Faculty Experiences in Teaching Students with Visual Impairments in Higher Education Online Language Courses

In higher education institutions, as the number of online language courses continues to increase, it is paramount to provide training and support for faculty and equip them with the appropriate tools to improve students’ learning experiences, specifically those with visual impairments. This qualitative study aims to examine online language faculty’s experiences teaching students with vision impairments. The goal is to make a novel contribution by exploring accessibility issues for online accessibility in language courses in the United States. 10 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 language faculty around the country. After analyzing each transcript, several themes were identified to answer each research question: 1) Faculty Experiences in Delivering Online Language Courses to Learners with Visual Impairments, 2) Training and Support in Delivering Accessible Online Language Courses, and 3) Strategies and Tools to Teach Students with Vision Impairments. These findings revealed that ADA compliance and online languages should be prioritized in higher education. Despite the increasing number of online courses to teach languages, it is salient that students with visual impairments require further support and attention in higher education language courses. Additionally, faculty require further training and support to help them implement accessibility strategies and tools to their courses.