4.5.1 Don't – alter courses to the disadvantage of non-disabled students Educators are not expected to make changes that would make the course less effective for most other students. For example, audioconferencing may be a valuable tool that has a positive effect on students’ grades. In this case, you would not be expected to abandon it, even if the audioconferencing cannot be made accessible for deaf students. Health and safety for all students also has to be maintained, although it is rare for there to be a conflict.
4.4.3 Do – consider the impact of alternative study methods and helpers The impact is related to the two types of barrier mentioned above and the intended learning outcomes of an activity. For example, does it contradict the learning objectives if a deaf student relies on a transcript or subtitles for a specific activity? A student may wish to use a helper for course components that cannot be made accessible to them. Returning to the example of someone who cannot hold a stylus, will it be the same experience if they observe someone else using a mobile device?
4.1 Adjustments for all This activity on ‘Accessibility, pedagogy and reasonable adjustments’ discusses considering the needs of disabled students in terms of the concept of reasonable adjustments and the potential impact of a disability on achieving learning objectives. The activity asks you to consider some specific course scenarios and your responses to them. The subsequent activity, ‘Specifying, designing and evaluating accessibility’, goes on to look at design decisions in the development of accessible
3.13.1 General OU Knowledge Network, ‘Guidelines for describing visual teaching material’ http://kn.open.ac.uk/ public/ index.cfm?wpid=2709
US National Public Website on Assistive Technology
3.11 Accessible content and alternatives Assistive technology can give access only to whatever is on the screen; it doesn't provide any alternative content, unless this is specifically added. For example, a screen reader cannot interpret visual content but it can read a description if one has been provided. Multimedia content might need to be supplemented with the same content in other formats. Deaf students need transcripts of audio and for the audio track of video material. If the video is an interview, a simple transcript m
3.7.2 Use of computers by deaf or hard of hearing people In general, people who are deaf or hard of hearing do not require any specific assistive technology in order to use a computer effectively. Deaf people can access visual output and can use a mouse. Hearing aid users may connect their aid to the computer's speakers or an amplifier in order to hear audio output better. Severely deaf people may change the computer's settings so that it provides alternatives to audio aler
3.5.2 Magnification Some people who require large fonts, or who need to enlarge pictures or icons, may use a software magnifier. A basic magnifier is available within operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS. More sophisticated software magnifiers are also available, which provide additional functionality, such as the following: Magnification of the whole screen (see picture below)
Author(s):
3.3.4 Screen readers and speech synthesisers A refreshable Braille display is a row of cells each containing pins that represent Braille dots. These pins are raised or lowered to form Braille letters. The screen reader program sends text a line at a time or as set by the user. The hardware is expensive, a 40 character display costs about £4000 ($7000, €6000); so this option is most often used by those in employment. Its main advantage over speech output is that refreshable Braille distinguishes between individual characters, so there
2.5.1 References Channel 4 (undated) ‘Watch your language’ [online], London, Channel 4 Television, www.channel4.com/life/microsites/B/bornfreak/language.htm (Accessed 31 July 2007). DEMOS (2003) website http://jarmin.com/demos/. DEMOS (2002) ‘Disability Awareness’ module [online], Manchester, DEMOS Project, http://jarmin.com/ demos/Author(s):
2.1 Models of disability Disability is discussed more frequently now than it was even a single generation ago. You may have come across ‘political correctness’ debates in the media in which the terms used to describe diverse groups of people are discussed. In this short activity, we ask you to read about models of disability and guidance on terminology. You will also be asked to revisit your list of challenging activities from the ‘Accessibility and disability’ activity and to update it if necessary.
1.2.2 Usability The second factor is good practice. In general terms, and business terms, it is good practice to make a product available to as wide a market as possible. A design that incorporates the requirements for disabled students is likely to be more accessible and useful for non-disabled students than a design without such consideration. One example would be a user interface that is usable by a blind person will also be usable by a person whose eyes are busy (for example people who are doing a task t
3 The challenge of change …although we may be striving to turn a profession that has the inertia of a supertanker, as individuals each of us is a speed boat that can turn on a dime… (Pate and Hohn (1994), p. 217) The American authors of the quote above suggest that PE needs to change so that it places primary emphasis on the promotion of lifelong exercise. However, they consider that this could be slow and difficult
1. Efficient brain performance Two sources of fuel are particularly important to ensure a healthy and efficiently functioning brain – oxygen and water. Fortunately, in many countries, both of these are in ready supply! Many schools in the UK are already beginning to recognise the need for students (and their brains) to be sufficiently hydrated, and have installed water-coolers at strategic points. Oxygen is easier to supply, but sitting down for a typical 50-minute lesson could decrease the amount of oxygen delivered to
3.5 Issues of capability Very occasionally, issues about the capability of the headteacher may arise during discussions about performance against agreed objectives. If the appointed performance review governors suspect that the headteacher is not able to meet his/her objectives, they should first consider the circumstances of the school to satisfy themselves that these have not altered significantly to make the objective/s unachievable. If this is the case, they should make necessary allowances when monitoring
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should: be able to explain what is meant by the term ‘the global dimension’; be familiar with the terminology used in relation to the global dimension; know why the inclusion of the global dimension in the primary school curriculum is important; know how the global dimension can enhance the primary school curriculum; be able to plan the global dimension into the secondary curriculum.
1.5 Reductionist skill-based approach versus whole-language: English language 5–14 Ellis and Friel identify a number of concerns in relation to the 5–14 Guidelines for English: English Language 5–14 presented a welcome return to a focus on the content of language teaching. However, unless sympathetically interpreted, it presents a skills-based and reductionist model of language which does not capture and promote the rich model that underpins best practice in Scottish schools. Although 6 Communicating and OpenLearn A variety of software tools are available to help you communicate with others to
rework content and to enable your learners to work with each other. As well as
Compendium, the mind mapping tool described in Activity 3, FlashMeeting enables video-conferencing through a web
browser, and the Comments allow asynchronous discussion 3.1 Introduction In planning your unit you need to keep four questions in mind. What are you trying to achieve with this teaching unit - what are your aims? What activities do you wish the learners to engage with in order to demonstrate or achieve those aims - what are the learning objectives or outcomes and how are they to be assessed? How will you evaluate the effectiveness of what you have produced? In the light of the ev Introduction This unit looks at the pedagogical issues involved in the creation and selection of self-study educational resources for a set of intended learning outcomes as exemplified here on OpenLearn. It is a unit about writing a unit. Although it considers the way that people at The Open University set about writing open-learning materials, it will not focus specifically on the University’s particular production system. Nor does it look deeply at the technical issues involved in producing certain ty References
