Top tips for promoting inclusive education – updated May 2022

---

‘When education is truly inclusive it can actually benefit all learners, not only Disabled students’ (The Alliance for Inclusive Education)

Student Disability and Inclusion top tips for promoting Inclusive Education are purposefully simple and short because accessibility does not need to be complicated!
Please note that the links within this article are internal SharePoint links and not available for external users. Sorry !

Our top tips are:

1. Provide accessible course materials
2. Provide lecture resources in advance
3. Record your lecture
4. Use a range of teaching and learning styles
5. Use a range of assessment methods
6. Use technology to support your teaching
7. Provide a clearly structured reading list (or resource list)
8. Consider your teaching from a student’s perspective
9. Share good practice with your peers
10. Ask for help

1. Provide accessible course materials

Course materials often come in a range of different formats and media.  As you design or update your course materials consider how accessible they are; accessible documents will be beneficial to all students. Use Blackboard Ally to check the accessibility of your course materials and follow its guidance to make improvements.  Read our Top Ten Tips for improving accessibility guide.

A few quick wins are to:

• Use a san serif font e.g. Ariel, Lucinda Sans, Calibri
• Use a 12pt font with a minimum of 1.15 spacing for text in handouts
• Use a minimum of 24pt font for PowerPoint/presentation slides
• Break down long pieces of text, using headings, bullet point and using BOLD to identify key words
• Keep presentation slides clear; try not to be too text heavy.  Use images and diagrams to reinforce key messages
• Use a pale coloured background (such as cream, with blue text; not white with black text)
• Make course materials accessible in electronic formats that can be edited in a way so as to change font size and colour, to suit the students’ needs. Blackboard Ally allows documents to be converted into a range of alternate media and can also convert inaccessible documents into more accessible formats.

For more information on accessibility, please see Student Disability and Inclusion webpages on supporting students with an SpLD

There is also comprehensive information and guidance on accessibility of media and materials on the Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education webpages.

2. Provide lecture resources in advance

Providing lecture resources in advance of the lecture (for example on Blackboard) will allow students to prepare themselves for the session.  This may mean that they can adapt the resources to suit their accessibility needs; it may also mean that students can familiarise themselves with key learning outcomes, themes and vocabulary that they may need to be aware of.

3. Record your lecture

Students will benefit from being able to access recordings of lectures; this may be via Panopto or by allowing students to use their own technology to record a lecture (for example, Glean).

Recording lectures has a variety of benefits:

• It allows students to focus on the lecture and gives time for them to process the information (rather than trying to keep up with taking notes).
• It allows students to re-listen to lectures later and add details to notes.
• Students can use software (such as Glean) to re-organise notes and highlight key information.
• Lecture recordings can be used as a revision tool; this appeals to learners who may be more auditory in their learning style
• For students who have been unable to attend a lecture, accessing a recording allows them to keep up to date.
• Turn on automated captions for your recorded lectures, student can then use the captions if they wish. If you are concerned about the accuracy you can make corrections to the captions.
• Assistive Technology Software for all students

4. Use a range of teaching styles

Consider using a range of teaching and learning styles in your course delivery.  Some of the learning styles often referred to are:

• Visual – a preference for using pictures, images and spatial understanding
• Aural – a preference for using sound and music
• Physical – a preference for using your body, hands and sense of touch
• Verbal – a preference for using words, in speech and writing
• Logical – a preference for using logic and reasoning
• Social – a preference to learn with groups
• Solitary – a preference to work alone and use self-study

Possible activities may include:

• Have a break and get a discussion going in groups.  Can the groups be given opposing ideas to discuss and then feedback to the group as a whole?
• The Snowball technique is a way for students to teach each other important concepts and information.  Students begin by working alone (for example by researching a given concept); next the students pair up and share the information they have found with each other; partners then form groups of four to share information and so on. 
• Use a range of media in your teaching and learning – for example, videos, images, audio clips.

• The Diamond 9 technique is a way to challenge thinking.  A lecturer may ask a group to come up with 9 key responses to a discussion point, and then rank order these in a ‘diamond’ shape (i.e. one reason is the most important, followed by the next 2 most important reasons, until you have a 1,2,3,2,1 formation). 

5. Use a range of assessment methods

Just as a range of different learning styles can help students to achieve and succeed, so to can a wider range of assessment methods. Consider a variety of assessment methods when planning course modules.  For example:

• Essay
• Exams:  Could these include a variety of formats, such as multiple choice, longer written answers, open book exams?
• Presentations:  These could be groups based or individual.  Have you considered if the presentation could be pre-recorded?
• Portfolios of evidence
• Project work
• Group-work
• Reviews
• Self-assessment and Peer-assessment

With all forms of assessment, make sure that the learning outcomes and the assessment criteria are clearly stated and available for the students to refer to.

6. Use technology to support your teaching

Consider how you can use technology to open your teaching and learning to a wider range of students.  For example, by opening discussion questions on social media platforms or using real-time polling and Q&A apps for meetings and classes such as VEVOX, every student can have the opportunity to share their ideas.  These options may help to reduce anxiety related to speaking in front of a larger group of students.

7. Provide a clearly structured reading list (or resource list)

All students will benefit from a clear reading list, preferably split into essential, extra and exceptional categories to support students to prioritise their reading.

Try to present the reading lists clearly, using a sans serif font in 12-14pt, with a minimum of 1.5 spacing.

Think about creating a resource list as an alternative to a reading list; this may include a range of different media that can be accessed (alongside the traditional reading), such as videos, podcasts and images.

8. Consider your teaching from a student’s perspective

It may be helpful to consider the difficulties that some students face at University to understand how best to create an environment that helps reduce these barriers.  Some students may discuss areas that they find difficult directly with their Personal Academic Tutor and often students will also have suggestions of strategies that can be put in place to support their learning. 

You may also find it helpful to watch some of these short videos that explore students’ experiences of living with disabilities and long-term health conditions:

​​​​​​​What is it like to be Dyslexic?- Short film

Living with Dyslexia

9. Share good practice with your peers

Think about how you can share good practise with your colleagues and peers.  For example, a regular brown bag lunch meeting; creating a central bank of resources to build on and share; adding ‘Inclusive education’ to the agenda of your current team meetings to discuss ideas and ask questions; offering informal peer observations to share inclusive teaching strategies.  There is already a wealth of knowledge within the Faculties, so it may just be a case of highlighting this, for example through the use of faculty champions for inclusivity.

10. Ask for help

Remember to ask your colleagues and line manager if you would like further help with promoting inclusive education.

Student Disability and Inclusion​​​​​​​ webpages provide a range of resources to support staff in promoting inclusive teaching and learning.  In particular, the information on supporting students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) may be of interest.