In this week’s inclusive design reading, we have discussed the importance of inclusive learning design. When designing classes, we should consider different students’ needs. When we talk about inclusion, I think it does not just refer to people with special needs. Everyone is unique and has a special way of learning; when designing classes, how we could make sure every student can meet their learning goal becomes a critical need.
In this week’s discussion, I would like to discuss the barriers in our blueprint learning activity and how we can overcome them:
One of our formative assessments in the blueprint is asking students to participate in a live session which time was voted by learners and might not work for all students. Also, there is a couple of different technologies involved. Students are required to use discord to participate in live discussions. During the live session, they also need to use Slido to join in live quizzes and polls. So there are many barriers to students’ success.
First of all, as an open learning resource, the instructor is not familiar with their learners. Thus, we wouldn’t know participants’ familiarity with the technology tool we require them to use. In order to reduce this barrier, we can send out a survey asking for students’ most familiar live meeting tools along with the survey for booking live time. Besides, we can provide step-by-step set up instructions to allow students to follow before they join. We will also leave some warmup time before the live session starts to allow students to join late due to technical difficulty.
Secondly, based on the Universal Design Model suggested: “unless specific media and materials are critical to the goal, it is important to provide alternative media for the expression”. A recording will be posted online for students who cannot participate in the live session on time. They will also allow them to participate in discussion in Slido even after the live session has ended. This activity is designed for our Question 4 learning module, which also has a full blog page about the content we will discuss in the live session.
Lastly, contributing to the group and live session discussion can be intimidating. Thus, in our design, we are engaging students to use Slido during the live session to participate in live quizzes during the conference. We won’t force students to speak up during the live session as it is not required. We’ve also required students to share one of their questions before joining the live session to ensure we have some content before we start. To create a relaxed learning environment and encourage students to participate in this class, students who participate and finish all required activities will get 100% of the grade for this section.
June 8, 2022
Hello Guoqinliu, Thank you for sharing a story about potential barriers in your Pod’s learning resource activities. I like the fact that your post considers a barrier to social media accessibility (Discord). I totally understand that not all students have a Discord account. This issue could be a future problem that your Pod may need to solve for your learners. I also like the solution that you propose: your Pod will record a lecture and allow your learner to access the video. Not only does this solution solve the accessibility issue, but it also allows your students to choose their preferred learning method. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that you may want to talk a little bit about the method by that you will deliver your record videos in your post (eg. Youtube, Discord video record etc).
Link to this comment: https://poom.opened.ca/comment4-on-guoqinlius-post/