Barriers to Learning in Online Environments: A Study of Seniors Using Government Web Sites

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-21 - Facing Barriers to Adult Learning

Abstract

Previous research has shown that seniors often face barriers to internet website accessibility due to age-related physical disabilities and memory loss issues. Web content accessibility guidelines (W3C WCAG 2.0, 2008) have been employed by government legislation to assist in making websites accessible to people with disabilities. Automated accessibility software checkers are used to test the technical accessibility of websites conforming to these guidelines. This project examines how usable seniors find these technically accessible websites, adopting a mixed methods approach to gather data on the user experience of seniors while accessing technically accessible websites. This paper reports on the pilot study of this project.

Authors

• Kenneth Howard Anderson, York University

• Ronald D. Owston, York University