THE EDUCATIONAL AND THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF “CONTENT-FOCUSED ACCESSIBLE E-LEARNING MATERIAL” FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The idea of “educational therapy” is quite different in Japan compared to foreign countries, especially in the US, where educational therapy is quite advanced. Therefore, this study determines the educational therapeutic benefits of the author’s “Content-Focused Accessible E-Learning Material” for English self-learning, based on the concept developed in the US, particularly focusing on visually impaired students. These students experience various difficulties in higher education, such as 1) the absence of learning materials in braille, 2) commercial unavailability of magnification-capable learning materials and digital materials, and 3) lack of text-to-speech function in many learning materials. To study whether the material had any therapeutic benefits for these students, the author obtained feedback from 33 students. The feedback was based on the following questions: (1) technical aspects: Did the material reduce/rid the load/concern they felt; and (2) mental aspects: Did the material increase the willingness/autonomy or decrease anxieties and did they feel accomplished or motivated to improve their longitudinal English self-study? The findings show that the material was beneficial to them in five ways. The goal of this study was accomplished to a considerable degree; the use of this material reduced students’ mental burden in learning based on both qualitative and quantitative feedback from visually impaired students.