This is the voice! Accessibility is key to student learning and success in blended and fully online classes and faculty need to design for and deliver instruction in tune with regulations, standards, and universal design. Faculty will “sing” (share) their instructional story, audience members (session participants) will vote with live interactive polling, and coaches (gurus from the field) will offer advice. Come and help us turn those chairs!
The Voice
In this fun, yet educational, interactive session, presenters will emulate the TV show “The Voice,” though not with an emphasis on singing quality, but instead on instructional quality as it pertains to accessibility.
The set up for the presentation includes role playing, audience interaction, and sharing of effective practices for accessibility and universal design (UDL) in blended and online learning environments.
Presenters will star as faculty who will share a brief scenario, 30 to 60 seconds, concerning a classroom or training decision which affected learners through design or instructional delivery methods. Some scenarios will be aligned with accessibility and UDL principles and effective practices, some scenarios will be borderline – in a gray area, and some scenarios will be not in keeping with the law and/or accepted practice.
The audience, comprised of session participants, will vote to decide through interactive live polling if the faculty are green, yellow, or red – green is “well done, good to go” that the faculty is ready to design and teach in the next round (semester), yellow will indicate the faculty to “proceed with caution” and that some items will need to be modified, and red means “stop!” and a recommendation for training and compliance. The audience may also offer scenarios for role playing and coaching tips.
Coaches, professionals in instructional design, accessibility, Universal Design Learning, training and professional development, research, and academic curriculum and instruction, will provide coaching comments for the role-playing faculty based on the votes from the live studio audience. Content provided by the coaches for modifications and recommendations, as well as in acknowledgement of good application of effective practices and compliance with standards, will be supported through content from the literature, industry standards, and legal references.
A host, the facilitator, will moderate the session, keeping time, supporting the faculty, soliciting votes from the audience, and asking for comments from the coaches.
During the session, presenters will be role playing stories of instructional design and/or delivery and impacts on or support for accessibility and UDL. However, these voices, as in scenarios/stories as it pertains to accessibility in the design and delivery of the classroom instruction in elearning environments, are not fictional tv and stem from real world situations taken from the literature or experiences encountered by the presenters working with faculty, staff, administrators, designers, trainers, and students.
The underlying issue is - faculty who design and/or deliver instruction in elearning environments may, may sort of, and may not yet understand and hear the voices of their students and staff when applying accessibility and Universal Design Learning effective practices in the classroom. By sharing taken from real life educational scenarios of what’s good, what is okay though needs modification, and what needs help, the presenters offer opportunities to work proactively to train for and provide professional development for faculty and staff. Additionally, through consideration of the scenarios and with the coaching using standards and effective practice guidance, professionals in education can get ahead of those obstacles which may put barriers between the student and their learning.
Faculty, staff, and administrators may well know that “College students with learning disabilities are legally entitled to equal access to education under sub part E of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).” (Meyer, 2018, para. 1). However, they may not know what they need to do to ensure that access to education is created. Also, those at the institution may not know the law and how to comply with it.
Training for both faculty and staff in the areas of accessibility are critical to both adherence to the law as well as creating pathways for student learning. Both the design and delivery of instruction must be considered whether the faculty or staff member touches either or both areas of the classroom. Case studies can provide a way to humanize the training as well as develop further understanding and empathy. Additionally, stories can be more memorable than reviewing a PowerPoint or other document with lists of dos and don’ts (NCDAE, 2019).
The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (n.d.) created Higher Education Critical Components of the Quality Indicators for the Provision of Accessible Educational Materials & Accessible Technologies. Of the seven HE Quality Indicators, the fourth indicator includes guidance on how stakeholders need to have increased knowledge and skills on legal issues and other accessible policies and procedures through coaching and other instructional methods. Coaching, effective coaching, provides a more individualized approach to professional development and change (Aguilar, 2014). Such a model may offer a strategic and focused approach to identifying and achieving goals for learning in a more effective way than a large group or faceless on demand training.
Creating a climate of intention allows for faculty to feel part of the move to increased compliance and application of effective practices rather than feeling forced or berated to change (Izzo, Murray, & Novak, 2008). Providing the why behind the what – or even behind the “you have to or else” can make a difference when promoting modification and transformation in practice. Looking at accessibility and meeting the needs of students with disabilities may be framed well through intentional inclusion of universal design learning. Additionally, faculty may then perceive they are working to increase efficiency and effectiveness for all students in their classroom (Marquis, Jung, Schormans, Lukmajni, Wilton, & Baptiste, 2016).
This gamified, interactive session will provide examples of scenarios and offer research based content to share with participants to take back for training and awareness at their institution.
Singing is optional.
References
Aguilar, E. (2014, May). Effective coaching by design. ASCD. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may14/vol71/num08/Effective-Coaching-by-Design.aspx
Izzo, M. V., Murray, A., & Novak, J. (2008). The faculty perspective on universal design for learning. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 21(2), 60-72.
Marquis, E., Jung, B., Schormans, A. F., Lukmanji, S., Wilton, R., & Baptiste, S. (2016). Developing inclusive educators: Enhancing the accessibility of teaching and learning in higher education. International Journal for Academic Development, 21(4), 337-349. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2016.1181071
Meyer, E. H. (2018, February 8). Strategies to support college students with learning disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.higheredjobs.com/Articles/articleDisplay.cfm?ID=1532
National Center on Accessible Educational Materials. (n.d.). Higher education critical components of the quality indicators for the provision of accessible educational materials & accessible technologies. Retrieved from http://aem.cast.org/policies/higher-education-critical-components.html#.XGwqNuhKiUk
NCDAE. (2019). Providing training for faculty and staff: An essential element for your campus. Retrieved http://ncdae.org/resources/tips/training.php