OpenCourseWare (OCW) has become a desirable source for sharing free educational resources which means there will always be users with differing needs. It is therefore the responsibility of OCW platform developers to consider accessibility as one of their prioritized requirements to ensure ease of use for all, including those with disabilities. However, the main challenge when creating an accessible platform is the ability to address all the different types of barriers that might affect those with a wide range of physical, sensory and cognitive impairments. This article discusses accessibility and personalization strategies and their realisation in the SlideWiki platform, in order to facilitate the development of accessible OCW. Previously, accessibility was seen as a complementary feature that can be tackled in the implementation phase. However, a meaningful integration of accessibility features requires thoughtful consideration during all project phases with active involvement of related stakeholders. The evaluation results and lessons learned from the SlideWiki development process have the potential to assist in the development of other systems that aim for an inclusive approach.

Abstract The ‘massive’ and ‘open’ nature of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can provide powerful dissemination tools to raise awareness of topics in need of public attention, such as digital accessibility and its impact on assistive technology users. The subject is a wide-ranging one when taught from the point of view of those who may have sensory, physical and/or cognitive impairments coping with a myriad of digital activities on a daily basis. These may range from creating and viewing documents, surfing the web to using a mobile or a washing machine. An analysis of the interactions and learning experiences of those who completed the FutureLearn Digital Accessibility MOOC was conducted, using a combination of statistical and qualitative methods. Preliminary results indicate a progressive loss of participants over time, which is to be expected with MOOCs. However, certain measures such as the number of comments per participant, completed steps, and the “likes” count suggest a relatively high degree of engagement from this particular learning community. After examining the topics that triggered most participation, a suggestion has been formulated to repurpose parts of the course in order to exploit its most engaging sections and offer alternative forms of support for those activities that required more explanation.

This paper aims to illustrate how an innovative voting system has been developed to allow AAC users, their therapists, carers and families show their degree of acceptance for newly developed symbols and their referents. The approach, taking a participatory model of research, occurs via an online symbol management system using a set of criteria that provide instant feedback to the developers and the project team. Scores and comments regarding the symbols are collated and where a majority vote has occurred, symbols are added to the Arabic Symbol Dictionary with lexical entries in both Arabic and English.

Formative eAssessment can be very helpful in providing high quality higher education assignments. However, there are obstacles restricting the uptake of formative eAssessment in higher education including both cultural and technical issues. When a university is encouraging the uptake of formative eAssessment internally it is useful to have case studies from academic schools detailing how academics enthusiastic about formative eAssessment have used it in their modules. It is particularly helpful if these case studies document: i.) the principle obstacles that these champions had to deal with, ii.) a cooperative-design process through which these obstacles have been dealt with by the champions (with assistance from e.g. learning technologists), and iii.) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the resulting formative eAssessments. However there is a shortage of such real-world long-term case studies. This paper helps fill this gap in the literature by describing the case of a Modern Languages module within a Russell Group university (Southampton). The formative eAssessment solution resulting from the case study utilises our QTI, mobile QTI, accessibility, and web 2.0 tools and can be positioned at the cutting edge of formative eAssessment practice. We have evaluated this with undergraduate student volunteers from Spanish modules and received positive feedback.