JISC

In response to the duties set out by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 Glasgow Metropolitan College launched the Creating Accessible Learning Materials Project.

Meeting the needs of all learners

‘All learners from across the curriculum are benefitting’ The Creating Accessible Learning Materials Project was a strategic cross-college initiative aimed at training staff to create accessible learning materials and make them available electronically via the college’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The project was developed with the support of a number of JISC Services including JISC TechDis, from whom they reused and repurposed resources, saving the college considerable time and money. This resulted in the production of a very high quality product that staff have engaged with and learners are quickly benefitting from.

About JISC TechDis

The JISC TechDis Service aims to be the leading educational advisory service working across the UK in the fields of accessibility and inclusion. JISC TechDis resources have been downloaded over a million times and feature in many national staff development resources from E-guides to the Excellence Gateway. JISC TechDis supports all aspects of FE provision by producing high quality publications, resources and managers briefings. They also run regular webinar training sessions, and contribute at a wide range of regional and national conferences.

The service runs a helpline (email or phone) where any questions on accessibility and inclusion, can be posted to be answered by the team of experts employed by the service, and from this extensive FAQs have been created as a result of many queries to the helpdesk over the 8 years the service has been running.

Challenge

In early 2007 Glasgow Metropolitan College had identified four significant issues which impacted on the creation of an inclusive college, the:

• need to proactively respond to the duties laid out in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005
• need to raise the ICT skills of staff and increase use of the VLE across the college
• number of learners requesting note takers was increasing, at considerable extra cost to the college
• need to present learning and teaching materials in an accessible, electronic, college-branded format

Solution

The college decided to resolve the four issues with a single project and with full senior managerial support and internal funding, the Creating Accessible Learning Materials (CALM) project commenced. Initially the JISC RSC Scotland South and West was contacted, and they played an integral part in the project.

Firstly they introduced the college to the JISC InfoNet Project Management Kit which they used to support the management of the project. Secondly they introduced the college to JISC TechDis and in particular to the Accessibility Essentials resources.

A college house style was developed based on guidance from the TechDis website, incorporating minimum accessibility standards. Training was built around the Accessibility Essentials guides which focus on the production of accessible teaching resources (e.g. Word files, PowerPoint presentations). In addition the CALM Project included (free) guidance and resources from the:

• Plain English campaign

• Quality and Equality of Learning and Teaching Materials project

The standards have been put together in an easy to use and well written ‘pack’ which is given to all staff involved with the creation and maintenance of learning and teaching materials.

Thanks to the high level of senior management support for this project, training for the CALM project is compulsory (and rigorously enforced), ensuring all staff receive 2 to 3 hours training on how to (and why) create more accessible learning resources. The training focuses on benefits to all learners, not just those with disabilities. Staff are supported by the CALM team to reformat their materials and upload them to the VLE. In order to make the project sustainable, having materials available in a CALM format on the VLE is now a requirement of passing internal quality audit and review processes.

The training has been developed with help from JISC TechDis, mainly through using the Accessibility Essential packs. This has saved the College considerable time, money and effort and staff attending training have responded well to the materials having the JISC TechDis ‘badge’ on it.

Impact on the learning provider

'The TechDis resources are great because you can mix and match different ones to suit your projects' / college's needs.’ Within the college the term CALM has become widely accepted and understood and has quickly become part of people’s practice. The project has increased the ICT skills, and confidence of the staff. Most importantly thanks to the way that JISC TechDis approaches this area of work the benefits have been for all learners, not just those with disabilities, and has helped staff to take the small steps that make a big difference.

The work has been identified favorably in inspection, and has helped staff to realise that the DDA is everybody’s responsibility (including the learners) not just the responsibility of the support teams in the college.

Surveys of staff before and after they have engaged in the project shows that their knowledge and understanding of equality legislation and ability to adapt their resources has risen from approximately 35% to 65%, a high increase in a short space of time.

Early analysis of the raw data would seem to indicate that there has been a significant reduction in the requirements for note-takers since the start of the CALM Project. While a number of factors may have affected these figures, undoubtedly the availability of resources in accessible, electronic formats has made a big difference to students, as well as making a big saving for the College.

Impact on the learner

The amount of learning resources appearing on the VLE has increased and the resources are of a much higher standard - easier to adapt and personalise. All learners from across the curriculum are benefitting from the impact of the CALM Project, particularly those with an identified or declared disability:

Key messages

1. Discovering how to create accessible learning materials can benefit the wider learning community – learners of all kinds benefit from personalised and easy-to-adapt learning resources
2. An initiative that focuses on accessibility improves the ICT skills of staff in an enjoyable way
3. Institutional savings can be made if the requirement for specialist support staff is reduced as a result of more appropriate learning resources for learners with disabilities
4. By using and adapting the resources and expertise within JISC TechDis, the college saved considerable time and money, and produced a higher standard product
5. The team at JISC TechDis approach this area of work with a friendly positive attitude, making it easy for any staff to contact them for help or support
6. With this project the role of the RSC to bring together some of the external expertise, became an essential part of the project

Further information

email: helpdesk@techdis.ac.uk