Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

Advisor

Ralph J. Rich

Committee Member

Judith Galician

Committee Member

Ronald P. Kern

Keywords

Accessibility (for Disabled), Internet, Postsecondary Education, Web Sites

Abstract

This collective case study reviewed the current state of Web accessibility at 102 postsecondary colleges and universities in North Carolina. The study examined themes within Web-accessibility compliance and identified which disability subgroups were most and least affected, why the common errors were occurring, and how the errors could be fixed. Quantitative data from SortSite and qualitative analysis by a Web expert of 20 websites provided the research data examined. The Web expert assessed the level of Section 508 standards and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 compliance through the utilization of a 3-point Likert scale to quantify the data, a think-aloud session, and an interview. The positive and negative trends were identified and correlated to the disability subgroups impacted.

The websites of all 102 North Carolina colleges and universities studied had Web accessibility errors, with only two earning a minimum of 80% accessibility. The 20- website sample maintained similar automated assessment results. Variation occurred between the automated assessment and the Web-expert evaluation, but both revealed that all websites contained Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Web accessibility errors.

Download
To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid nova.edu OR mynsu.nova.edu email address and create an account for NSUWorks.

Free My Thesis

If you are the author of this work and would like to grant permission to make it openly accessible to all, please click the Free My Thesis button.

  Contact Author

Share

COinS
 
Dissertation of Distinction