Virtual Learning Environments: Another barrier to blended and elearning Christopher Power, Helen Petrie, Vasily Sakharov and David Swallow Human Computer Interaction Research Group Department of Computer Science University of York Heslington, York, UK {cpower, petrie, dswallow}@cs.york.ac.uk Abstract: With online and blended learning now commonplace, it is surprising that the research regarding the accessibility of virtual learning environments and other collaborative learning management systems is relatively sparse. This paper provides an initial empirical investigation into the accessibility problems that are present in 3 different virtual learning environments. This investigation demonstrates that there are a number of places where virtual learning environments can present barriers to learning for students with disabilities. Keywords: Accessibility, virtual learning environment, VLE, elearning, blended learning, empirical investigation 1 Introduction As education has moved from the traditional face-to-face learning of the classroom to the new frontier of digital resources, online lectures and remote collaboration, opportunities for students to learn have increased dramatically. For students with disabilities, there is a clear advantage to this new wholly online elearning model or blended learning model of education where the virtual is mixed with face-to-face experiences in that they can, in theory, access learning resources in adapted forms that are delivered according to their needs and preferences. It is known that there are several layers of technology that can interfere with the student gaining access to such adapted resources. Conflicts with user agents, assistive technologies and the delivery format of the resources are the most commonly cited problems. However, before a student interacts with a learning resource, often they must first obtain that resource from an online location. In some cases, resources are made available on a website; but, in others the student must interact with a virtual learning environment (VLE) in order to gain access to learning resources. Further, the VLEs are often used for communication with peers and with tutors, for sharing and collaborating on assignments and for assessments. As a result, the impact of an inaccessible VLE on a student’s learning experiences could be very high.