Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Learning and Teaching MOOCs

If you’re on the lookout for some professional development opportunities in 2017-18, there are a couple of MOOCs starting soon that may be of interest!
Use of technology to enhance learning, teaching and assessment should be considered and appropriate, and should never exclude any learner from engaging in the process. The burden of inclusivity lies with all staff, by curriculum design, and it should not be left to students to adapt.
Accessibility involves designing systems to optimise access. In education this involves reducing and overcoming the barriers that might occur in:

• Digital content
• Teaching and learning activities
• Assessment

The social model of disability suggests that the society or environment is disabling the individual rather than their impairment or difference.

Accessibility is about removing those barriers to enable users to engage and take part in everyday activities. (Jisc, 2015)

Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society

9 October 2017 | 5 weeks | 3 hours per week | FREE | Digital Accessibility: Enabling Participation in the Information Society
With a better understanding of users’ needs, technologies can be developed to be accessible & provide a more inclusive environment.
This course will help you to understand how those with sensory, physical and cognitive impairments may be disabled by barriers encountered when using digital technologies. The course will highlight how the use of accessible and inclusive design can help overcome many of these difficulties.

• What is digital accessibility?
• Digital accessibility and business
• Relationship between ‘usability’, ‘accessibility’ and ‘user experience’
• Challenges and barriers met by disabled people
• Video and audio barriers and subtitles, captioning and audio description
• Desktop, laptop, mobile and self-service terminal accessibility
• Creating, checking and evaluating document, web and self-service terminal accessibility
• Input and output devices e.g. screen reader, Braille, switch access technologies
• Digital and web accessibility guidelines, standards and principles of Universal Design

Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments

20 November 2017 | 3 weeks | 3 hours per week | FREE | Inclusive Learning and Teaching Environments
Explore the barriers experienced by disabled students and learn how to overcome these barriers through inclusive practices.
On this course you will learn about different aspects of inclusion and digital accessibility experienced by students, teachers and support staff in Higher Education.
You’ll explore the barriers experienced by disabled students, the role of inclusive practices and hear firsthand from students about the impact inclusion has had on their studies.

• Introduction to inclusive learning with students and staff perspective
• How inclusive learning practices differ from individual adjustments
• Creating inclusive learning and teaching materials using digital technologies
• Inclusive library services, science, practical sessions and fieldwork
• Setting inclusive assignments and assessments
• Planning and encouraging inclusive collaborative learning activities

Through engagement with inclusivity and accessibility issues, and active consideration of what and how you use technology to facilitate learning and teaching, you will be aligning your practice to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). In particular, but not limited to, the Professional Values and dimensions V1: Respect individual learners and diverse learning communities and V2: Promote participation in higher education and equality of opportunity for learners.
Phil