Abstract:

In the education process are involved two groups – learners and teachers. The effect of this two-way process depends on the effective interaction of the two participating groups. The development of modern technologies offers the introduction of web-mediated training where all the benefits of the web environment can be enjoyed - numerous digitized libraries storing valuable materials, databases and software systems that can be accessed in real time. The inclusion of the web environment in the learning process is effective mean to the offering extensive educational resources and implying the use of modern educational methods. Digitized libraries, software systems, and web databases are recognized as tools to improve the quality of the learning process. However, these resources are not accessible to all users alike. The blind individuals - learners, students and everyone else - encounter obstacles in the use of the web resources.

The report presents the most common problems for the blind people in their attempts to use digitized web libraries and offers solutions to improve the process of organizing web resources to make them accessible to blind people. The report examines the main barriers (of the blind people) encountered in using web libraries and web based software systems. Described are the main guidelines that provide the accepted Web standards for providing Web accessibility to people with disabilities. The report offers tools and approaches for addressing effectively the problems of accessing Internet educational systems and materials.

A strategy for improving web accessibility of educational websites, database and software systems has been proposed, including the testing of websites with the participation of blind individuals (including students), the analysis of the results obtained, the creation of an appropriate way of organizing web pages content oriented towards the use of blind people, remove existing barriers to accessing Web pages for people with disabilities. Variations are proposed to solve the accessibility problems of blind students with special needs to the graphic materials, such as including fields with detailed textual description of charts, adding audio descriptions and audio guidelines to blind users. The material contributes to solving the problems of web accessibility, which today come to the forefront because of the students' desire to use digitized web educational resources.

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibilities of using web educational applications by people with disabilities. Considering the desire of people with disabilities to access educational websites and the accepted official documents recommending the creation of web accessibility for all people, the conclusion is that there is still much work to be done to bring web accessibility to all users. Resolving the issues that the paper considered will enhance accessibility for people with disabilities (including students with special needs) to web-based educational resources.

Keywords:

Educational web based resources, Web accessibility, Students with special needs.