The SOAR office<\/a>\u00a0works with many departments on campus to provide reasonable accommodations\u00a0for students with medical, physical or psychological conditions.\u00a0Instructors receive\u00a0emails for each student detailing<\/a>\u00a0what accommodations have been approved, the student\u2019s responsibilities in pursuing these accommodations, and who instructors should contact with questions. Additionally, instructors now will be able to access this information for all students in their courses through the\u00a0SOAR Dashboard<\/a>\u00a0(login required). SOAR has created several\u00a0video tutorials<\/a>\u00a0including one on\u00a0how to use this site<\/a>.\u00a0The SOAR website contains a wealth of information about academic accommodations and other accommodations, including\u00a0Quick Links<\/a>\u00a0for access to the most frequently requested services.\u00a0 SOAR is in the Earle Infirmary; enter through the back of the building. Check out\u00a0this video<\/a>\u00a0as an overview of the SOAR office.<\/p>\n Though often thought of in relation to people with different physical abilities, web accessibility can benefit all users\u2014 making it easier for them to perceive, understand, navigate, interact, and contribute to the information and functionality that make up your web platform. Thankfully, web accessibility is not difficult to achieve. A number of LMS systems\u2014including Moodle \u2014care about accessibility, take it seriously, and incorporate best practices (Rogers, 2018).<\/p>\n It is now easier than ever to ensure that your course documents are accessible to a wide range of learners thanks to the recent deployment of Ally, an accessibility tool to help promote full student inclusion. Ally is fully integrated into the Moodle learning management system and is designed to assist faculty in the review and improvement of course documents for accessibility. A\u00a0recent message<\/a> highlighted a valuable new accessibility tool that is now available for all courses via Moodle.\u00a0In this Lunch and Learn session<\/a> from November 2021, colleagues from SOAR introduce the tool and answer questions about how you might begin to use this new resource to support more inclusive learning environments. Please contact the Student Office of Accessibility Resources (SOAR<\/a>) with questions.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re using an LMS like Moodle built with accessibility in mind the hard work has been done for you. Here\u2019s what you can count on, right out of the box (Rogers, 2018):<\/p>\n A good LMS will do the heavy-lifting for you, but content must still be created, organized, and formatted by instructors with these 3 best practices in mind:<\/p>\n All text-based content should be uploaded in an accessible manner. For all documents you upload to online spaces, this means that these documents should not be images (scanned or photo-copied documents) but word processor or original pdf documents so that they can be utilized by a screen reader. LinkedIn Learning offers a\u00a0great crash course on creating accessible documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n All non-text content should be paired with a text alternative. In practice, this means (Rogers, 2018):<\/p>\n Videos and other visual multimedia content such as infographics, GIFs, and animations should be paired with a description. For example:<\/p>\n It is important to know that how content is displayed on a web page does not necessarily represent how the content is organized and structured in the underlying markup\u2014the HTML. Screen readers read the markup, not the page presented visually in the web browser (Rogers, 2018).<\/p>\n Using your LMS content editor\u2019s formatting tools correctly will make better underlying markup, and a better experience for screen-reader users. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n While HTML markup organizes and structures the content, visual styling does matter in making content clear and discernible for users with limited vision or with learning disabilities:<\/p>\n All web users\u2014of all abilities\u2014face a learning curve when encountering a user interface for the first time. Ensuring consistency in how navigation and content are organized and displayed helps decrease the learning curve, and improves accessibility\u2014for everyone. Creating an orientation\/welcome tutorial that orientates new users to the primary navigation and tools used in your LMS will help all users start on the right path.<\/p>\n While best practices like the ones outlined here are helpful for improving the accessibility, the best way to make sure your online platform is doing the best job it can is to ask the people who depend on it. Get feedback from the people who use it regularly. Ask them to show you where they\u2019re having trouble and what barriers they\u2019re facing. Adopting that feedback\u2014acknowledging pain points and working to alleviate them\u2014is what will truly make your online platform accessible (Rogers, 2018).<\/p>\n For more information about accessibility in online platforms:<\/em><\/p>\n Whether you are already utilizing inclusive pedagogy in your course or are new to the practice, this Inclusive Pedagogy Strategy Guide<\/a> might help you evaluate your practices. In addition, this \u201cStarting Point\u201d document<\/a> for inclusive teaching is a worthwhile resource to review no matter what mode of teaching you engage in. Please find a host of additional resources, including workshop materials, handouts, and peer-reviewed literature in our “Fostering Inclusive Learning Environments” folder in the FDC Commons<\/a> (see Teaching Resources section).<\/p>\n As\u00a0this recent article<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em> notes, flexibility is one aspect of designing a more inclusive learning experience for our students. By creating flexible courses, you can inherently enhance the inclusivity of that course. In fact, instructional strategies like Universal Design for Learning<\/a> hold adaptable, flexible course design as a hallmark of efforts to increase access and enhance participation of members of our learning community with diverse needs. To consider how you might improve your course for inclusive learning, you can find an interactive UDL checklist here<\/a> or you might find this shorter version focused on the \u201clearner centered\u201d nature of your course here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education project (TILT Higher Ed) is an award-winning national educational development and research project that helps faculty to implement a transparent teaching framework that promotes college students’ success. By focusing on removing barriers to success, the framework is designed to facilitate a more equitable learning experience. This resource<\/a> provides detailed information about the TILT framework, example assignments, and tools for creating or revising your own transparent assignments. The redesign of your course assignments for FurmanFlex instruction provides a valuable opportunity to develop more transparent course activities. You might enjoy this Learning by Design studio<\/a> on revising assignments using the TILT framework.<\/p>\n Inclusive design asks us to focus on the learning outcomes we have for our students and the best approaches to evaluate if and to what degree students can demonstrate the attainment of those objectives through different modes of engagement. These adaptations are timely, as they occur within a broader context of work to support more equitable assessment strategies on college campuses. Highlighted in this recent article<\/a>, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment<\/em> has just released several in-depth case studies of promising practices to advance inclusive assessment. As you redesign and revision assessment practices for your courses, we have an opportunity to incorporate lessons from these case studies to support a more equitable campus culture and curriculum.<\/p>\n Works Cited:<\/em><\/p>\nCreating Accessible Online Content<\/h4>\n
Moodle Ally<\/h5>\n
What Moodle Will Take Care Of For You<\/h5>\n
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What You Need To Do To Make Online Content Accessible<\/h5>\n
1) Present content in accessible formats, and in multiple ways<\/h6>\n
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2) Organize, Structure, And Make Content Clear<\/h6>\n
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3) Make Content and Navigation Consistent<\/h6>\n
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Inclusive Pedagogy & Design<\/h4>\n
Getting Started<\/h5>\n
Universal Design for Learning<\/h5>\n
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Transparency in Learning and Teaching In Higher Education<\/h5>\n
Inclusive Assessment<\/h5>\n
Additional Resources<\/h5>\n
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