Paper on access to e-learning by disabled students in higher education
Konur, O. (2002) Access to e-learning in higher education by disabled
students: current public policy issues. In, S. Banks; P. Goodyear; V.
Hodgson; and D. McConnell (Eds.) Proceedings of the Third International
Conference on Networked Learning 2002, (a research based conference on
e-learning in Higher Education and Lifelong Learning), 26 March- 28 March
2002, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, pp. 406-414. (Sheffield,
University of Sheffield and Lancaster, Lancaster University). [On-line]
http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/nlc.htm for the educational and
disability accessibility purposes (with the courtesy of the University of
Sheffield and Lancaster University) (from 2 April 2002).
Abstract
The emerging public policy issues regarding access to networked learning in
higher education by disabled students are presented to disseminate research
based on a four-year long self-funded research project at City University.
The networked learning has formed a main ingredient of the curriculum in the
UK universities in recent years. Unsurprisingly, a substantial body of
research emerged in this issue. In the meantime, disabled students continued
to be under-represented with a participation ratio of 4.5 % with a
differential rate of participation among inter-disability groups. The access
to networked learning would be regulated by the Disability Discrimination
Act (1995) as amended by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act
(2001) starting from September 2002. This paper disseminates research on the
related public policy issues from an interdisciplinary research and policy
perspective. It is argued that both network learning and disability law is
still young and it should be remembered that both of them need to work
within the established higher education law where student-university legal
and institutional relationship is not one of equals but unequals as
evidenced by the substantial body of case law. Furthermore the rules of the
game by the amended Part IV of the DDA may have not been devised to achieve
its stated aims to end discrimination against disabled students in higher
education as evidenced by the substantial body of case law within the
employment context. Therefore it would be helpful to base practices and
policy making processes on access to networked learning by disabled students
on an evidence-based model rather than 'good practice' model as currently
deployed within the higher education sector at large. Perhaps based on such
evidence-based practice and policies, it would be possible to devise the
rules of the game to achieve the stated purposes of such rules in the long
run.
Key words: Disabled students, higher education, networked learning,
Disability Discrimination Act (1995), Internet, interdisciplinary research,
evidence-based policy, good practice culture, higher education law.
46 references. 9 pages. 4,200 words. 1 Table. Total, 5,500 words. Web
version, 7,500 words, 2 April 2002.
________________________________
Ozcan KONUR
Postal address: Rehabilitation Resource Centre (Walmsley Building Room
W223), City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, The United
Kingdom.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Research project URL: http://www.student.city.ac.uk/~cx639/index.htm
Phone: 020 7040 0271
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