Extending Remote Experimentation Environments to Support Visual and Audio Impaired Users

Remote experimentation provided as part of a web-based learning approach affords a number of critical benefits, allowing flexible access to campus based laboratory resources. Increasingly, educational institutes are offering remote experimentation environments which allow users to undertake courses in practical engineering disciplines remotely controlling and manipulating laboratory instrumentation and equipment. The degree of functionality and level of user access to remote laboratory environments has evolved greatly expedited by advances in web technologies and applications. Recently the provision of web based environments which accurately recreate the lecturer-led and group working experience of traditional on campus based laboratories have been explored. These environments unify the online lecture and lab experiment aspects of e-learning to provide a comprehensive media-rich, highly interactive and engaging experience. However the majority of current remote experimentation environments fail to cater for users with disabilities e.g. visual or audio impairments. This paper will present a case study on the ProculTech remote experimentation environment which explores the issue of usability and accessibility in this context and illustrates how to create appropriate interfaces which will enrich the learning experience of visual/audio impaired users.