[Accessibleweb] [accessbb] replying to a classmate's message within a discussion topic (fwd)

[Sheryl Burgstahler]

Some of you might be interested in resonding to the following message 
posted to the accessbb list.
Sheryl

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 14:16:43 -0400
From: Annmarie L Gemma <alg230 at nyu.edu>
Reply-To: Access Features of Blackboard <accessbb at u.washington.edu>
To: accessbb at u.washington.edu
Subject: [accessbb] replying to a classmate's message within a discussion topic

Dear Members of the Access Features of Blackboard Listserv:

I am a Master's candidate at New York University where I am working on
a thesis regarding the accessibility of learning management systems
and university web sites to visually impaired or dyslexic students.

I am currently administering a survey to university students about
their experience with features of the learning management system used
at their university.

One of the questions in the survey was:
"Please describe any alternative you have used to overcome a problem
replying to a classmate's message."

Some responses that I have received are:
1) "I just scrolled further down the page.  The page was just
cluttered which made it difficult to see which was the classmate's
message and which was from another thread or topic."

2) "It was difficult to wade through all of the topics posted on a
single page but I have had that problem with every forum I have ever
attempted to use. It just takes time."

There are 3 questions about which I would be very grateful if members
of the list could kindly share their opinions:
1)  Are there technical improvements that could be made to learning
management system software itself to improve a student's ability to
locate and reply to a message?

2)  Are there any things that faculty or instructional design staff
could do to manage this feature better and make it more accessible?

3)  Are there any opinions about the costs associated with making such
improvements?

Thank you very much for your time and input!

Sincerely,
Annmarie Gemma
Candidate for M.S. in Management & Systems
New York University
(718) 248-9689
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