Are Accessible Distance Learning Systems Useful for All Students?: Our Experience with IMES, an Accessible Web-Based Learning System Articles uri icon

publication date

  • July 2013

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 18

issue

  • 2

volume

  • 8

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1548-1093

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1548-1107

abstract

  • Nowadays the use of distance learning systems is widely extended in engineering education. Moreover, most of them use multimedia resources that sometimes are the only educational material available to provide certain educational knowledge to the students. Unfortunately, most of the current educational systems and their educational content present accessibility barriers so some students cannot access to these educational resources. This paper introduces IMES, an inclusive system designed to ensure that students of all abilities can access the educational content of the system. But, are all the students (not only students with disabilities) satisfied with this kind of inclusive applications? Are they useful for all the students? One hundred and eight students participated in the evaluation of the system during an academic course at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid. The evaluation shows that the system presents educational benefits to all the students in terms of usefulness and user's satisfaction.