IS INTERNET AN ACCESSIBLE LEARNING RESOURCE FOR SIGHT-IMPAIRED STUDENTS?

The importance of Internet use in education is widely recognized. Advanced net-technologies can well improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to educational resources and services and also by providing new and enlarged opportunities for interpersonal communication thus allowing for meaningful, content-rich and educationally effective exchanges. Online learning environments offer to students interesting, flexible and highly customizable learning solutions and, generally speaking, are characterized by a high degree of usability and ease to use. Despite this, if we take into account students with disabilities, we see that a number of accessibility issues often arise that make web use highly problematic for them with the upshot that the differences are exacerbated rather than smoothed out. In this paper we take the viewpoint of sight-impaired students and try to answer the research question whether can Internet be considered an accessible learning resource for them and/or to what extent. In particular, we explore the specific difficulties that pupils with visual impairment encounter when surfing the net with the aim of exploring, retrieving and using web- based educational material. In the light of the accessibility principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the specific requirements for low vision and blind students are examined and possible solutions are envisaged and discussed.