Online Learning Accessibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Shanna Russ, Foad Hamidi · 2021 · Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A) · doi:10.1145/3430263.3452445
Summary
This literature review examines 14 papers published over the past decade on e-learning accessibility, reframing their findings through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on K-12 education. During the pandemic, elementary, middle, and high schools made an emergency transition to online learning, but most research on online learning accessibility has focused exclusively on postsecondary students. In the 2018/19 school year, 7.1 million US students received special education services under IDEA, representing 13% of public school enrollment. The authors identified nine themes from the literature: course platform accessibility (VLEs like Google Classroom, Moodle, and Blackboard often fall short of WCAG guidelines despite claims); course content accessibility (PDFs, videos, images, and slides each present specific barriers); support for teachers as content developers (most lack training, knowledge, and time to create accessible materials); accessibility by design through Universal Design principles; online learning accessibility evaluation (both conformance testing and user-centered evaluation are needed); building accessibility into pedagogy; building organizational cultures of accessibility; improved academic outcomes from accessible content; and supporting students with mental health issues (an area largely missing from the literature). The review found that most existing research focused on a narrow subset of disabilities — learning disabilities, visual impairments, and hearing impairments — while neglecting mental health disorders, motor disabilities, neurological conditions, and the intersection of multiple disabilities.
Key findings
The review reveals several critical gaps. First, no literature was found specifically addressing the accessible online learning needs of K-12 students — all 14 papers focused on postsecondary education, despite K-12 students facing unique challenges including younger children with limited fine motor skills and unfamiliarity with online environments. Second, course platforms generally incorporate some WCAG-compliant accessibility features, but course content created by teachers frequently introduces barriers: inaccessible PDFs, images without alt text, uncaptioned videos, poorly structured documents, and insufficient color contrast. Third, teachers overwhelmingly lack awareness, training, and resources to create accessible content, and the emergency pandemic transition exacerbated this. Fourth, none of the accessibility frameworks reviewed included student feedback for continuous improvement. Fifth, no papers addressed synchronous versus asynchronous delivery, which is particularly relevant for students with cognitive disabilities. The review also found that when online content was specifically adapted for accessibility (adding audio descriptions, captions, sign language, and long descriptions), learning outcomes for blind, deaf, and deaf-blind engineering students significantly improved. Font choice was found to significantly affect reading performance for students with dyslexia.
Relevance
This paper is highly relevant for anyone involved in educational technology or organizational accessibility planning. Its central argument — that the pandemic exposed how unprepared schools are to deliver accessible online education — remains pertinent as hybrid and online learning persist post-pandemic. The actionable recommendations include: building organizational cultures that support and value accessibility; providing teachers with professional development specifically on creating accessible digital content; incorporating Universal Design for Learning principles from the start rather than retrofitting accommodations; using both automated conformance testing and user feedback from students with disabilities to evaluate accessibility; expanding awareness beyond the most commonly addressed disabilities to include mental health, cognitive, motor, and neurological conditions; and critically, beginning to research K-12 students' specific needs. The finding that teachers are the primary bottleneck — lacking not just skills but awareness that their content may be inaccessible — points to where institutional investment can have the greatest impact.
Tags: education accessibility · online learning · universal design for learning · WCAG · digital accessibility · K-12 education · organizational accessibility
Standards referenced: WCAG · Section 508 · ADA · IDEA