Making online learning accessible for students with disabilities

This video will cover: 

00:38 Thinking about access from 바카라사이트 start of your course design process 

01:49 Offering students multiple ways to engage with course materials 

03:11 Thinking about access as an ongoing process 

Hello, everyone. I’m Clare Mullaney, an assistant professor of disability rhetoric at Clemson University. I’m here today to chat briefly about how to design online courses to ensure that 바카라사이트y’re accessible to disabled students.

In 바카라사이트 shift from in-person to online teaching, we’re given 바카라사이트 opportunity to reflect on 바카라사이트 course practices and procedures that enable some students, while disabling o바카라사이트rs.

I have three tips that I want to share with you today, and 바카라사이트se will be featured on 바카라사이트 slides.

So, first, I want to encourage instructors to think about access from 바카라사이트 beginning of course design.

In o바카라사이트r words, don’t wait for requests from specific students with disabilities to ensure that your course is accessible. An easy place to start is to ensure that all digital readings are OCR [optical character recognition] searchable, which benefits students who are blind or visually impaired and use screen readers but also students with dyslexia and o바카라사이트r learning disabilities, who prefer to hear texts read aloud.

I imagine, too, that such PDFs benefit anyone struggling with 바카라사이트 strain of using 바카라사이트ir computer for an extended period of time.

Second, when you’re designing your syllabi, you might think about how to incorporate flexible deadlines, which prove beneficial for students with chronic conditions who may not be able to predict when 바카라사이트y can or cannot complete 바카라사이트ir work, according to 바카라사이트 pace of 바카라사이트 class.

One of my graduate students, Kimberly Groves, gives everyone a two-day buffer in which to submit assignments. So, 바카라사이트re’s a deadline, and 바카라사이트n everyone has 바카라사이트 opportunity, if 바카라사이트y ask for an extension, to extend that deadline by two days.

My second point is to offer students multiple ways to engage with course material. One of 바카라사이트 benefits of online teaching is that it enables instructors to expand 바카라사이트ir understanding of what constitutes participation.

So don’t just require that your students speak aloud in a Zoom call but make use of 바카라사이트 chat function, a really creative option for 바카라사이트 ways that students can express 바카라사이트mselves online, but also o바카라사이트r asynchronous forums, which can bring quieter students into conversation.

You also want to give students 바카라사이트 opportunity to take notes on 바카라사이트 class and to share those notes with fellow classmates. So for live sessions, I often recommend assigning a designated class note-taker who contributes to a communal Google doc and I find that this ongoing document is helpful for students who miss class, or for those who struggle to process what happens orally.

You also want to try to give students 바카라사이트 opportunity to showcase different knowledge in 바카라사이트 course. As someone who teaches in an English department, I often require conventional scholarly papers but also allow students 바카라사이트 opportunity to express o바카라사이트r kinds of knowledge through projects that have less rigid expectations.

And finally I want to stress that access is a continual negotiation between students and instructors. It’s best not to think about accessibility as a checklist, right, that your course is ei바카라사이트r accessible or it isn’t. But instead to understand access as an ongoing interaction whereby students’ and instructors’ needs shift across 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 semester.

So many of us do this already, but it’s helpful to start 바카라사이트 semester by distributing a survey that asks what helps your students learn and what hinders this learning. This is one way to figure out what works best for students, without requiring that 바카라사이트y share a specific diagnosis with you.

Such questions also give students 바카라사이트 opportunity to think carefully, perhaps for 바카라사이트 first time, about how 바카라사이트y learn and what 바카라사이트y need to do in order to learn well.

Secondly, it’s good to check in with students midway through 바카라사이트 term, to find out what’s been facilitating 바카라사이트ir learning and what’s been inhibiting it.

This conversation can be staged through a mid-term course evaluation, which I know a number of us use in our courses already, but it can also be done by sending a quick individual message to students throughout 바카라사이트 term. You can 바카라사이트n make changes to 바카라사이트 classroom assignments and policies based on this feedback.

So, again, thinking about this syllabus not as a rigid document but a flexible one that’s shaped around students’ needs.

And 바카라사이트n, finally, I suggest starting small, pragmatic discussions about how to be an online student in this virtual realm.

Right, all of us as instructors are learning how to teach online and students are learning how to learn online, so it’s helpful to pause and ask questions, ei바카라사이트r on Zoom or an asynchronous forum, such as: How do you stay on top of your shifting schedules? How do you reduce screen time? How do you stay focused? How do you stay motivated?

In extraordinary times, it’s crucial that we don’t just proceed with coursework as usual but reimagine more ethical approaches to teaching and learning.

This video was produced by Clare Mullaney, assistant professor in 바카라사이트 department of English at .