The Role Of Accessibility And Usability In E-Learning Websites For Students With Disabilities: Can Policies Help?

People with disabilities may still be excluded from some of the learning opportunities at tertiary institutions because of their disabilities. To create a society which respects all people irrespective of their abilities, digital and social divides should be discouraged. This exploratory study investigates the role of usability when people with specific disabilities interact with e-learning environments. The objective is making informed decisions regarding the support presented by this institution's e-learning websites. If disability policies at higher education institutions fully address the needs of students with disabilities and are implemented accordingly, all students will be able to access and utilise all the learning opportunities and graduate competitively. The disability policies for students at tertiary institutions should address all their needs, including accessibility and usability of e-learning websites. The University of South Africa (Unisa) is the largest Open Distance electronic Learning (ODeL) institution in South African. In order to determine how students with disabilities interact with the e-learning website of Unisa, students were observed in the controlled usability laboratory. Students with mobility (limited hand function), visual and auditory disabilities were requested to attempt specific tasks using the Unisa websites. A total of twenty students, fifteen with above mentioned disabilities and five without disabilities, participated in this study to determine the usability of the Unisa's website. The results of this study are reported in this paper.