Bringing the Ivory Tower into Students’ Homes: Promoting Accessibility in Online Courses

With the growth of institutions providing online learning environments, administrators and educators need strategies to support students with disabilities. The purpose of this literature review is to identify optimal accessibility standards for meeting the needs of online students with disabilities. This article will share some helpful practices that could be used to create greater access for students. Some of the practices identified include universal design elements in the online environment to increase access for all students, accommodations for individual students, and authentic assessment. Future research should be conducted to evaluate these strategies and track the longitudinal academic gains of students with disabilities who receive them.