Understanding the Relationships Between Disability, Engineering, and the Design of Engineering Course Websites Through Disabled Engineering Students' Perspectives

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dc.contributor.authorSpingola, Elizabeth Marieen
dc.contributor.committeechairKnight, David B.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBairaktarova, Dianaen
dc.contributor.committeememberReid, Kenneth J.en
dc.contributor.committeememberShivers, Carolynen
dc.contributor.departmentEngineering Educationen
dc.date.accessioned2020-04-15T15:25:31Zen
dc.date.available2020-04-15T15:25:31Zen
dc.date.issued2020-04-15en
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation examines the culture and climate of disabled people and the disability community within society and the engineering field and the experience of disabled students in higher education. The theoretical lenses utilized is the Technology Acceptance Model which emphasizes the importance of end user's perspectives, and the Social Model of Disability which sees the world and society as disabling rather than the imposition of disability on a person. The perception of disability in engineering is examined through the use of a systematic literature review within Chapter 3 by comparing general engineering academic literature and engineering education literature housed within the American Society of Engineering Education national database. Chapter 4 of this dissertation quantitatively examines the digital accessibility landscape of learning management systems utilized within engineering and engineering related courses that first and second year engineering students are required to take. Finally, Chapter 5 utilized a mixed method approach to examine disabled and non-disabled engineering students' perspectives on the usability of their Learning Management System within their engineering courses. The second part of this research study utilizes individual design interviews to have students redesign their Canvas experiences such that it minimizes digital accessibility barriers. Chapter 6 details tangible digital accessibility recommendations for developers, designers, and instructors/content managers. These recommendations are based on the results within the previous chapters of this dissertation.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralThis dissertation examines the culture and climate of disabled people and the disability community within society and the engineering field and the experience of disabled students in higher education. The research presented is understood by looking at disability as not a detriment to the individual and is imposed by society. Chapter 3 talks about how disabled people are and are not included within the engineering field. It compares a more general engineering academic literature with engineering education academic literature from American Society of Engineering Education national proceedings. The second study researches the accessibility of engineering and engineering related course websites from a higher education institution. This research shows the most common digital accessibility errors that are found along with the types of web pages that have the most accessibility errors. Finally, the third study researches the digital accessibility barriers encountered by disabled and nondisabled engineering students. These results are broken down by the specific disability that was disclosed by the participant. Chapter 6 details tangible digital accessibility recommendations for developers, designers, and instructors/content managers. These recommendations are based on the results within the previous chapters of this dissertation.en
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophyen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:24799en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/97630en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectdisabilityen
dc.subjectaccessibilityen
dc.subjectdigitally mediated educationen
dc.subjectdigital accessibilityen
dc.subjectengineeringen
dc.subjectengineering educationen
dc.titleUnderstanding the Relationships Between Disability, Engineering, and the Design of Engineering Course Websites Through Disabled Engineering Students' Perspectivesen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineering Educationen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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