Creating Accessible Learning Resources: Introducing a New OER for Instructors

In the summer of 2023, the Faculty of Health’s EDI Committee ran a “pulse check” exercise to capture our collective progress with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP). Colleagues were asked to share the obstacles they encounter as they attempt to enhance their courses and learning environments. It was striking how many respondents were committed to the principles and practices highlighted within the questionnaire; and yet, how consistently the same barriers to progress were mentioned. Specifically, the pulse check showed that many instructors don’t feel they have the technical knowledge to create accessible resources, and they can’t find the time to update or create materials which meet their ideals for accessibility. This was the starting point for an Open Educational Resource supported by a CLT grant (hyperlink to grant information [opens in new window]), “Creating Accessible Learning Resources: A Practical Guide” (hyperlink to Guide [opens in new window]).

The results of the Pulse Check are unlikely to come as a surprise—learning how to enhance and streamline our teaching practice is, like all learning, a process. As a process, it is subject to change: acceleration, deceleration; a shift in course in the face of an unexpected obstacle. Change can be energetically expensive, challenging, tiring. Change, and therefore learning, demands energy—we have to expend it, and sometimes quite a bit of it, just to hold our pace.

Fortunately, however, there are some changes to our teaching that, despite first appearances, don’t need to take up much energy at all. We need the right tools. We need guidance on how to use them. We need a little time to get the hang of them. Then, we can teach smarter, accelerating the pace of our students’ learning and holding back our own precious reserves of energy for ourselves, our families, our passions and guilty pleasures. Increasing the accessibility of our resources might sound like an almighty undertaking, but it needn’t be, and this is what moved us to create the new resource.

On receiving the grant application, the ever-impeccably kind CLT team responded with a gentle question: “Doesn’t this already exist?” Well yes, and no. The thing that co-author Pratik Bhawar and I had observed within many of the existing guides to accessibility in learning resources was that there tended to be quite a lot of “why” wrapped around the '“how”—you couldn’t pop in for a quick primer. This is not to say that context, and a careful, mindful approach, are not central to effective, empathetic and responsive teaching. It’s just that sometimes, when we’re busy, we just need someone to tell us what to do, and how to do it. And quickly. And yes, every instruction is just a Google away, but only if we know what to ask for. A single, bookmarkable package seemed a sensible thing to offer.

We have structured our instructions for instructors in three different ways: how to create something from scratch, so accessibility is baked in; how to amend an existing resource with minimal fuss; and how to do specific things, like proper weblinks, alt text, and accessible tables.

If you have 20 seconds for something incredibly simple, try this: in any Microsoft software, select “Review,” then “Check Accessibility.” Within a few seconds, you will be told what you need to change within your document. The software will then offer to make most of the changes for you. Job done. Have a coffee, and perhaps some cake.

The current version of the “Guide to Creating Accessible Learning Resources” (hyperlink to Guide [opens in new window]) is very much in beta-mode; and it’s pitched at the entry level, to cover the fundamentals. It’s fantastic that software programs are moving so swiftly in the right direction for accessibility, but it does make it tricky to keep a guide up to date. We have tried to lean into this by inviting readers to share their own successful practices, with an email link for feedback at the end of each page. That feels very much in line with the ethos of an Open Educational Resource. Please do take a look, and don’t hesitate to add your thoughts using those links on each page. Working together on this, we can make some swift, simple changes to support our students’ learning, and in doing so, help more of them along their way to a productive, inclusive future.

Ben tait

Faculty of Health