Most universities offer application-to-graduation services via the World Wide Web. Students access the Internet to read course descriptions, register for classes, pay tuition, purchase books, submit assignments, take quizzes and check grades. Students appreciate this ability to perform such functions at any time and from any place.
Faculty members seek to enhance student learning via online PowerPoint lecture notes, graphics and Web site links; and both faculty and students routinely access printed, audio and visual resources from around the world. Many faculty members develop their own course Web sites or use course management software packages such as Blackboard or WebCT to supplement their resident courses. Just-in-time (JIT) classroom-based learning now coexists with anytime, anywhere Web-supported learning.
Many persons with disabilities (i.e., visual, auditory, physical and/or cognitive) have limited or no access to the Web. Though approximately 29% of Internet users with disabilities take courses over the Internet or use online resources for their schoolwork (Kaye, 2000), Web-based “schools” are not open to all. Cohn, Molinero and Stoehr (1999) analyzed the Web sites of 25 United States (US) major universities and 76 US pharmacy schools using the CAST Bobby 3.1.1 validation tool. Results showed that 76% of Web sites were not accessible. Two years later, Cohn and Wang (2001) examined 114 US sites of top universities with doctoral programs identified via U.S. News and World Reports; 39% Web sites were not accessible.
Given the globalization of education, international Web site accessibility is also of interest. Cohn and Wang found that university Web sites are even less accessible in China. Only 8% of 62 Chinese university sites identified via the yahoo.com search engine were accessible.
The accessibility of “virtual campuses” is not just an issue of fairness or good business, but is addressed by legislation Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Federally supported institutions now must comply with accessibility guidelines, and government Web sites must be accessible. The US Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board set forth requirements for federal Web sites under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Furthermore, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act mandates universal access to computer networks (www.w3.org/wai/policy/#USA).