“Overcoming Change Paralysis: Using the ADKAR method to empower faculty to design accessible learning spaces"

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on making higher education more accessible to a broader range of students, including those with disabilities, financial limitations, or those who live in remote areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need for accessible digital classrooms and materials. While many institutions have made efforts to create digital learning environments, there is still a significant gap in accessibility.  

Ensuring accessibility in learning spaces is critical to providing equitable opportunities for all learners. While many institutions have implemented accessibility mandates to enforce compliance, this approach may not always be effective in creating lasting change or in line with the university culture. In this presentation, we will explore strategies for leading change to empower faculty to overcome change paralysis to create accessible learning environments. 

We will discuss the importance of leadership in this process, including the need for a strong vision and commitment to accessibility from institutional leaders. We will also explore the benefits of creating a culture of inclusivity, where accessibility is viewed as an essential component of teaching and learning. 

Change is a constant in higher education, and faculty members are often at the forefront of these changes. However, motivating faculty to embrace change and adopt new strategies can be challenging. One approach that has been successful in managing change is the ADKAR change management model. In this extended abstract, we discuss how leaders can use the ADKAR model to motivate faculty members to embrace change and adopt new strategies for creating accessible materials and digital classrooms. 

At a small, private liberal arts college in the southeast, the climate is not one where heavy-handed, top-down mandates are often forced on faculty. Change is generally socialized, collaborative, and in partnership between the faculty and administration. While faculty members play a critical role in creating accessible digital classrooms, collaboration across different stakeholders is essential. Creating an accessible learning environment requires a coordinated effort that involves faculty, administrators, students, and other key players. Collaboration can take many forms, including sharing best practices, providing training and support, and creating shared resources. 

One example of collaborative efforts occurred during the earliest stages of the process, an accessibility task force was formed with staff from the digital learning team, IT Systems team, faculty development, student accessibility services, and faculty. The group worked together to identify accessibility issues and the challenges in the university that could impede the important work that was needed. Additionally, they identified priorities, needs, barriers, and technological solutions.   

Accessibility, however, is a different beast because, beyond the ethics of ensuring a fair and equitable classroom, there are very real, legal issues that put universities at substantial risk. At our institution, we need to strike a delicate balance of complying with the laws but also collaborating with stakeholders across the University to foster the desire to create content that is accessible to all students, simply, because it is the right thing to do. 

The original accessibility work group changed membership during the next academic year but produced a robust letter of recommendation for senior leadership. The group did not feel empowered to act upon their recommendations without mandates from senior leadership. To this point, our institution began the slow change management process through the framework of ADKAR.  

The ADKAR Change Management Model 
The ADKAR model, developed by Jeff Hiatt, is a framework for managing change that focuses on the perspective of the individual experiencing the change. The ADKAR model consists of five stages: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. 
Awareness 

In 2019, the digital learning team and student accessibility services began an awareness campaign. In the awareness stage, individuals become aware of the need for change. The awareness campaign consisted of communicating at faculty meetings, school and college meetings, general education meetings, and individual departments to reach the widest audience of full-time faculty possible. Digital learning and SAS communicated to faculty the laws protecting individuals including the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), the Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 (1973) & Section 508 (1998), and the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (2010). At the same time, sharing the benefits of universal design which promotes inclusivity by designing course materials that are generally more intuitive and easier to use for all students regardless of ability. 
The following academic year, the digital learning team, SAS, and faculty development continued to communicate the legalities and importance of accessible materials and surveyed all full-time faculty to assess their awareness of issues regarding accessibility, accommodations, and universal design. The faculty overwhelmingly reported that they had knowledge of different types of disabilities and that they have a responsibility to accommodate students. However, questions about how to accommodate and their experience with accessibility showed that faculty did not have the knowledge to support their students. 

Desire 
The second stage of the ADKAR model is creating desire. In this stage, individuals develop a desire to participate in change. Leaders can create a desire for change by engaging faculty members in the process and providing opportunities for them to learn, share their ideas and concerns. At this stage, faculty opt-in to learning opportunities. It is ideal to find faculty champions who spread the desire to their faculty colleagues. The digital learning team began offering a 5-week Digital Accessibility Training Series (DATS) voluntarily to 2 cohorts in the Spring of 2023. Eleven of the 133 full-time faculty members completed the robust comprehensive training. 

Additionally, to increase the desire of academic leadership to support more accessibility training, the digital learning team conducted an accessibility audit of more than 800 courses using the UDoit tool and presented the findings to the provost leadership and the dean of each school and college. The audit showed over 16,000 errors and recommendations with the most errors in the areas of navigation, text, and images.    
 
Knowledge 
The third stage of ADKAR change management is knowledge. At this stage, individuals are becoming equipped with the knowledge to implement change. To successfully navigate through this stage of change, leaders of accessibility will provide training and development opportunities so that faculty have the knowledge and skills to create more accessible classrooms. As a result of the accessibility audit and session with the Provost leadership, it was determined that our institution needed to take a more aggressive approach to educate the faculty about accessibility and also protect the university from a potential legal risk by requiring all full-time faculty and staff who create course materials to partake in an asynchronous training on the basics of accessibility to be offered annually starting Fall 2023.   

Of course, many faculty are still at the awareness stage, while others move on more quickly to other phases. The digital learning team continues the awareness campaign and is transitioning into the knowledge phase of change management by providing continual and consistent accessibility tips and information in a bi-weekly newsletter and on an internal website. 

During the 2022-23 academic year, our institution implemented the work of its DEI task force and created a unit on campus to support DEI efforts. Accessibility is one of the seven tenants by which the unit operates. This University-wide effort lifted the visibility of accessibility and provided institutional support that had not been as explicit previously. 

Ability 
The fourth stage of the ADKAR method is ability. Faculty will develop the ability and skills to implement universal design and accessible practices in their course materials. Throughout the fall semester, the digital learning team will conduct individualized training sessions, for schools, colleges, and departments on how to use the UDoit tool to identify errors and recommendations to correct accessibility issues in their classes. UDoit provides some guidance on ways to eliminate errors. Following the departmental UDoIt training, the digital learning team will then reassess the knowledge and ability of the faculty to create accessible material, determine additional needs and redeploy training as needed. It is important at this stage to provide feedback and boost confidence so that individuals do not lose the desire to change. We will continue to explore effective strategies for faculty education, including providing resources and training that are easily accessible and relevant.  

Reinforce 
Peer-to-peer learning has always been highly successful at small liberal arts institutions. To sustain change and perpetuate a culture that values and embodies accessible practices, it is important to reinforce the effort of faculty, celebrate their successes, acknowledge, and appreciate their work. Additionally, faculty sharing best practices with other faculty for accessibility is another crucial aspect of enhancing digital accessibility. Faculty members can share their experiences and solutions through workshops, and teaching showcases, within and across departments. By doing so, faculty learn from each other and develop more effective strategies for creating accessible digital classrooms. 

By the end of the fast-paced, high-energy lightning roundd, attendees will have a better understanding of the leadership and strategy necessary to facilitate change using the ADKAR method to foster a culture of accessibility at a small, private, liberal arts university and walk away with a broader question about how they can implement change management and motivate faculty without mandates.