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A framework for improving web accessibility and usability of Open Course Ware sites

Abstract:

Since its inception, one of the primary goals of the Internet has been the open access of information and documents online. This openness aims to allow access to universal knowledge. The Open Educational Resources (OER) have promoted this goal in the context of education. The OER of higher education are supported by means of the Open Course Ware (OCW) initiative. OCW aims to provide access to the knowledge produced by universities. However, the level of access to and use of OCW do not meet expectations. For this reason, it is necessary to provide solutions to increase the accessibility and usability of OCW. As a result, this paper presents a methodology for the evaluation of the accessibility and usability of OCW sites, as well as a framework for improving their accessibility and usability. This methodology and framework have been applied to evaluate and improve the accessibility and usability of a real case study, the OCW initiative of the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL). This case study has allowed us to validate the methodology and the framework in a real setting in order to determine if they were able to identify and suggest improvement for the accessibility and usability of OCW when required.