Time for digital inclusion at scale

Remove what subject do you teach. Did you learn about how to make digital content inclusive and accessible at school, college or university? What region are you from in the UK? What type of school or setting are you from: Mainstream school Specialist provision Private education  Trainee teacher Research survey invitation I am Helen Wilson, a second year part-time PHD student at the University of Worcester. I am planning a piece of research titled: Working with teachers to plan a school classroom intervention about inclusion in our digital society As part of this research I’m conducting an initial online survey to help me prepare for the study. Who is this survey for? This survey aims to collect a minimum of 50 participant responses from teachers across the UK. Participants in this study: must be teachers from  upper key stage 2 (Years 5 or 6) , the survey will ask this at the beginning before revealing the questions teachers can be from any type of school setting  includ...

The purpose of literature to inform a design based research approach. One of the most significant sets of guidance specific to digital accessibility is the web content accessibility guidelines. They are the framework that helps people understand what is required legally as a minimum standard. Teaching using the guidelines as a basis forms a part of many research papers. Understanding that these also form the legal standards helps to frame the wider societal real life relevance and importance of the need to address digital accessibility. Technical checklist as a quantitative measure yes or no, versus the socially constructed nature and experience of disability. Hassell quote - knowledge of socially constructed understanding verses reduced to checklist. Reliance on guidelines is not enough to provide an understanding of the needs for accessibility or the human impact. This is not only highlighted within the classroom context but within industry. Also upheld by Lethwaite when explaining t...

Awareness- recall and assess prior knowledge- establish real world relevance  Barriers- demonstrations to highlight the need for digital accessibility knowledge and skills- the human impact  Legal - to reinforce and frame the context of why it’s important  Evaluating content- hands on experiential learning and encountering barriers for self - EXAMPLES  Digital skills to address accessibility with skills for action- could also re-test digital content after barriers have been removed  List the top issues or skills taught- examples of activities or learning objectives e.g. activities through the five stages related to captions, alt text, links etc (New SCULPT.  Write literature review regarding objectives and activity examples to framework and introduce the matrix of activities for teachers. Barriers- speaker, video, empathy lab - list and write up examples - add academic references where they have been used or mentioned. On a train/bus - visual of stop as wel...

I’m now officially starting my third year as a part time PHD student and what a journey it’s been so far. I’ve explored the literature in my discipline and now feel comfortable I know that landscape. I’ve got a robust research plan and my ethical approval has been granted. I’ve also had the privilege to work as a research assistant and been able to explore a related discipline to locate my own research within that context. This year, as 2025 begins, I have a roadmap with a participating multi academy trust of schools and others willing to help me pilot early data gathering tools. Additionally, I have developed a suite of learning materials for the initial teacher training session in preparation for lesson study. Reflecting on progress I’ve paved the way forward. However, my thinking and my writing are not in sync. My writing needs to be more evaluative and critical and this is something I need to practice. I need to utilise the notes and thoughts I annotate on papers and bring that wit...

 Social model of disability  Unlearning  Subjective and individual- robust and reliable? Notes: What is critical writing? Critical writing involves:  analysing information to understand a problem or topic from more than one perspective ; making logical connections between ideas; offering your own perspective on the topic based on your evaluation of the available evidence. https://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/support/helps/self-help-resources/academic-skills/how-write-critically https://eapfoundation.com/writing/critical/ https://subjectguides.york.ac.uk/critical/writing https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1401/academic-skills/105/critical-thinking https://library.soton.ac.uk/critical_writing https://library.soton.ac.uk/writing_criticality_structure https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/c.php?g=654983&p=4603877#s-lg-box-14388460 https://library.norwichuni.ac.uk/app/uploads/2021/06/Critical-writing-example-4.pdf https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/academic-wri...

https://learntoenable.wordpress.com/references/ https://rise.articulate.com/share/2cW0exTz_c0DYaLeJT-YFQ34tO5FusGl#/ https://www.learntoenable.co.uk/enabledresources E-learning content Blog ready for reflexive reflections 14th Feb piloting of questionnaire 

Evaluating digital content for accessibility #How to spot accessibility barriers on websites One important part of learning about digital accessibility is to learn how to spot potential barriers in digital content. When we know what the barriers are we can fix them. Tools to find barriers  The are lots of tools that can help to find accessibility barriers. Some tools are for finding issues in websites and there are others that can find issues in documents. Automated tools for website designers   People who create and check websites for accessibility use many automated tools, including some free browser plugins-in tools like: Wave Silktide Axe These tools find out if a website is coded and styled properly for accessibility by using the WCAG criteria. They help to find around 50% of the accessibility issues a website may have. Manual checks on websites   To find the other 50%, web designers also do some manual checks on websites to check they are usable for people on assist...