the following ways:

1. Jaws did not read the title of the browse button ("Browse"). When tabbing through the screen, the experienced JAWS user may be able to detect that there is another button that is not being read and may consequently be able verify that this is indeed the case by switching cursors and attempting to read the "silent button". The novices, however, will totally miss this as a result of their lack of experience and familiarity with JAWS.
2. The subject may be able to tab to the "browse" button with some guidance and instruction. But even in this case, pressing the "enter" key on the keyboard does not allow the subject to access the content of Browse. However after some trial and error, the subject was instructed to press "Enter" and then the "Space" bar to access the browse button and this combination of steps was successful.
3. The next step also presented problems for the participant in that she was now unable to select the file to be uploaded with the keys on the keyboard. This problem was due to her difficulties in navigating about desktop and her obvious difficulties with navigation with the keyboard. She was able to once again overcome these difficulties by resorting to the usage of the mouse, and was consequently able to access and upload the file to be submitted.
4. Further hints were deemed necessary for her to complete this task which seemed like a novel one for her (she had never done this type of exercise prior to this). She was unfamiliar with the steps that might be necessary for eventually submitting the file and did not have a good visual map of what the other steps might involve (from the screen). As a result of this confusion, instructions were given to her to first name the file and then eventually, to send it.

Summary:

• The majority of the difficulties with this item were due to a combination of the inactive browse button, which further complicated difficulties that were being experienced by the participant due to the obvious novelty of the task and disorganized visual map (both of the steps needed to be taken to complete the task and of the screen itself).

Problems experienced with this item was exaggerated by difficulties with the screen reader JAWS. Jaws failed to read the new screen even after the commands necessary were given via the keyboard. As in previous cases, the participant resorted to her vision but was not able to clearly decipher the contents of the screen. She was confused by the ‘links’ on the screen thinking that it was a ‘frame’. Attempts were made to show her (by pointing) where she was on the screen and where the external link, that she was looking for, was located.

Summary:

• Problems with this item were due mostly to the absence of a feel or visual map for what was on the screen. This was a result of JAWS failure to read the content of the screen. Usually this participant relied on the screen reader to allow her to form this visual map. In some cases, this visual map is enhanced and verified by what little she can actually see on the computer screen. Total reliance on vision alone however is not sufficient for forming this visual map. Consequently the failure of JAWS significantly effects how well, if at all, this participant is able to access the courseware.

Item 21 (View the Calendar to see any upcoming events).

The participant tried to get JAWS to read the upcoming events but was unsuccessful. The participant seemed to believe that the upcoming events would be directly on the screen and hence that they could have JAWS read it simply by requesting that the screen reader read the entire screen. Again, JAWS presented some difficulties. It did not read the entire screen. When tabbing through the various links on the screen, JAWS was able to read the individual links but this made it difficult for the participant to form a map of what the screen and for that matter, the calendar, looked like. Instructions were needed [to tab to a certain date and then press "enter" in order to see if there were any messages under the particular link]. The layout of the screen was different from that expected by the participant and this made the completion of the task a bit more difficult as a result of the confusion that was created (in the subject’s mind).

Problems experienced with this item was a result of a number of factors discussed below:

1. Difficulty with getting the screen reader JAWS to read the entire screen. She tried a number of different commands but these all failed. Eventually the participant resorted to using the mouse by first highlighting the screen and then giving the command for Jaws to read. This attempt was successful.
2. Once the participant had gotten into the Quizzes link, she again had difficulties getting JAWS to read the screen. Suggestions were given and different techniques tried which eventually got it to work.
3. Next, problems were encountered when the participant attempted to enter her answers. She switched repeatedly from cursor to cursor and with some suggestions was able to enter her answers. When attempting to check the radial buttons for the multiple choice questions, the participant pressed "enter" to select her choice and consequently submitted the quiz by mistake. She was then instructed to tab to the back button to go back to the Quiz.
4. Once again, the participant resorted to using her vision to complete the task.

Summary:

• Troubles experienced with this task were due to: problems with JAWS and its interaction with the courseware; the participant’s level of experience with JAWS and her keyboard skills with regards to data entry.

WEBCT

Item 7 (View at least one glossary item linked from within the course notes. Several glossary links can be found on the content page entitled " Parent’s Feelings").

Both participant and researcher were unable to find the glossary links. The researcher contacted the administrator who informed her that the links were within the page but she was unable to locate and hence moved on.

Top Class

Item 7 (Attach a file to send along with your email message).

This participant had no difficulties reading, writing or previewing her email message but difficulties were encountered when she tried to attach a file to send along with her email.

Problems encountered:

1. When tabbing through the links on the page (Attach file page) JAWS reads all of the links but it skips over the browse button but continues to read the links that follow Browse.
2. Although it fails to read the browse button, it does go over the button itself (it just doesn’t read it). When the participant is instructed that the tab is on the browse button (participant not able to detect such fine detail on the screen) Jaws actually reads "file edit" instead of ‘browse’. When the participant entered on the browse button as she was situated over it…a blank page was automatically added as an attachment. So even if the participant is able to locate the browse button with guidance and step by step instructions, its function is still defective in that it submits a blank page as an attachment and does not let you browse for a particular file, as it should. Hence accessing the browse button is problematic with the keyboard and once it is accessed, its functionality is defective.
3. This participant was able to select the browse button with the mouse and hence was again able to overcome the previous accessibility problems.

Summary:

• Problems experienced with this item were a result of the inaccessibility and defect in the functionality of the courseware.

Item 15 (Take the Test entitled "Employment Advocacy Test")

Problems encountered with this item included:

1. It was not obvious where the link to taking the test would be found. The participant went into View Test but this was the link for ‘viewing the results of the test’. Instructions and hints were given to the participant to help locate the icon for actually ‘taking the test’.
2. The participant seemed to rely heavily on her vision for completing the test. However, she nevertheless had a lot of difficulties determining whether the radial buttons were checked or not checked for the multiple-choice questions. As a result, she consistently required verification from the researcher. The participant felt more comfortable relying on her limited vision than on her keyboard skills for accessing and completing the questions.
3. Upon submitting the test, the subject wanted to view the results. She went to view tests and received a message saying that there were no submissions.

Summary:

• A clearer link as to where the test might be taken or located would be an asset. Also, the function of the link intended to be used to view the test results was misinterpreted by the participant because of its ambiguity. Confusion could be prevented if the actual function of the link was made clearer (suggestions "View test results" instead of View test which suggested to this participant and to other participants that you could take the test here). The visibility of the radial buttons also presented difficulties for this participant. It was difficult to determine whether the buttons were actually checked or unchecked. Having more contrast or even colour to differentiate between the checked and unchecked would be a definite asset to those with visual problems. Hence the majority of problems experienced with this item were a result of both limitations of the participant (including her inexperience with JAWS, deficient keyboard skills, low vision) and problems with the courseware (unclear use of language/link descriptors, defect in scoring the quiz).

Virtual U

This participant had some trouble finding the link "Courses building". She was looking for a link that actually said "Courses Building" but did not find one. The researcher explained what the screen looked like visually with particular emphasis on the image map displaying the different buildings. The reason that finding this link was problematic was because the link is actually called "Courses" and not "Courses building". This name would be more meaningful and probably not problematic for the visual user since they would be able to see that the image is that of a building and hence that "building" per say was being implied. The individual with a visual problem may not pick up on this and may miss the link altogether as is seen with this participant.

Difficulties are due to problems with the courseware. A number of different links to the email were tried and the same problem was encountered (see previous descriptions of the problem).

Participant was on the Personal options page previous to this. She tried to access the campus page from here but the links to this page were not working properly (skipping over all links except for the HELP link). Subject had to be instructed to access the Campus page from elsewhere.

Summary:

• Problems encountered with this item were a result of: Interactions between JAWS and the software, which caused a defect in its functioning (skipping links).

Summary of overall problems encountered

• Some of the difficulties experienced are a direct result of problems with the software and include problems: accessing the blackboard for those with an exclusive reliance on the keyboard (to be verified with other participants who are dependent on the keyboard); defective browse button; problems with the adaptive technology and its interactions with the courseware; difficult to find icons such as the one for taking the quiz; visibility of the radial buttons; problems with the scoring of the test; descriptors of links and icons need to be clear and not ambiguous; consistency of terminology used through out the courseware; defect with the connection to the email.

• Most of the difficulties were also a result of, or in some cases exasperated by the participant’s limited mental capacity. Problems were also encountered for the following reasons: The subject’s inexperience with web based navigation; subject’s insecurities about whether she was doing the correct thing which resulted in her requiring constant approval from the researcher; subject’s inexperience with the courseware environment; the novelty of the task that she was asked to complete; anxiety and other psychosocial factors; subject’s visual difficulties; participant’s poor keyboard navigation skills; lack of experience and familiarity with the screen reader JAWS; Failure to form a cohesive and organized visual map as a result of problems with JAWS; Expectations about certain features of navigation from her limited experience using the web also influenced the courseware accessibility (calendar) particularly so when the her expectations were not confirmed.