Reflections on the value of participatory research methods in developing accessible design in higher education

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Description/Abstract

In recent years a number of studies have explored disabled learners experiences of using specific technologies with a view to producing accessibility related guidelines. Whilst these studies, to some extent, capture the “learner voice”, none of them have attempted to engage disabled learners as co-researchers in the project, where participation is conceptualised as involving empowerment. This paper will reflect on the authors’ experience of running a JISC funded project called LEXDIS, which used participatory methods to explore the e-learning experiences of disabled learners in Higher Education. The reflections will focus on the extent to which the methods used enabled empowered participation and use the results of the project to discuss what the emergent concepts of digital agility and digital decisions tell us about the empowerment of disabled learners in the context of e-learning in Higher Education. In concluding these reflections we will argue that in the context of HE, participatory methods have real potential to contribute a new and different kind of knowledge to the field of accessible design that acknowledges the complex relationship that learners have with technology and pushes designers to move beyond thinking about accessibility simply in terms of standards and guidelines.