Dear Colleagues,
My name is Jessica Toste, and I'm an Associate Professor in the department of Special Education. I'm looking forward to sharing monthly teaching tips and ideas with you on behalf of the Provost's Teaching Fellows program (PTF) this year, and I hope you'll find these messages helpful as you navigate your courses this semester and beyond.
This month the PTFs hosted a Think Tank about Accessibility in Classrooms and Course Materials, and our facilitators, Katie Dawson and Nico Osier, started a thoughtful conversation about increasing access to our course materials for our most marginalized students. Inspired by this conversation, I wanted to share with you some of my own reflections and lessons I've learned about creating cultures of accessibility in academic spaces.
Disability is a natural part of the human diversity. One in four adults in the United States (61 million) report having a disability. While college is an exciting time, it can be especially stressful for students with disabilities. At UT Austin, Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) supports equal access to academic experiences for students with disabilities by determining eligibility and approving reasonable accommodations. While this office serves a critical role in supporting students, becoming an inclusive and equitable community takes work at all levels. Today I am reflecting on three considerations to start thinking about the inclusivity and accessibility in our own courses, classrooms, and learning spaces.
Facilitate Communication:
- Does your syllabus include a statement that shares your commitment to student success? This statement should acknowledgement the diversity amongst learners and your openness to understanding how aspects of the course may be inaccessible for some students. It can also direct students to additional campus resources that may be helpful beyond your course. You will also want to share a version of this statement aloud in class. Tulane University’s Accessible Syllabus website has examples of inclusive learning statements, as well as recommendations to create an accessible syllabus.
Recognize Individuals as Experts:
- Do you have structured opportunities for students to share their learning needs, preferences, or personal circumstances? Provide space for students to tell you what works (and what doesn’t work) for them and share details that they think would be important for you to know. This can begin with a background questionnaire completed during the first week of class and should follow with checkpoints throughout the semester
- Are you thoughtful about the language used across course materials? As educators and scholars, we want to be mindful of how the language we use might perpetuate ableist ideologies. For example, there are ongoing conversations within disability communities regarding the use of person-first or identity-first language (e.g., person with a disability vs. disabled person). For some, person-first language is an important way to reclaim humanity. For others, the self-identification with disability culture is a meaningful counterpoint to stigmatizing disability and a form of empowerment. Be mindful of requiring students to use of person-first language in their writing.
Evaluate Potential Barriers to Access:
- Are there barriers that can be reduced to improve accessibility to the physical space for diverse learners? While we do not have control over our building or classroom locations, we can think about the layout of the classroom and the technologies being used in that space. We also want to keep in mind that moving classrooms or changing the layout at the last minute can cause difficulty for a range of students. The same may be true for moving class outdoors.
- Are there barriers to access of audio and video materials? Over the past year and a half, we have all become proficient users of audio and video content in our courses—and use of captions and descriptions support access of these materials. UT Libraries provides Captioning and Transcription Services to support your efforts to ensure that your lectures and recorded materials are accessible.
It is important to see these considerations only as a starting place. This is not (even close to) a comprehensive list. To learn more about accessibility in higher education, one suggested resource is the EDUCAUSE Accessibility library. EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association that brings together technology, academic, industry, and campus leaders who are invested in advancing higher education through use of IT.
I welcome you to join the conversation by sharing your best practices on Twitter and tagging @TexasPTF!
I hope that some of these considerations will come in handy for you in your courses. See you next month!
Sincerely,
