The Instructional Environment

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The Instructional Environment

Overview

The instructional environment refers to spaces where teaching and learning are the primary activities.  These spaces include:

  • classrooms
  • advising/mentoring opportunities
  • internship sites
  • field work
  • office hours
  • small group/tutoring sessions
  • and others

When thinking about access and inclusion one needs to consider the following relative to teaching and learning:  

  • interaction
  • delivery methods
  • assessment
  • accommodation
  • attitudinal climate
  • products
  • technology

These categories are broad and it will be necessary to be more specific when auditing instructional spaces.  For example, when looking at delivery methods one will need to examine lectures, small groups, online work, textbooks and other materials such as slide decks, handouts, and videos.

Self-Assessment

Before diving into the resources here, you may want to consider taking the following self-assessment. It will assist you thinking about your campus as a whole in terms of its maturity level when it comes to providing accessible and inclusive instruction.

Take Campus-Wide Self-Assessment: Instructional Environment

(All self-assessments are Alchemer forms.)

Guidelines for Improving Access to Instruction

On campuses that prioritize and effectively provide accessible instruction, the following

Leadership and Commitment

  • Faculty leadership demonstrates a commitment to student-centered and inclusive instructional practices.
  • Course design that reduces the need for individual accommodations is highly valued by campus leaders.

Communication and Marketing

  • Faculty leadership communicates regularly and prominently regarding the commitment to accessible course design and inclusive instructional practices.

Assessment and Accountability

  • Faculty assessment measures include questions related to accessibility, inclusive course design, diversity and equity.
  • Processes are in place to proactively ensure accessibility of course content.
  • An instructional designer or representative of disability services can access course management system directly to remove barriers within courses.
  • There is a high-level champion who takes pride in ensuring course content is accessible.

Resources

  • Organization plans for, ensures capacity and allocates sufficient resources to provide faculty development related to disability access and inclusion in course design.
  • Organization provides adequate resources for accommodating course design when the design does not provide full access.

Knowledge and Skills

  • Organization has personnel who are knowledgeable about inclusive instructional design practices. For example: Faculty development personnel and/or disability services staff are aware of how to create accessible course materials.
  • Many faculty are well-versed in inclusive teaching practices.

Policy-Practice Alignment

  • Most faculty members integrate a variety of inclusive teaching approaches designed to respond to the diverse experiences of students in their classes.
  • Inclusive course design is articulated as a value in policies and guidance provided to faculty.

Training and Consultation

  • Principles of accessible course design are infused into other faculty development efforts.
  • There is an administrator who is committed to ensuring professional development includes inclusive design practices

Perception of Disability and Access

  • Most faculty understand ensuring access to their course instruction is a part of their role.
  • Access to instruction is considered an institutional responsibility and a matter of social justice.

Resources for Improving Access to Instruction

Designing an Accessible Online Course

This toolkit provides instructors with strategies and resources for creating an online course that is fully accessible. It walks you through all aspects of an online course related to accessibility.

Designing an Accessible Online Course Toolkit

Universal Design in Educational Environments

This resource outlines the principles of universal design as originally crafted and as modified for educational environments. It also provides guidance for applying these principles in higher education courses.

Universal Design in Educational Environments

Creating Accessible Documents

This toolkit will provide you with the basic techniques for creating accessible MS Word documents, MS PowerPoint slides and PDFs. Resources for learning more are also provided.

Creating Accessible Documents

Additional Resources