Intro lit review notes structure

 

Context and introduction

World has changed to digital - in every corner of daily life.

Accessibility - Tim Berners Lee - access quote- his vision for everyone to participate in our digital society.

1 in 5 have some form of disability 

Assistive technologies and screen readers only work if content is made in an accessible way

Issue of vast amount of inaccessible content.

#The legal and strategic backdrop.

Legal context - nationally and internationally. Strategies and acknowledgement of new job roles (apprenticeships and IAAP) - the discipline of ICT.

Social model of disability - nothing about us, without us - moving away from medical model and negative assumptions of disabled people.

Social responsibility/social justice/human right.

Argument that social model can only work if people have the knowledge and skills - it’s more than just public bodies and more than just websites - everyday content such as documents, emails, presentations, social media - made by everyone, not just developers/designers. This isn’t just a need for professionals but everyone who creates any form of content in our digital society.

#Progress of legal implementation section.

##Shuffle content below (this section/next section) to identify the importance of training from a rounded perspective…

Argue that without a consistent message progress is slow or addressed from the wrong angle which misses ‘nothing about us, without us’ 

Hassell quote…

Checklist culture- only captures part of it - the importance of user input to get it right

Understanding of web accessibility, universal design and inclusive design approaches.

Digital and accessibility skills shortage 

Digital world and the general digital skills shortage (loss of economy)

Backdrop of a wider digital skills crisis (report 16/17) - AI

Computing curriculum reform- recognition of skills updates needed.

Assistive technology skills gap (disability economy)

Digital accessibility - universal design (social model) - web accessibility (fix) - inclusive design (Microsoft).

Messaging and guidance is inconsistent - and only from technical skills or criteria perspective.

Progress is slow, afterthought and retrofix (cost and delay of addressing at the end of the process) - skills need to be in place to avoid costly fixes, proactively planning for and baking in accessibility, or some places avoid the cost and only address it when legal action.

The assumption it is expensive (the fix model reinforces these assumptions) yet building it in saves time and money so these skills are vital for efficiency.

To save cost - compliance and checklist culture, checklist at the end rather than inclusive design approach.

This results in Hassell quote - disabled users left out of the equation. Disability reduced to a technical checklist- not multidisciplinary approach and understanding from a user/human perspective as it needs to be.

Many come to workplace with no skills- skills demand (PEAT).

Education and awareness gap

Education and training aimed at web developers.

Industry Reports etc say progress is slow as training the biggest challenge.

But there is an education and training gap

Taught but not formally- where it is taught it is workplace (informally and add-hock) or HE, not in schools or FE/Schools. 

Gap of learners arriving on courses with no awareness until degree level.

Unlearning and what age it needs to start at school to establish these skills from the offset - not learn or add on later. - No research studies in schools.

In practice also Not on national curriculum in schools- teacher training program specifications/ digital skills frameworks. Usually not addressed in practice until the workplace, which has already been established as a huge challenge. Unpicking established habits later in life.

The earlier the better to make it part of the norm - not an add on or oversight.

#The teaching of digital accessibility 

If not in schools (both in practice and literature) yet what can we learn from what is being taught at other levels 

Multidisciplinary 

Learning objectives 

How it is taught - units/courses/throughout - best when embedded throughout and reinforced throughout.

Minimal and reflective accounts rather than empirical- pedagogical studies are limited to support the teaching of accessibility.

What age would be ideal for it to start on the curriculum.

Teacher knowledge 

Not on teacher education framework or specifications - for either job knowledge or teaching subject knowledge.

Identified we haven’t got the teachers to do it or have this variety of skills - relies on hero model, we can’t address this in education unless we address how to upskill and support teachers. 

One challenge is that those with technical discipline knowledge don’t necessarily have disability knowledge and vice versa.

But this is useful and necessary to support Differentiation/ UDL/ Inclusion skills remit is digital too - EDI is one discipline and digital accessibility sits elsewhere and this needs to come together in a digital first economy and society. Inclusion across all aspects of daily life, and today digital plays a vast part in our everyday contexts.

However it has been acknowledged that there is a lack of teachers knowledge and sustainability of being able to teach it - complexity and specialists. Note that it needs to be cross disciplinary and citizenship- skills to support people in our digital world and become part of everyday practice and recognise its relevance in all subjects. Not just ICT discipline - practice gap/research gap as everyday knowledge in schools (due to multidisciplinary nature) - studies in skills for a digital society/inclusive society and disability awareness/ digital inclusion and everyday inclusion.

Planning for a wider basic principles and awareness approach

Matt May quote.

Not currently on school national curriculum- recent developments in a need for a computing curriculum reform - technology needs and knowledge need updating.

To add it in would need guidance for teachers/teaching specifications.

No pedagogical support- no toolkits/text books etc - the support and guidance currently sits in the technical discipline, not in the everyday inclusion skills remit needed in today’s society. EDI is mandatory learning and needs updating for the digital and Information Age. (Ref the multidisciplinary nature of the topic)

What activities could work for beginners for teachers to be able to add digital accessibility awareness into the everyday curriculum.

To account for the multidisciplinary nature this needs to explore activities from the inclusive design perspective to take into consideration the understanding of disabilities and diversity of needs when designing and creating digital content- not just a technical and checklist approach. It also helps to equip teachers with a balanced set of activities (currently skills are either in one discipline or another).

Contribution to knowledge and research focus

Summarise:

This exploration being from the teachers perspective, everyday awareness and within the school context is the unique contribution to knowledge.

How can teachers be supported to deliver this type of basic digital accessibility awareness education in the school classroom.

Not done before as most studies focus on students learning or teachers learning to create content rather than teach or support embedding awareness. 

This research intends to research the support needed for teachers to bring digital accessibility awareness to life in the educational curriculum in schools.