Time for digital inclusion at scale

  The concept of authentic learning is more of a philosophy, that helps to provide a useful pedagogical guide and model for curriculum design rather than a learning theory (Herrington, 2015; Shaffer and Resnick, 1998).  Authentic learning is based on a constructivist view in which students create their own understandings of new concepts and practices by integrating their previous experience, the resources they have, their own research and their current experience (Roach et al, 2018). Shaffer and Resnick (1999) analysed the literature around  authentic education and found there to be four main identifiable kinds of authentic learning. They describe: (a) learning that is personally meaningful for the learner, (b) learning that relates to the real world out of school, (c) learning that provides opportunity to think in the modes of the particular discipline, and (d) learning where the means of assessment reflect the learning process (p.195).  They details around each kin...

  What all of the literature has in common is that digital accessibility should not be a bolt on at the end, but instead be part of the process of creating materials with a understanding of user needs at the forefront. To get this right, awareness, education and training plays a vital part.   This research argues and promotes that because of our social responsibility for equality as a ‘digital by default’ society, the awareness and skills surrounding digital accessibility should be taught at the very point of learning about digital. This would help to ensure that these practices are established as the norm much earlier on, therefore not added as an extra or unpicked later on in life.  Exploring this in the primary school curriculum also means that this underpinning awareness and baseline knowledge can be brought into the mainstream for all of our future citizens in society. This would additionally help to address the added concerns that broader awareness around digital ac...

  Making digital content that works for everyone.   Sections like BBC Bitesize Digital accessibility and inclusive design  Digital content and user needs (age, sight, sound, touch, cognitive, range of places e.g. documents, presentations, social media, audio/visual) Laws for digital content (Web regs, WCAG, POUR principles, Equality Act reasonable adjustments, international) Assistive technologies (inputs/outputs, screen readers, the need to make content to work with these so people don’t have barriers) Digital tips to make content inclusive (12) Inclusive content in the workplace (examples from BLC/HOW Tutors/BDF) https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/z7wckty Could also make the new section into pages like a Ladybird type book 🐞  E.g. rework like this: Assistive technology There are some  input  devices specifically designed to help people who may not be able to use devices such as keyboards or touchscreens to input information.  The...

 Just after ‘there are studies about it in HE’ The studies that do currently explore the teaching of accessibility do so from within university education, the workplace or library information science. Many articles highlight that even after two decades of legal requirements and guidance such as WCAG (W3C, 1999; W3C, 2018), Section 508 and the ADA in the US (ref) or the last five years of the web regulations in the UK (Ref) awareness around digital accessibility is not common knowledge in the mainstream (Millikan and Djenno, 2017; Putnam, 2016; Ref), skills mainly sit within the web profession (Ref) but the skills in graduates for that profession are not meeting the demand in industry (Nicolle and Darzentas, 2019; Putnam, 2016, Teach Access, 2023; PEAT, YEAR; Nishchyk and Chen, 2018; Lewthwaite et al, 2020; Coverdale et al, 2022; Teach Access, 2023). The topic is not also widely disseminated or taught within the learning curriculum (Nishchyk and Chen, 2018; Kulkarni, 2018; Lewthwait...

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn Citizenship  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zfb7m39/articles/zvr2m39 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zfb7m39/articles/ztp496f Computing  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/zx8hpv4 Inputs and outputs mentions assistive technology  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zs7s4wx/articles/z7wckty Potential to make extra section about Making digital content inclusive - did you know . Use the boxes styling like the first image in this post. Refer in assistive technology section to ‘making inclusive content that works well for people who use screen readers’ PowerPoint as a prototype/pilot Three page PowerPoint to start with as a demo: P1 - Why we need to make things accessible, universal design principles and examples. Equality act and web regulations and how they help web designers. It’s not just web designers who can make accessible content, here are some tips to make you aware of the things w...

  https://www.laccei.org/LACCEI2009-Venezuela/Papers/CSI044_Ekstrom.pdf

  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marilyn-Lombardi/publication/220040581_Authentic_Learning_for_the_21st_Century_An_Overview/links/0f317531744eedf4d1000000/Authentic-Learning-for-the-21st-Century-An-Overview.pdf?origin=publication_detail https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clif-Mims/publication/228395999_Authentic_Learning_A_practical_introduction_and_guide_for_implementation/links/0046352abc748a95f2000000/Authentic-Learning-A-practical-introduction-and-guide-for-implementation.pdf?origin=publication_detail https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/5726799/LearnLife_August2021/Pdf/e-Teaching_2016_10-1.pdf What is authentic learning? Authentic learning is learning designed to connect what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications; learning experiences should mirror the complexities and ambiguities of real life. https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/92627/3/France,%20Mauchline%20et%20al.%20(Bilham%20et%20al.%202019,%20ch.%202).pdf https://link.spring...

 So I’m all set for a summer of reading and drafting a literature review. It’s been fascinating to see SCULPT appear and be mentioned in articles as well as online, such a shame that the original intention I had for it isn’t being applied at WCC, but at least those in the professional community understand the ethos behind it, and what an honour to have Robin Christopherson MBE, Head of Inclusion for AbilityNet use it as part of a keynote speech.

 E-learning outline Forms for activities and signup Plain English description of conceptual model  Presentations for HOW, BDF, IAAP E-learning intro - Matt? Broken into parts or as a menu? Learn to enable digital for everyone Introduction   We all need to think of others and be inclusive. This helps to prevent barriers and discrimination to many people in our society. This is part of the law under the Equality Act 2010.  But did you know that digital  content needs to be inclusive too, and everyone needs to play their part. Think about those everyday digital things we all do, such as: post on social media create a presentation or poster   write a document send an email   These are all opportunities for us to make a difference. A lot of training is aimed a people with technical knowledge, but this is aimed at beginners.   This training will offer bite-sized tips about the basic principles of digital accessibility. It has been put together so we can...

Lewthwaite quote: One of my concerns with WCAG is that as a standards they are static. WCAG gives you one view on a particular terrain, and in doing so it can obscure other perspectives. With WCAG you are trying to hit a checklist…there isn’t scope within that checklist for other voices, maybe a developer’s voice or disabled users voice, which of course is important. It doesn’t leave room for that kind of personal testing, which is where we make knowledge about accessibility. Page 213 -Lewthwaite quote

  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/academic-skills-kit/writing/academic-writing/reporting-verbs/ https://morlingcollege.libguides.com/academic-writing/verbs https://academic-englishuk.com/reporting-verbs/ https://engdic.org/english-academic-verbs-list-pdf/

A digital accessibility awareness curriculum: Learn to Enable Digital for Everyone Introduction to what I’m doing (what I’ve previously done) - rationale for teaching ‘of’ accessibility as well as us teaching accessibly. Unlearning versus doing it by learning default  Preparing young people for the world in which they live Not just the responsibility of IT profession, it’s everyone’s responsibility  Ethical and social responsibility to equip the next generation with the skills for their future world This topic or awareness raising is currently not in the curriculum  We have to learn about it to make things inclusive, but why don’t they, it’s their future world (this is currently overlooked) 1,  How far does digital accessibility go? Q&A E.g. where is it relevant: Docs, presentations, videos, podcasts, emails, calendars, websites (content, menus, booking, applications, shopping, payments, reporting, banking), games, social media, digital design work for packaging/...

  http://marketinggazette.co.uk/2021/05/20/the-business-case-for-digital-accessibility/ There’s also the ethical angle, something which is particularly important to Millennials and Generation Z – two age groups that form the biggest proportion of the global consumer base. These consumers increasingly want to spend money with brands that are focusing on doing things ‘right’, or embracing their environmental and social responsibilities. Inclusivity and accessibility for all is a key part of this. As such, it is important to feed this into your marketing content strategies. In 1997, Tim Berners-Lee said “the power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect”. It was a prescient statement, especially given the events of the past year. With so many people self-isolating, even those who may have previously ​avoided technology – whether due to accessibility needs or not – were relying on it to access the outside world. Look at more...

ADD to rationale in the aims of research section. There are two main themes of study in the topic area of accessible content in education. Teaching accessibly e.g., the creation of inclusive materials for teaching, and the teaching of accessibility, teaching learners about accessibility and making learners aware of how to create accessible materials as citizens in the digital world (Sonka, 2021?; Teach Access, 2023; Lewthwaite et al, 2022?). This research is specifically exploring the perspective of the teaching of accessibility. There is research that has already been conducted around the teaching of digital accessibility, but the studies have been primarily in higher education, college or in the workplace. Many of these studies have highlighted the challenge of teaching and learning these skills later in life (Ref). They refer to the complexities of ‘retrofitting’ digital accessibility skills and the ‘unlearning’ of existing or firmly established practices to relearn new ones (R...

 Interviews and data collection for grounded theory. Disability lived experiences Jamie Shields Meryl Evans AbilityNet- Robin Christopherson John Irvine Sight concern Speak easy now Deaf direct Aspies - Worcester  Older people Get together interview questions to allow for structure but open ended free flow of their frustrations and experiences. Interviews with technical and employment industry  IAAP Business Disability Forum - Members ATOS? Teachers I will list and identify when I know schools. Text: In my own research context I can only draw comparisons and theories from the school online safety curriculum or from the studies as explored in the literature review from higher education or the workplace. It has already been discussed that in both contexts of workplace or higher education this has the challenge of people unlearning or retrofitting skills later in life. In the primary school context this will be at the point of learning the accessibility knowledge and digital...

Create inclusive content with the new Accessibility Assistant in Microsoft 365 By Aleš Holeček,  Corporate Vice President, Off ice  March 8, 2023 Product Group   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/03/08/create-inclusive-content-with-the-new-accessibility-assistant-in-microsoft-365/ *put after how assistive technology needs accessible content to be able to work* As part of  a  Microsoft blog launching their new accessibility assistant for document creation, Holecek (2023) explained that ‘inaccessible content is everywhere in the digital world. Nearly 97 percent of home pages on the public web contain issues like missing image descriptions, videos without captions, and hard-to-read text colors that reduce their legibility and usefulness for people with disabilities. 1  The same issues pervade the emails, slide decks, documents, and spreadsheets we all create every day. This creates barriers that keep our colleagues and coworkers from...

 Useful news story https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-65644575 York student https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/19397457.blind-york-student-wins-5k-claim-inaccessible-loan-form/ Screen reader user sues over application form https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/blind-health-service-worker-awarded-3k-over-inaccessible-job-application-process/843395613.html BMI Baby https://suewatling.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2012/02/06/rnib-sues-bmibaby-for-its-inaccessible-website/ NHS https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/national/23524386.blind-people-put-risk-inaccessible-information-health---charity/ COVID and deaf community  https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2020/december/vital-covid-information-inaccessible-bsl-users Autism covid information  https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/06/19/people-with-learning-difficulties-terrified-by-inaccessible-covid-19-guidance/ Inaccessible information during pandemic - government report https://committees.parliament.uk...

  Thoughts and follow ups after reading book. Chapter 5 particularly useful. Robert Gagne: https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/conditions-learning/ In addition, the theory outlines nine instructional events and corresponding cognitive processes: Gaining attention (reception) Informing learners of the objective (expectancy) Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval) Presenting the stimulus (selective perception) Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding) Eliciting performance (responding) Providing feedback (reinforcement) Assessing performance (retrieval) Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization). These events should satisfy or provide the necessary conditions for learning and serve as the basis for designing instruction and selecting appropriate media (Gagne, Briggs & Wager, 1992). *Useful as a framework to ask or plan questions in the research e.g., present the stimulus, elicit performance and provide feedback. To look at further: Grounded theory (...

#What is important, meaningful and relevant to gain knowledge, skills and competence in digital accessibility comes with its own debate. There is an interesting and potential dissonance between the purpose and needs of digital accessibility for disabled people and how it’s enacted and measured in practice. This impacts how we measure it, from whose perspective, and in turn how we teach it. The lived experience and needs of disabled users is not a one size fits all, we’ve already established that disability is a socially constructed concept (ref). However the industry of accessible content appears to sit in two places. The learning of technical specifications sit more within the scientific and quantitative domain, this often sits within the disciplines of STEM research design (Ref). The domain of researching the experiences and needs of the end users themselves, is a more qualitative stance from the paradigms of interpretive or socially constructed knowledge. This is already recognised ...

  *Later I refer to another multidisciplinary subject of social responsibility e.g. online safety. As well as Lewthwaite echoing the multidisciplinary nature of digital accessibility - use to justify co-production methodology.* In the US the need to educate the next generation in digital accessibility practices has been recognised.  Leaders from Yahoo and Facebook officially founded Teach Access.  It is a collaboration and multi- disciplinary approach bringing together voices from education, industry, and disability advocacy organisations to address the critical need to enhance students’ understanding of digital accessibility. Their   core aim is to ensure courses in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, User Experience Research, Design, Web Development, and other related topics include digital accessibility in the curriculum to build the numbers of future developers and designers to fill the digital accessibility skills gap (Teach Access, 2023; Sonka, 2021)....

  ‘Digital by default’ is not just the slogan of the UK Government Digital Service, but the direction in which most businesses are going. What my colleagues couldn’t understand was why accessibility guidelines in the web space were a technical checklist, when everything that that had learnt about inclusive design was about understanding user needs. On page 168 it mentions Tesco case study for return on investment. https://www.w3.org/WAI/business-case/archive/tesco-case-study Return on investment and spending power of disabled people  https://internetretailing.net/inaccessible-websites-cost-retailers-and-uk-businesses-more-than-411bn-during-the-pandemic-purple-tuesday-research-23946/