Higher education leaders’ perspectives of accessible and inclusive online learning

Abstract

Online learning can potentially meet increasingly diverse students’ needs in higher education, including disabled students. However, institutions have historically struggled in providing accessible and inclusive online learning. Higher education online learning leaders, those who manage instructional designers, are in a unique position to help institutions strategize and create accessible and inclusive online courses. In this qualitative study, we interviewed nine higher education online learning leaders to understand leaders’ perceptions about how institutions provide accessible and inclusive online learning. Results demonstrated that despite varying conceptualizations of accessibility and inclusivity, online learning leaders perceive an insufficient but growing emphasis in higher education. Overall, participants described instructional designers as the most knowledgeable and skilled in this area. Participants described a lack of agency for instructional design teams and a need to advocate for buy-in from senior leadership. They also described strategies (e.g., faculty development, quality standards, and accessibility checkers) to support faculty.

Keywords:

• disability
• higher education
• online learning
• leaders
• instructional design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy Lomellini

Amy Lomellini is the associate director of blended and online learning at Molloy University and a doctoral candidate at Boise State University. She leads the design and implementation of quality blended and online learning initiatives. Her research focuses on accessible and inclusive online course design for higher education.

Patrick R. Lowenthal

Patrick R. Lowenthal is a professor in the Department of Educational Technology at Boise State University. He specializes in designing and developing online learning environments. His research focuses on how people communicate using emerging technologies—with a specific focus on issues of presence, identity, and community—in online learning environments.

Chareen Snelson

Chareen Snelson is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology at Boise State University with over 20 years of experience in online education. Her scholarly activity emphasizes scoping reviews in educational technology, video in online education, and teaching qualitative research methods courses online.

Jesús H. Trespalacios

Jesús Trespalacios is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology at Boise State University. He teaches online graduate courses on instructional design, technology integration, and educational research. His scholarly activity includes instructional design education, communities in online environments, teachers’ technology integration, and doctoral advising.