GVRA Client Heidi Riley-Ancar is currently working on her PHD, and as part of that, she is conducting a research study. Information about the study is below. GVRA is not affiliated with Ms. Riley-Ancar's work nor the study itself. Participation is completely voluntary, and participation will not impact GVRA services.

Appendix A.

Letter of Invitation to Participate in the Research Study.

Ref: The exploration of accessibility challenges of online learning affecting successful degree completion among visually impaired undergraduate students: An exploratory case study.

I would like your assistance with a research study. I am conducting research to explore how online college students with visual impairment perceive accessibility challenges and how those challenges influence successful degree completion for this student population. The option of distance education and online learning provides individuals with visual impairment the opportunity to pursue higher education through the utilization of the virtual classroom platform. With this delivery method of providing students the opportunity of pursuing and possibly completing their academic studies, the online/distance learning environment needs to be completely accessible to these students in order for them to be successful in their journey of degree completion. The researcher would like to interview post-secondary undergraduate students with visual impairment who are currently taking at least one college course via the distance learning/online platform to explore if these students has encountered any perceived accessible challenges in and out of the classroom, as well as if these perceived challenges have any impact on the success of degree completion in their studies.

To be eligible for participation in this study, potential participants must be:

  An undergraduate college student enrolled in at least one (1) online course at a 2- or 4-year college/university.

 Have a visual impairment that impacts the student’s ability to access course materials/resources.

 Have experience with online learning that is not fully accessible to the student because of his or her visual impairment.

 At least 18 years or older.

Participation in this study is voluntary and participants have the option to withdraw from the study at any time without any notice. If you choose to participate in the study, the researcher will contact you via E-mail or telephone. An interview meeting will be scheduled per your availability by the researcher. Information concerning the virtual location (Zoom platform) will be provided by the researcher to inform the participant of how to access the location of the study. The interview will take approximately 1 hour to complete. If interested, please email [email protected].

     If you have questions regarding your participation in the study, or if you seek to verify authenticity of the study, please contact the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) institutional Review Board chair @ [email protected] or the dissertation chair at [email protected].

                                                                                Yours sincerely

Heidi Riley-Ancar