There are three main categories that provide focused points of reference: accessible media for diverse learners, hearing impairment and deafness and low vision and blindness.
It is vital that teachers with students who are blind or have low vision in their classrooms can create an equitable educational environment through the use of accessibility practices.
The Classroom Access Project (CAP) operated for 20 weeks in both trial schools, which provided necessary longevity to test the concept of access to captioned video and other media and improved sound in mainstream schools.
Advances in technology have seen the concept of learning escape the confines of the classroom, however teachers need to ensure that BYOD and other devices or equipment in the classroom don’t pose a barrier for students with diverse learning needs. Accessibility features may need to be enabled on the devices.
To achieve best practice, modelling accessible use of media in your school communities can be facilitated by:
Applications to the Australian Curriculum Equity and Diversity Advisory Group are encouraged from people who have expertise in at least one priority equity and diversity area. These areas include students with a disability and students with English as an additional language or dialect.
The group is a welcome opportunity for professionals who have experience working with students with a disability, such as Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf (ITODs), to provide expert input.
Unpublished
This is a study by Sue McKnight and Angela Trikić from Nottingham Trent University, and John Baker, President and CEO of Desire2Learn Inc. ‘Accessibility: a Learning Imperative’ examines ways to model best practice for accessibility in web design.
