SAY WHAT? MOOCs should be available to all, including learners who are hard of hearing. That’s the argument proposed by The National Association of the Deaf, who filed federal lawsuits against Harvard and MIT on February 12, requesting closed captioning for all online courses.
The lawsuits accuse the universities, which are the two founding institutions behind edX, of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by failing to provide closed captioning in their online material, including MOOCs and podcasts. “Just as buildings without ramps bar people who use wheelchairs, online content without captions excludes individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing,” read the complaint against Harvard.
