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Results indicate that SWD are a diverse group with varied needs and preferences. While online education can offer advantages such as leveraging technology to address disabilities and providing flexibility, it also presents challenges like difficulties in planning and self-regulation, decreased motivation, and perceived uncertainties about assessments.

The study underscores the importance of faculty-student relationships, clarity, accessibility, feedback, interaction, and flexibility in designing inclusive online courses, with implications for policy and practice.

Key points

• SWD and other students often have similar experiences of online education, but when there are differences, these are always to the disadvantage of SWD.
• According to SWD, flexibility and the potential to overcome challenges with technology are key advantages of online education.
• The main difficulties for SWD in online education involve problems with planning and self-regulation, motivation, stress and feelings of uncertainty.
• Inclusive online education design requires clarity and accessibility, feedback and interaction and flexibility and variation.

The article was published in Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs (JORSEN):

Studying online with special needs: A student perspective

Authors

Maria Öhrstedt, corresponding author, Senior lecturer, Department of Education

Helena Reierstam, Senior Lecturer, Department of Education

Annika Käck, Senior lecturer, Department of Special Education

Gebrenegus Ghilagaber, Professor of Statistics, Department of Statistics