Analysing the parameters of the duty of reasonable adjustment to facilitate access to e‐learning resources

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the parameters of the duty of reasonable adjustment to facilitate access to e‐learning resources.

Design/methodology/approach

Educational providers continue to develop new methods of delivering content in digital format, the increasing use of broadband, web‐based resources and new content creation software provides numerous methods of delivering excellence in content creation and delivery. It is important that this excellence is available to all; to this end the disability aspects of e‐learning provision are discussed in this paper, specifically relating to a anticipatory “duty of reasonable adjustment” to facilitate access to computer‐based learning resources within the UK education sector.

Findings

The paper concludes that the concept of reasonable adjustment is likely to remain unclear within the current statutory framework, is dynamic in relation to e‐learning software applications, and will continue to increase in scope and complexity as advanced software applications are used on a larger scale in the education sector.

Practical implications

After relating general accessibility approaches to the various open and proprietary source software applications and the concept of “lock in,” the paper argues that knowledge of reasonable adjustment is optimally considered in the early planning stage of development rather than after implementation, under the legislatively mandated anticipatory model. Further conclusions are presented which propose that the approaches described can be scaled up to provide general themes, which benefits the full spectrum of disability alongside the wider student cohort.

Originality/value

Further work is discussed and includes a potential UK extension of the analysis presented by Scroggins in 2007 concerning measurement and structural modeling of reasonableness under the provisions of the US Rehabilitation Act of 1998 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Citation

van Hoorebeek, M., Walker, S. and Dermo, J. (2009), "Analysing the parameters of the duty of reasonable adjustment to facilitate access to e‐learning resources", Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 227-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/17504970910984899