Automatic Adaptation of Open Educational Resources: An Approach From a Multilevel Methodology Based on Students' Preferences, Educational Special Needs, Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility Metadata
Author(s) Ingavélez-Guerra, P., Robles-Bykbaev, V., Pérez-Muñoz, To., J., Row, J.R., Otto, S.
The need for adaptive e-learning environments that respond to learning variability is now a fundamental requirement in education, as it helps to ensure that students learn and pass their courses within a set time frame. Although guidelines, techniques and methods have been established in recent years to contribute to the development of accessible and adaptable e-learning environments that promote digital inclusion, their implementation is challenging due to the lack of knowledge of an adequate way to do it and because it is considered more of a technological competence for scholars in the area. In this context, automated support for adapting material that responds to the correct use of accessibility metadata not only provides a way to improve the description of adapted educational resources, but also facilitates their search according to the needs and preferences of students, particularly those with disabilities. In this article, we carry out a multilevel methodological proposal for the automatic adaptation of open educational resources, in order to provide a tool that contributes to the accessibility and correct use of their metadata in e-learning environments. A research is conducted with students with disabilities to establish their real needs and preferences, highlighting the need to strengthen the adequate description and coherent alternative text in images, the correct subtitling in videos and the conversion of audio to text, data that are relevant to our proposal. The research conducted aims to contribute with an automated support tool in the generation of accessible educational resources that are correctly labeled for search and reuse. This research also aims to support researchers in artificial intelligence applications to address challenges and opportunities in the field of virtual education, in addition to providing an overview that could help those who generate educational resources and maintain their interest in making them accessible.
Date of Publication: 04 January 2022 Electronic ISSN: 2169-3536
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3139537 Publisher: IEEE
Guidelines to Establish an Office of Student Accessibility Services in Higher Education Institutions
Author(s) Mendoza-González, R.; Luján-Mora, S.; Otto-Tortosa, S.; Sánchez-Gordón, M.; Rodriguez-Diaz, M.A.; Reyes-Acosta, R.E. .
The objective of this paper is to propose a set of guidelines to establish an office of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The proposed guidelines help to integrate disjointed knowledge to facilitate its interpretation and implementation during deployment of basic support services in favor of students with disability. These guidelines can help to mitigate complexity in providing SAS for the first time in HEIs. These guidelines cover both the design and implementation of an office of SAS and its management. Knowledge was found through a multivocal literature review (MLR), which allowed to capture not only academic approaches but also vantage points and experiences from practice. Key concepts and aspects were organized into eight components (five related to the design and implementation, and three associated with the management context). An expert appraisal method was used as a proof of concept, which complemented a previously performed preliminary implementation example. Obtained results demonstrated the pertinence of the conceptual proposal and confirmed guidelines capability for full implementation in a real-world scenario.
Date of Publication: 04 January 2022 Electronic ISSN:
DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3139537 Publisher: Sustainability
Quality Assurance in E-Learning: A Proposal from Accessibility to Sustainability
Author(s) Timbi-Sisalima, C.; Sánchez-Gordón, M.; Hilera-Gonzalez, J.R.; Otto-Tortosa, S.
Given the importance of developing and offering accessible education for all, indispensable aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) are needed. This study addresses that need by proposing a quality self-assessment for virtual education from an accessibility perspective. This proposal is based on previous literature about quality assurance in e-learning that considered accessibility and its application in the field of higher education. The bibliographic review was conducted by following Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) guidelines. The initial search returned 999 items from 5 academic databases and 32,200 professional sources from Google. After reviewing the sources, 37 of them were included. Then, the accessibility criteria were identified and integrated into an evaluation model. Such a model is divided into four dimensions: (1) organization, (2) student body, (3) teaching, and (4) infrastructure. The model also includes a set of standards (16), requirements (48), and evidence (63) that apply to each dimension. Moreover, self-assessment guidelines for accessible virtual education were proposed. They included a conceptual and theoretical framework, a self-assessment model, and a methodology for applying the model. The methodology included five phases: planning, model tuning or refinement of the model, evaluation, results, and continuous improvement. As future work, the implementation and validation of the guidelines will be carried out.
Date of Publication: 05 March 2022 Electronic ISSN:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053052 Publisher: Sustainability
Accessibility Challenges in OER and MOOC: MLR Analysis Considering the Pandemic Years
Author(s) Ingavélez-Guerra, P.; Robles-Bykbaev, V.; Teixeira, To.; Otto-Tortosa, S.; Row, J.R.
The review of state of the art on creating and managing learning resources and accessible Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is a topic that cannot only consider formal literature. The evidence and lack of a measurement consensus require the inclusion of contextual information, corroborating scientific results with practical experiences. For this reason, this article presents a review of accessibility models, OER and MOOC, considering the gray literature to capture experiences and trying to establish a shared understanding of the terminology commonly used in research on virtual accessibility and its impact on higher education. The bibliographic review relies on analyzing articles and scientific publications related to the topic following the Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) format. The results of this review establish that it is possible to apply accessibility review methodologies with transversal actions in the creation and management of learning resources and MOOCs. The research is related to one of the seventeen sustainable development goals defined by the United Nations to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Date of Publication: 12 March 2022 Electronic ISSN:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063340 Publisher: Sustainability
Towards the Implementation Process of Accessible Virtual Campuses in Higher Education Institutions in Latin America
Author(s) Pérez-Arriaga, J.C.; Vega, G.C.; Luján-Mora, S.; Otto, S.
Ensuring equitable and inclusive access to educational services in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) requires the development of strategies that consider the diversity of their academic members, administrative staff, and students, as well as the use of information and communication technologies. The identification of requirements for technological accessibility in HEIs allows for the establishment of actions aimed at considering accessibility aspects in the processes of admission, permanence, and graduation, in order to support students with disabilities in their transit through these institutions. Having a systematic approach to guide the design of educational strategies in HEIs contributes to the identification of areas for improvement for the benefit of educational quality and community members. This article describes the proposal of a process based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, and a methodology for the implementation of accessible learning environments oriented to the implementation of an accessible virtual campus based on the establishment of five defined phases: diagnosis, planning, implementation, control, and tracing. This proposal is aimed at supporting Latin American HEIs in the integration of technological accessibility requirements from a systematic and continuous improvement approach.
Date of Publication: 28 May 2022 Electronic ISSN:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app12115470 Publisher: Sustainability
