Margaret Debenham
B.A. Hons. (First Class), The Open University, 1990
Ph.D., Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, 2001
CMC, Disability Studies and Educational
Counselling/Advising
My doctoral research crossed the boundaries of three areas of interest. These are: disability studies, computer mediated communication (CMC) and educational counselling/advising. My main study focused on an exploration of the effects of providing access to the services of an educational counsellor on-line in a 'Virtual Campus' environment for a group of undergraduate distance learners with long-term health problems.
My thesis is entitled:
"Computer Mediated Communication and Disability Support: Addressing Barriers to Study for Undergraduate Distance Learners with Long-term Health Problems". Abstract and selected Chapters are available in .pdf format.
In summary my research interests include:
- Disability and special needs
- Computer-mediated conferencing
- Specialist educational counselling/advising
- Student support (in distance education in particular)
As an undergraduate in 1988 I became one of the first group of students to take the Open University's pioneering course in Information Technology, entitled "An Introduction to Information Technology: Social and Technological Issues". This introduced the use of computer conferencing for contact with the course tutor and fellow students in a distance learning environment. As an alumna of the course, I continued to use the medium on a self help basis to support my remaining undergraduate studies. It was this experience which later triggered my interest in undertaking research to explore the potential of the medium to support disabled distance learners.
For health-related reasons, I was myself registered as a disabled student with the Open University from the outset of my undergraduate studies in 1980. Later, when I was awarded a full time post-graduate research studentship at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET), commencing in early 1996, the department took great care in making special arrangements to accommodate and facilitate my study-related needs. These included permission to be formally based at my Regional Centre in Bristol, with a locally based supervisor in addition to my two departmental supervisors in Milton Keynes; extensive use of CMC and telephone for communication with my IET supervisors, other Milton Keynes campus-based staff and support services; and regular trips to campus for conferences, presentations and meetings. These CMC provisions were experimental in those early days, when data communication systems were still very slow and cumbersome in use — in contrast to today, when the highly developed Internet and fast broadband access have transformed the scenario for all distance learners.
I am now living in Suffolk and have retired from active work in the disability field. However, I am happy to respond to enquiries from other researchers/support staff regarding my research. Please use e-mail as the initial mode of contact.
Links to other sites
- The Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, UK
- Services for Disabled Students, The Open University, UK
- JISC Techdis, York
- Centre for Disability Studies, University of Leeds, UK
- DO-IT Program, Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- EASI, Equal Access to Software and Information, Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, USA
- ALT-J, Information site
- Adaptech Project, Dawson College, Canada
