Information for Educational Designers and Academic staff
The need to design accessible and inclusive learning materials impacts on the role of the educational designer in a quite significant way. This impact is felt in terms of course and resource design considerations as well as the role that educational designers play in academic staff development, supporting academic staff in applying inclusive and flexible teaching and learning practices and techniques. It is important for educational designers to remember however, that they are part of a larger network of support and expertise, spread across the University.
As educational designers or academic staff it is important that you have a sound understanding of the following:
- the rationale (both legal and moral) behind inclusive and accessible flexible learning products and practices;
- the purpose of each of the W3C Guidelines, and the implications of these on educational design;
- the impact of accessibility on teaching and learning practices;
- the implications on the development process and what information, in what format, the development team requires; and
- where academic staff can go for specific advice and support.
The information on this web site has been designed to support you in this process, giving you resources that you need to promote and foster accessibility. It is also hoped that as a group, educational designers will share their experience and learnings with eachother, to build on the initiative as we go.
Staff from Griffith's Student also play a crucial role, by providing support services to students and staff, including the provision of training and information, ensuring that necessary facilities and equipment are available to support students with disabilities and facilitating communication between students and academic staff. In conjunction with GIHE, Griffith's Student Disability Services runs workshops each semester to provide academic and administrative staff with a forum for discussing inclusive and adaptive techniques for assessment, work placement schemes and other topics of interest and relevance. The following document provides some guidelines with regard to these areas: .
In understand some key issues in relation to fostering a teaching and learning environment that is inclusive of students with disabilities, the project team have identified some important principles that are explored in a video series entitled Creative Teaching: Inclusive Learning, which was produced as part of the Tertiary Initiatives for People with Disabilities (TIPD) Project in 1997, and include the following:
Identifying student needs
- Staff need to anticipate that they will have students with disabilities in their class.
- Disabilities can be both visible and invisible.
- Staff do not need to know the details about a student's particular disability in terms of what it is called or how it was acquired - the important thing is to understand how the student is disadvantaged by their disability and what their particular needs are, as a result.
- Assumptions cannot be made about the capabilities of students with disabilities because each and every case is unique.
- Similarly, assumptions cannot be made about the best way of meeting their needs.
- The best person to understand the impact that their disability has on their ability to study successfully, and what solutions work best for them, is the student themselves.
- Some students will make their disability known to staff, and others will not.
- The student is responsible for demonstrating how their disability impacts on their ability to perform successfully.
- Academic staff are responsible for ensuring that appropriate adjustments are made to the teaching and learning environment to respond to the needs of their students.
- Staff from Disability Services can provide support for both students and staff in negotiating appropriate adjustments.
- Students should be encouraged to be open about their particular learning requirements, however it is their decision as to what and how much information they disclose.
- Staff must respect the confidentiality of this information at all times and seek the permission of the student before discussing their situation with others.
Making appropriate adjustments
- Maintaining the credibility and integrity of a course is essential when considering students with special needs.
- Flexibility is required to ensure that the inherent requirements (core objectives) of a course are met while providing students with equal opportunities to achieve the learning outcomes and demonstrate their learning through informal and formal assessment.
- By understanding that all students learn differently, the implementation of teaching and learning strategies that meet a wide range of student needs benefits all students, not just those with a disability.
- Appropriate adjustments are those that maximise student independence and integrity.
- Inclusive practice includes ensuring that students have access to information and resources that are appropriate to their needs, in a format that is appropriate to their needs.
- Methods of alternate assessment need to be both valid and reliable so that all students are assessed equally.
So, in working with academic staff across the University, educational designers should encourage an approach that:
- Anticipates student's needs;
- Announces a staff member's availability to discuss adjustments with students;
- Invites students to discuss issues;
- Listens to what the student is asking for;
- Negotiates appropriate techniques and solutions; and
- Is prepared to be challenged in teaching and assessment methods.
The general information provided for each of the W3C Guidelines goes some way in supporting educational designers' and developers' understanding of the standards that we need to comply with in order to design and develop accessible web based learning resources, and the checklist and technical notes presented for development team members covers the technical aspects of implementing these guidelines. From these sources, the project team have extracted some important information on the . This list is intended as a starting point only. As we gain more experience in this area it is hoped that staff will add their learnings and ideas to this list so that we have an ongoing record of solutions and options.
Further information of use to educational designers is included in the Teaching and Learning section of the .
You may also want to refer to information about .
Practical information to support staff in teaching students with a range of disabilities can also be found on the Flinders University inclusive teaching web site, located at:
