THE POTENTIAL OF THE TESLA AUTHENTICATION SYSTEM TO SUPPORT ACCESS TO E-ASSESSMENT FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES (SOFIA UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE)

Digital technologies create opportunities for people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to be included in quality e-learning experiences and receive support adapted to their individual educational needs. However, the requirements of assessment often mean that SEND students are required to attend exam centres at times and places which are inconvenient for them. The current paper presents some of the results of an ambitious EU Horizon2020 project – An Adaptive Trust-based e-assessment System for Learning (TeSLA) – which aims to provide reliable verification of a student´s identity and authorship in online and blended learning environments. The TeSLA system by assuring learners’ identification and authorship can support opportunities for students to take assessments at home (or other convenient location). The current paper presents a study of opinions and attitudes of students with different types of disabilities about the potential of the TeSLA system. Based on empirical evidence, the paper draws out the implications of the TeSLA system for supporting better access to e-assessment for SEND students. This is a case study research including 12 students divided into four groups according to their disability.

The participants are five women and seven men who attend a range of educational programmes at Sofia University, Bulgaria, from the following disability groups:
• Students who are blind, or have severe visual impairments;
• Students with hearing impairment;
• Students with motor impairments;
• Students with dyslexia.

By analyzing the SEND learners’ perceptions of the different instruments of the TeSLA system: face recognition, voice recognition, keystroke dynamics, and plagiarism detection we identified to what extent TeSLA can be used by SEND students to support the authentication and authorship checking of on-line assessment, and thus enhancing accessibility and study opportunities. Pedagogical and technical aspects of TeSLA system are discussed as well as its advantages and some restrictions for SEND students’ learning experiences. The paper also offers a set of recommendations for improvement of the system arising from the feedback gathered from students with different types of disability. The main conclusion of the data analysis is that SEND students could benefit greatly from the use of the TeSLA system, but that it also poses some restrictions in relation to accessibility and usability which are specific for each disability group. It follows, therefore, that an individual approach needs to be applied depending on the specific educational needs of students. We recommend that the further development of the TeSLA system seeks to address the identified restrictions in relation to accessibility and usability.