Teaching at Solent: Planning a Module

Making learning accessible

• Key questions

  • Have you organised your content on SOL so that students can navigate it easily?
  • Have you asked your students for feedback on their experience of your module page and resources?
  • Have you ever had any difficulty navigating through your own pages and content?
  • Are you aware of who is in your classroom and their specific needs?
  • Are you aware of all the tools available in SOL and Microsoft Office to make pages and documents accessible?
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  Understanding how students interact with content
  

  

  19% of students use assistive technology, according to the JISC 2019 digital experience insight survey.
  

  Common tools students use include:

  • Screen readers, which read text from a page out loud
    
  • Voice recognition tools, used to navigate sites and dictate content.
  • Screen magnification software
    
  • Keyboards, adapted keyboards and switches, used to navigate without a mouse.

  
  

  While a number of tools are built into operating systems, specialist software such as Read and Write, Dragon Speak Naturally, Inspiration mind mapping  and Jaws screen reader are also used by students. The Read and Write toolbar and Inspiration are installed on all Library computers and students can download certain software for free during lockdown. 

  
  
• How students interact with SOL Page

  We surveyed students registered with Access Solent in January 2020. They indentified how SOL helps them learn and ways it could be used to better support learning.
  

• Creating accessible content

  Accessible content is (1) clear to understand, (2) correctly formatted and (3) easy to adapt into different formats.

  
  

• Accessible design principles Page
• Building accessible SOL pages tutorial
• Optimised PowerPoint Template File

  A PowerPoint template with 12 tips for creating accessible slideshows in the slide notes. 

• Example word document File

  View the comments in this document to see 8 tips for creating Word documents which are accessible to all your students.
  

• Tailoring your teaching
  

  For students with specific needs it is essential to tailor teaching as well as content to ensure equality of access to learning opportunities. Access Solent suports tutors and students to develop inclusive teaching and learning strategies. To support your students:
  

  

  • Check Tableau to see which students you teach have a 'disability flag' in the Tableau class lists. Get to know your students and discuss any needs they have with them.
    
  • When students have set up individual support, Access Solent will send information to the school. If you identify students who may benefit from additional support, encourage them to contact Access Solent.
    
  • Check in regularly with students who have specific needs to ensure those needs are being met.
    
  • Build a variety of communication methods into the course, both written and discussion based, to ensure all students have the opportunity to interact with tutors and with peers. 
    

• Accessible Online Teaching
  

  In the online space there may be less cues indicating students feel isolated or unable to participate. Seek regular feedback from students to ensure their needs are still being met, and that they are able to learn in webinars, group projects and independent work.
  

  
  

  Good practice online:
  

  • Where available enable subtitles (e.g. live PowerPoint subtitles, adding subtitles to Panopto recordings).
  • Share slides and other content in advance of sessions to give students time to prepare
  • When on camera, ensure there is a light source in front of you, not behind you, to help students read your facial expressions and other visual cues
  • Where possible use a headset to reduce background noise
  • Use your role as moderator to control noise in meetings by muting participants unless they are talking
  • Create multiple ways for students to interact in sessions, so they are all able to contribute: polls, collaborative whiteboards, text chat video chat etc.
  • Record sessions so students can revisit learning

  This advice is summarised from the AbilityNet Webinar: How to run accessible online meetings for disabled people working and studying from home.

  
  

• Further information

  • Access Solent: Advice for Staff
  • Creating Accessible Microsoft Office Documents
  • Creating Live Automatic Subtitle in PowerPoint (Windows 10/ Office 365)
    
  • Digital Accessibility Poster from Hull University
    
  • Digital Accessibility Legislation
  • WCAG 2.1 Digital Accessibility Standards

  LinkedIn Learning Digital Accessibility Tutorials
  

  Step 1: Log into LinkedIn Learning
  

  Step 2: Access the following tutorials:
  

  • Creating accessible documents in Microsoft Office
    
  • UX Foundations: Accessibility -Tools and Techniques (Demonstration of assistive technologies)
    
  • Creating Accessible PDFs

  
  
• Optimised PowerPoint Template File

  Open the Notes section in this PowerPoint to see 12 tips for accessible presentations.