Evaluating web accessibility of educational institutions websites using a variable magnitude approach.

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Web Accessibility
• Educational Technology

Background:

• The World Wide Web is crucial for information dissemination, especially for universities.
• Post-COVID-19, web access has become the primary channel for educational institutions.
• Analyzing website accessibility for students with special needs is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an approach for computing web page accessibility for persons with disabilities.
• To evaluate the accessibility of top Indian higher education institution websites.

Main Methods:

• A variable magnitude approach was proposed to calculate the accessibility barrier count.
• The approach combined two distinct components to quantify barriers.
• The method was tested on websites of leading Indian higher education institutions.

Main Results:

• The study identified and quantified accessibility barriers on selected university websites.
• Inferences were drawn from the experimental results.
• Feedback was gathered from students with disabilities.

Conclusions:

• The proposed approach provides a method to compute web accessibility barriers.
• The research offers actionable suggestions to reduce barriers for persons with disabilities.
• Improving web accessibility is vital for inclusive education in higher learning institutions.