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quality approaches for evaluating e-learning
experiences. This model has also been applied to
evaluate experiences based on the use of the
Polifomat e-learning platform (Ejarque et al., 2007).
In summary, the method to evaluate the
EU4ALL e-learning experience at the UPV has been
divided in three main tasks.
First, to define specific learning scenarios in
which these experiences are developed, establishing
the elements to be addressed along the target
experiences.
Second, to state the main research questions to
be evaluated through the defined learning scenarios.
This research was mainly focused on checking the
Needs Assessment and the Authoring Support
services which are part of the EU4ALL project.
Additionally, several quality evaluation criteria were
assigned to the proposed research questions.
Third, to collect the evaluation results from users
who participated in the EU4ALL experiences. This
collection process was performed through
questionnaires submitted to users and their results
were analyzed by means of the referred quality
model.
3.1 Data Collection
Two different types of data collection techniques
were deployed. The first one was oriented to gather
the point of view of users through a personalized
interview, one addressed to students and a second
one for lecturers. The students’ interviews were
promoted by the technical responsible at CEDAT
(UPV disability office) who contacted with several
students with different disability issues. These
interviews revealed a huge variety of user profiles
and subjects and this fact moved the research team
to establish a set of basic teaching scenarios to be
evaluated:
Computing topics in several fields such as
Computer Fundamentals, Computer Technology, or
Data Structures.
Business topics such as Marketing or Legal
Economic aspects.
Another technique to collect data was the use of
questionnaires which were submitted to users after
the final tests at the end of the project. First a
questionnaire for students was prepared that
included three main sections: i) Demographic data,
ii) Filling out the profile form EU4ALL and iii)
Access to the course resources. A second
questionnaire was designed for lecturers with
question items classified also into three categories: i)
Demographic data, ii) Filling out the point of view
about the current PoliformaT version and iii) Filling
out the point of view about the new prototype of
PoliformaT.
3.2 Participants
The participants in the evaluation process were
classified in two main groups: i) lecturers who
provided course materials to be adapted in the
EU4ALL context and ii) disabled students who were
registered in different UPV courses, mainly in
Computer, Business and Engineering disciplines.
One of the main problems in the evaluation of the
UPV pilot site was the diversity and heterogeneity of
student profiles and courses. About ten lecturers
were asked for participating in the project but only
six of them were able to evaluate the UPV pilot site.
In the case of students, the CEDAT office contacted
with them and finally, ten students participated in
the experience (four with hearing impairment and
six with visual impairment).
3.3 Materials
The evaluation was focused on two main areas: i)
Computing courses and ii) Business courses. These
courses were face-to-face (classroom-based) and
they provided a set of instructional materials mainly
based on text documents (pdf in most cases), and
Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations. However,
they also included video or other multimedia
formats. For instance, in Computing courses, audio
versions were produced for pdf documents for
describing lab instructions or adding additional
information in graphical presentations (e.g. wiring
diagram), which were difficult to read for visually
impaired people. In the case of Business courses,
some deployed materials were screencasts, lecture
recordings and podcasts, which were captioned or
provided transcripts to students with hearing
troubles.
All the aforementioned materials were stored in a
Web site provided by the PoliformaT platform
which was assigned to the UPV-EU4ALL project
Moreover, this site has been used for lecturers and
students who provided samples of different kind of
teaching materials and resources, and also for other
lecturers and students as end-users who were
interested to check the produced materials before
testing them in the PoliformaT prototype adapted to
the EU4ALL requirements.
EVALUATINGANE-LEARNINGEXPERIENCEORIENTEDTOWARDSACCESSIBLEINSTRUCTION
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