Integrating Semantic Web and Folksonomies to Improve E-Learning Accessibility

The purpose of this project is to investigate ways of lever-aging the collaborative and multi-user nature of modern Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to enhance accessibility of online courses for individuals with visual disabilities. The underlying principle of the project is the generation of semantics annotation for all components of an online course-that can be used to guide assistive devices. The semantic information can be added in a three different forms (a predefined ontology class, user tags, and annotations). This semantic information is used by assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers) to help visually impaired students when they acquire knowledge from the on-line course materials.