Examining the practicalities of accessibility and inclusion in post-pandemic hybrid post-secondary teaching and learning Emerging best practices for fully inclusive blended teaching and learning
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The document discusses the evolution of accessibility and inclusion practices in post-secondary education, particularly within the context of online and blended learning during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the complexities and challenges of implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles while noting both improvements and setbacks in accessibility. The author stresses the need for strategic planning and institutional commitment to further enhance accessibility and maintain the momentum gained during the pandemic.
Examining the practicalities of accessibility and inclusion in post-pandemic hybrid post-secondary teaching and learning Emerging best practices for fully inclusive blended teaching and learning
- 1. Examiningthe practicalitiesof accessibilityand inclusionin post-pandemichybridpost-secondaryteachingand learning Emergingbestpracticesfor fullyinclusiveblendedteachingandlearning Sixteenth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies April 14th, 2023 – University of Malta, Valetta Campus
- 2. Land Acknowledgement • Thompson Rivers University campuses are on the traditional lands of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops campus) and the T’exelc (Williams Lake campus) within Secwépemc'ulucw, the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc. The region TRU serves also extends into the territories of the St’át’imc, Nlaka’pamux, Tŝilhqot'in, Nuxalk, and Dakelh
- 3. Interactive Google document for online participants • If you are following the session online, here is a link to a Google drive where you can interact with me both after and before the presentation. • https://docs.google.com/docum ent/d/1ITroNQRk3iRKXXnuco2p hPh2Ml_5FCHZ/edit?usp=sharin g&ouid=1145134491154907501 02&rtpof=true&sd=true
- 4. Objectives of the Session • Briefly take a look at the historical relationship between the accessibility scholarship and the online/ blended Teaching and Learning momentum pre-COVID • Examine what has changed in the awareness around accessibility and inclusion in online and blended environments during the pandemic. • Gauge the post-pandemic situation and lessons learnt • Consider the complexity of management of change in relation to accessibility and inclusion in online and bllended environments, post-contigency/emergency pivot
- 5. Format of Session • Obviously I have a desire to be fully inclusive and accessible when offering this session which is available to online participants • Desire to ‘do as we preach’, and in my case incorporate Universal Design for Learning principles into the format of the session. • It is always difficult to be fully interactive when online for a brief session. It can also be challenging to be entirely UDL in short presentations. • I have nevertheless tried to incorporate as many inclusive features as possible: • Have shared with participants an interactive Google doc (incorporated in the online media) to gauge the interests of the virtual attendees • Will also be monitoring the conference hashtag through the session and for the rest of the day (@Ffovet)
- 6. Format of Workshop (contd.) • We will also have approximately 15 minutes at the end of the session for questions to all presenters. • Happy to engage with all participants one on one beyond the session via email or social media. • The slides of the presentation will be available on SlideShare immediately after the workshop (and appear on my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts).
- 7. Personal lens • Unique positioning as a scholar: have been both an Accessibility Services manager and a faculty member • Was involved in large scale UDL implementation from 2011 to 2016 across a campus – experienced this process in its full complexity • Have also been Academic Lead/ Program Head at UPEI and RRU, and have needed to guide contract faculty around inclusive teaching and the use of UDL. • Act as a UDL consultant with colleges and universities in Canada. • My research and scholarship also focuses on UDL • I will be drawing from these multiple and varied perspectives
- 8. Methodological stance • This session showcases the qualitative analysis of phenomenological data collected among accessibility and inclusion specialists within higher education – faculty and support staff - regarding the challenges and opportunities encountered during these transformative three years. • Brings together data analysis from two different projects: one on UDL growth across institutions, and one on the impact of learning design on student mental health. Both projects unexpectedly ran through the COVID years and ended up documenting the issues related to accessibility during the pivot • There is also qualitative triangulation that occurred during many large-scale polling and discussions within multiple online pandemic events focused on accessibility and UDL, during which I was able to interact and poll sizeable groups of stakeholders about accessibility during the pandemic years. • The theoretical paradigm within which this data is showcased and analyzed is interpretivist, but the work also acknowledges preoccupations of critical theory/ critical pedagogy.
- 9. Section1: Brieflytakealookatthehistoricalrelationshipbetweenthe accessibilityscholarshipandtheonline/blendedTeachingand Learningmomentumpre-COVID • It is sometimes challenging to remember clearly what the issues in online and blended learning environments pre- pandemic.
- 10. The need to lookbackhistorically:Encouraginggrowthof inclusiveand accessiblepracticesin higher education • In my eyes, the most evident ways of tracking this reflection is to examine the growth of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in higher education • Growing but sporadic interest around Universal Design for Learning across the post- secondary sector in most jurisdictions over the last decade. • Particular early hubs of activity in Norway, Ireland, Belgium, Canada and the US • Encouraging energy • No doubt that the notion that inclusion must be achieved through proactive inclusive design rather than through retrofitting and accommodations is finally gaining in popularity and visibility • Accommodation and retrofitting models are cracking at the seams. Represents an approach to equity and access to earning that remain grounded in deficit model views of diverse learners. • Accommodation and retrofitting model is also expensive and unsustainable. • Differentiation is problematic in higher education – as the only viable alternative • This conjuncture offers UDL a strong role as optimal framework for inclusion in the tertiary sector and for the implementation of recent EDI policies.
- 11. Ambivalentrelationshipof the UDLand inclusivescholarship withthe literature and practicerelated to online and blended learning • UDL work, however, has long entertained an ambivalent and complex relationship with the rest of the scholarship on technology, blended learning and online learning. • Overlap between the UDL literature and these other bodies of practice is prima facie obvious & rich, but in the field it has been difficult strategically to get buy-in for UDL from practitioners and researchers traditionally involved in technology rich pedagogy. • Accessibility, Inclusion and Learner Diversity have often been dismissed by e-learning scholars and practitioners, with a focus instead on open practices, social constructivism in action, or experiential models. • Perhaps too much euphoria around the potential of technology as tool to emancipate marginalized learners and to amplify their voices? • Took the emergence of critical digital pedagogy before the field accepted the double edged potential of technology: as both liberator and tool of stigmatization • The result is that a fair body of literature on e-learning, until recently, ignores accessibility and learner diversity altogether. • No natural allegiance between UDL advocates and e-learning researchers (journals, conferences, research collaborations, etc.)
- 12. Section 2: And then came COVID…
- 13. If I had time to poll you today… • But time is limited… • I would ask you to tell me whether your experiences where that the online pivot: (1) made accessibility and the inclusion of divers learners more challenging (2) had improved accessibility and inclusion for diverse learners
- 14. Outcomes have always been the same when I polled crowds • Irrespective of numbers, location, or professional perspective • The crowd ends up being evenly split between people who feel things improved during the pandemic and people who feel they worsened dramatically • This chasm in people’s lived experience is characteristic of a reality which is also evenly split and dichotomous
- 15. Newdimensionsemerginginthewayaccessibilityandinclusionare perceivedonlineduringtheCOVIDpandemicpivot • Opportunities • The COVID pandemic/pivot to online teaching and learning have shaken status quo • Much more awareness about diversity and accessibility • Instructors globally acknowledging and embracing their role as designers of the learning experience. • They are increasingly aware of the impact of bad design on student experience • They are more receptive than ever to the relevance of inclusive design • This has offered unprecedented opportunities to demonstrate and showcase the relevance of UDL when it comes to systemically addressing learner diversity in online and blended pedagogy. • Challenges • The design discourse is more diluted and less easy to identify • Some confusion between design strategies and simple technology integration • The reflection around inclusive design is perhaps not as systematic as it can be – engagement in particularly has generally been ignored during the pandemic. Focus has been on representation and student agency • There have not always been adequate points of contact for faculty seeking to adopt inclusive and accessible strategies
- 16. Newdimensionsemerginginthewayaccessibilityandinclusionare perceivedonlineduringtheCOVIDpandemicpivot (contd.) • To an extent more student voices being heard • Noticeably growing international dialogue around inclusive design. Ironically, there has been less travel but more opportunities for the global sharing of knowledge (e.g. launch of the ADCET platform in Australia) • Widespread understanding that many of the lessons learnt during the COVID pandemic in relation to inclusive need integrated into f2f teaching in the post- pandemic landscape • The pivot has improved accessibility for many diverse learners (chronic medical conditions, severe disabilities, life long learners with responsibilities, etc.) • Most key stakeholders have been over- solicited and exhausted • Instructors themselves are more receptive to inclusion and access but also burnt out and less open to innovation. COVID exhaustion is real. • Many students feel that despite some growing inclusion efforts, there have also been significant accessibility issues (proctoring practices for example).
- 17. Take-aways • A period of unprecedented opportunity for reflection on accessibility in online and blended learning spaces • A process of empowerment of faculty with regards to accessibility and inclusion • A rich and powerful osmosis between UDL and other teaching philosophies (constructivism, social-constructivism, experiential learning, active learning, critical pedagogy, etc.) • An exponential growth of resources, PD material and scholarship on this topic.
- 18. So… does this mean things are looking up for accessibility and inclusion in blended and online learning?
- 19. Section 3: Not so fast! Gauging the post- pandemic situation and lessons learnt • The pandemic, however, has also further muddied the waters, and disrupted many of the relationships between stakeholders in academia. • Instructors are having to make design decisions on their own, often overnight, with few precedents as to what is accessible or not in terms of classroom practices. • A lot of innovation has occurred but often without the conventional forms of support • Instructors have been increasingly working from home with few opportunities for mentorship, dialogue, and modelling around inclusion. • The relationship between accessibility services personnel and instructors has never been so distant, slim, almost elusive. • Most key stakeholders have been over-solicited and exhausted • Instructors themselves are more receptive to inclusion and access but also burnt out and less open to innovation. COVID exhaustion is real. • Many students feel that despite some growing inclusion efforts, there have also been significant accessibility issues (proctoring practices for example).
- 20. Not so fast! • Accessibility services personnel themselves are often these days confronted with innovative practices they have never had the opportunity to assess for accessibility.; lack of precedents and pressing need for overnight advice (products, Apps, new platforms, etc. that are APA compatible but not been integrated in an accessible way). • Waves of panic in public opinion have led to knee jerk reactions for fear of the ‘floodgate argument’: e.g. cameras compulsorily on, virtual exam proctoring, etc. These decisions have had little to do with pedagogy or inclusion. • It is important to stress the dangerous emergence of the use of ‘undue hardship’ clause in the Canadian context (and more widely around the world, though framed in other constitutional terms), allowing campuses to temporarily ignore their legal responsibilities with regards to Human Rights legislation.
- 21. New areas of friction • UDL implementation had reached a stage in many institutions where interesting and challenging case studies were emerging, requiring a subtle and nuance UDL response. • There has been, for example increasing concerns about what UDL might look like in the science lab, in the visual art studio, in the language lab, in the outdoor classroom, in the field placement, and in the graduate classroom. • The rapid shift to online and blended learning has further muddied the waters by requiring an overnight remodelling of these pedagogical spaces for online delivery, before UDL/ inclusion scholars and practitioners had time to develop UDL best practices in these areas (example of the flipped classroom).
- 22. A pendulum swing towards the ‘’old way” • Industrial psychology indicates institutions have a tendency to return to status quo, post-disruption, however unhealthy that status quo is. • Systemic theory argues that this is the case for most human units/ groups or communities. • In this case, the return to the ‘old way’ is problematic as the need for change pre- covid was pressing in relation to accessibility and inclusion in online spaces. • How do we prevent our campuses from reverting to processes that were faulty? • Call to action for all session participants, in your respective institutions. • If best practices for accessibility and inclusion in online and blended environments
- 23. A pendulum swing towards the ‘’old way” • Industrial psychology indicates institutions have a tendency to return to status quo, post- disruption, however unhealthy that status quo is. • Systemic theory argues that this is the case for most human units/ groups or communities. • In this case, the return to the ‘old way’ is problematic as the need for change pre-covid was pressing in relation to accessibility and inclusion in online spaces. • How do we prevent our campuses from reverting to processes that were faulty? • Call to action for all session participants, in your respective institutions. • If best practices for accessibility and inclusion in online and blended environments are to emerged and be crystalized, these strategic reflection around management of change must first occur.
- 24. Not just about accessibility or impairment • Inclusion - and UDL – is not just about impairment. It seeks to address the needs of all diverse learners. • Sadly the COVID pandemic has been the setting for numerous push backs in terms of equity, and for the progressive erosion of many basic rights. • Despite the strength of the #MeToo movement, of the Black Lives Matter movement, and of the Truth and Reconciliation momentum, racialized, culturally diverse, Indigenous, and female students have been further marginalized during the pandemic. • Loss of services, loss of voice, decreased visibility, increased hardship in meeting outcomes, penalization in online assessment, decreased funding. • The use of UDL in online and blended learning must go much further than just secure accessibility for students with impairment. It must demonstrate its ability and use as a framework to ensure the engagement of all diverse learners. • The growth of the EDI agenda across our campuses has created much hope concerning accessibility and inclusion but the discourse remains conceptual or focused on campus life rather than the design for teaching and learning.
- 25. Section4:Remainingstrategicchallengesaroundtheimplementationofan accessible/inclusivemindsetacrossorganizationsinonlineandblended learningenvironments • There are specific organizational and strategic issues that remain to be tackled • These existed before the pandemic and have been exacerbated by the online pivot
- 26. Institutional challenges to the reflection on accessibility and inclusion have been perpetuated • This is not just an issue of pedagogical best practices • An adequate focus on accessibility and inclusion in online and blended learning spaces can only occur when there is institutional strategic planning in existence • An example of this is the way UDL projects often stall and disintegrate for lack of resources and institutional support. • Before COVID there was great confusion as to which stakeholder(s) should be the driver of change: accessibility services, all services supporting learner diversity, teaching and learning units, instructional designers, senior administration? • These dilemmas have not been solved and continue to plague large-scale cross- campus efforts to embed best practices in relation to accessibility or inclusion. • To some extent the pandemic has further exacerbated this tension as entire systems are currently seen as suffering from chronic post-pandemic exhaustion in terms of forward strategic planning.
- 27. Need for an ecological lens on UDL implementation across institutions Fovet (2021)
- 28. Questions
- 29. References & Resources Black, R. D., Weinberg, L. A., & Brodwin, M. G. (2015). Universal design for learning and instruction: Perspectives of students with disabilities in higher education. Exceptionality Education International, 25(2), 1-16 Boothe, K., Lohmann, M., Donnell, K., & Hall, D. (2018) Applying the Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the College Classroom. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 7(3). Burgstahler, S.E. (2015) Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice. Harvard Education Press, MA Capp, M. (2018) Teacher confidence to implement the principles, guidelines, and checkpoints of universal design for learning. International Journal of Inclusive Education Cook, S. C., & Rao, K. (2018). Systematically Applying UDL to Effective Practices for Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 41(3), 179–191 Dalton, E. M., Lyner-Cleophas, M., Ferguson, B. T., & McKenzie, J. (2019). Inclusion, universal design and universal design for learning in higher education: South Africa and the United States. African Journal of Disability, 8, 519 Dean, T., Lee-Post, A., & Hapke, H. (2017). Universal design for learning in teaching large lecture classes. Journal of Marketing Education, 39(1), 5-16 Fovet, F. (2021) Developing an Ecological Approach to Strategic UDL Implementation in Higher Education. Journal of Education and Learning, 10(4).
- 30. References & Resources (contd.) Fovet, F. (Ed.) (2021) Handbook of Research on Applying Universal Design for Learning Across Disciplines: Concepts, Case Studies, and Practical Implementation. IGI Global Fovet, F. (2020) Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Inclusion in the Higher Education Classroom: Tips for the Next Decade of Implementation. Education Journal. Special Issue: Effective Teaching Practices for Addressing Diverse Students’ Needs for Academic Success in Universities, 9(6), 163-172. http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=196&doi=10.11648/j.edu.20200906.13 Griful-Freixenet, J., Struyven, K., Verstichele, M., & Andries, C. (2017) Higher education students with disabilities speaking out: perceived barriers and opportunities of the Universal Design for Learning framework. Disability & Society, 32, 10 James, K. (2018) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Structure for Culturally Responsive Practice. Northwest Journal of Teacher Education, 13(1), Article 4. Kennette, L., & Wilson, N. (2019) Universal Design for Learning: What is it and how do I implement it? Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning, 12(1) Nieminen, J.H., & Pesonen, H.V. (2020) Taking Universal Design back to its roots: Perspectives on accessibility and identity in Undergraduate Mathematics. Education Sciences, 10(1). 2020, 10(1), 12 Novak, K. & Bracken, S. (Eds.) Transforming Higher Education through Universal Design for Learning: An International Perspective. Routledge
- 31. Contact details • Frederic Fovet (PhD.) • Associate Professor, School of Education and Technology, Royal Roads University • Frederic.fovet@royalroads.ca • @Ffovet • www.implementudl.com