Effective Simulations to Support Academics in Inclusive Online Learning Design
George Papadopoulos, Elaine Pearson, Steve Green · 2008 · Proceedings of the 10th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (Assets '08) · doi:10.1145/1414471.1414535
Summary
This paper describes the development and evaluation of accessibility simulations designed to help academic staff in higher education understand the barriers disabled students face when accessing online learning materials. The research was conducted at the University of Teesside's Accessibility Research Centre and involved two prototype iterations. The first prototype featured simulations based on interactions with Blackboard, a widely-used Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), covering visual disabilities (glaucoma and cataract), motor impairment (mouse control), and cognitive disabilities (distractibility). Evaluation of this first prototype confirmed the approach had potential for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) but revealed that simulations needed to more accurately represent the disability experience in an educational context. The revised second version expanded to eight simulations: cataract, glaucoma, blindness/screen reader use, colour blindness, motor impairment, hearing/deafness, distractibility, and dyslexia. Each simulation was structured in three parts — the simulation itself, help and instructions for the task, and feedback with practical examples of how academics can improve their online resources. The simulated disabilities were selected based on the most common disabilities reported by the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Key findings
The paper focuses in detail on the distractibility simulation, which demonstrates cognitive overload — a feature of many cognitive disabilities including autism and dyslexia. To simulate the experience, the tool employs a virtual chat metaphor using Blackboard's embedded chat function: while users try to complete a learning task, chat windows appear requiring responses before they can proceed. Additional distractions include ambient environmental sounds (crowd noise and voices), deliberately slow site navigation, and unclear task instructions presented as rolling text that appears only periodically. These combined elements split the learner's attention and increase extraneous cognitive load, approximating how a student with a cognitive disability might experience online learning. The first prototype evaluation showed that while academic staff appreciated the simulations, they needed to better reflect genuine VLE interaction — the revised version addressed this by allowing users to navigate across multiple modules rather than restricting them to predetermined links.
Relevance
This research addresses a critical gap in accessibility practice: how to motivate and educate the people who create learning content to design inclusively. Rather than relying solely on guidelines and checklists, the simulation approach gives academics a visceral, first-person experience of disability barriers in a context they recognize — their own VLE. This empathy-building strategy is particularly valuable because cognitive disabilities are harder for non-disabled people to comprehend compared to visual or motor impairments, yet they affect a significant proportion of higher education students. For accessibility practitioners working in education or organizational training, this paper offers a model for awareness-raising that goes beyond policy compliance toward genuine understanding. The three-part structure of each simulation — experience, guidance, and practical solutions — provides a template for effective CPD activities that could be adapted to other institutional contexts.
Tags: accessibility simulation · disability awareness · inclusive learning · cognitive accessibility · continuing professional development · higher education · e-learning
Standards referenced: WCAG