Accessibility Project: Inclusive Distance Education in Higher Education

Abstract

Inclusive education means a series of factors or characteristics that foreground the theme. Access to
technology may be highlighted since inclusion potentialities materialize through them. ‘Accessibility Project’
is an instance of such evolution, which has been developed within an e-learning milieu at the Open University
in Portugal. The project aims at providing a mutual space to university students who have physical or
sensorial access impairments. Current paper provides results of an investigation undertaken at the end of 2011
and gives the state-of-the-art of students´ profile integrated in the project, coupled to the activities and
importance of the ‘Accessibility Project’ with regard to students. The project´s main factors and
characteristics are underscored with information on the manner inclusions are undertaken through new
technologies in distance education.