Citation: van Rooij, S.W., & Zirkle, K. (2016). Balancing pedagogy, student readiness and accessibility: A case study in collaborative online course development. Internet and Higher Education 28: 1-7. DOI 10.106/j.iheduc.2015.08.001
This article presents a case study of an online course developed at George Mason University in Virginia to teach students how to learn online. The authors (who were the leads on the project) were tasked with making sure that the course was accessible as well as pedagogically-sound.
Much of the study describes the setting of the university and course, and the main finding so far as accessibility is concerned is that course creators are better off determining accessibility needs before creating content (p. 4). As the authors put it content creators “need to integrate accessibility services into the process early on and to continue those services throughout the design, development and implementation of the online course” (p. 6).
While the study’s findings elsewhere are certainly useful to creators of online courses, their findings as regards accessible course creation are hardly new.