Learning materials and accessibility
The need for learning materials to be accessible
Accessibility is how well something can be used by someone with disabilities. Learning materials which rely on ICT are required to be accessible to users by law. The Special Needs and Discrimination Act 2001 (SENDA), stipulates that people providing educational materials must 'make reasonable adjustments where disabled persons are at a substantial disadvantage'.
Accessibility in practice
If learning materials are web-based, disabled students should receive the same or similar experience of the material, irrespective of the students' disabilities.
If a teacher uses an online Flash game as a learning material any students who are unable to use mice should still be able to use it through the keyboard. Similarly if the resource has large elements of text these should be able to be resized for users with reading difficulties.
If a teacher uses an online video clip in class and a student is visually impaired or fully blind, then the teacher would be required to make sure an audio copy or transcripts were available.
It is not just the case of providing the resources in a separate or secondary format for the user though. The learning materials accessibility can also encompass the cognitive abilities of the student to understand the lesson in that format. If a student has learning difficulties which means they are better suited to learning in another style the teacher must be able to supply the learning materials in that manner.
If a pupil has dyslexia, they will have difficulties in taking notes of the lesson. This can easily be remedied by the teacher providing class notes for that pupil, to add their own notations to.
Facets to accessibility
There are at least six facets to accessibility:
| Type | Example |
|---|---|
| Physiological | 'I can't see it.' |
| Psychological | 'I can't do it.' |
| Learning style | 'It would make more sense in pictures.' |
| Perceptual | 'They look the same to me.' |
| Cognitive | 'I can't get my head round it.' |
| Linguistic | 'What does that actually mean?' |
- Teaching and learning are not primarily about resources but the learning experiences created with the resources.
- There is no such thing as an 'inaccessible' resource.
- Most resources are more accessible to some users and less accessible than others.
- Resources that a user struggles to use can be fixed in one of three ways – through software, hardware or pedagogy (tweaking the learning experience so that learners at a disadvantage can participate more fully).
Useful links
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Information from the BRITE Initiative on how to create an inclusive classroom.
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An article from the BRITE initiative looking at techniques for including images in your materials. This will enhance the quality of your information and create more inclusive and visually dynamic learning materials.
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A step by step guide of how to add captions to video. It walks you through downloading and installing the MAGpie software, setting up a project and using the software to add captions.
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Further details about and examples of Captioning from the makers of the MAGpie software. Also a useful place to gain assistance if you encounter difficulties.
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Joe Clark is the leading figure on captioning and audio description. His website contains an array of articles about captioning and he has a variety of links to other sites.