Reflection: Accessibility structures and policies in Canadian educational institutions
What surprised me during my endeavour to find resources related to accessible strategies employed by educational institutions was how limited they were in number, as well as the lack of depth and application success in the existing ones. My search for such resources were uneventful when I used the terms "accessibility" and "education" together, so I refined my search to "inclusive schooling" and "universal design for learning" within Canada's provinces and that resulted in a few more leads.
Since Ontario is the densest province in the country (Timmons, 2006), I expected to find more results related to these strategies and policies in practice, but it was for nought. Based on the sources I've found with relation to accessibility in Canadian educational institutions, there are a few key questions that need to be answered:
1) Why is there an emphasis on creating more accessible building structures/physical spaces and not on actual learning capabilities
and virtual spaces?
2) Have there been any strategies that are proven to be efficient and successful in practice?
3) Are the education departments of provincial governing bodies in conversation with each other regarding the implementation of
inclusive instructional design strategies that would benefit their respective student bodies?
4) In terms of actual practice, how does each province account for diversity in their student population? Is there current statistical
data on this?
Another reason why I decided to do some research on these institutions is to see if the implementation of multidisciplinary learning strategies can actually be done. Unless a school gets funding from a non-governmental source (e.g. private schools with a wide pool of donors), they usually depend on municipal powers in order to get access to certain resources. It is also important to be aware of organizations that work to obtain the finances to improve education in their respective provinces.
Many sources listed below contain policy documents from some provinces within Canada and the reason why I decided to go through them is because I wanted to get sense of how formal education is provided and what it is intended to accomplish within those institutions. The implementation of these policies may look different in practice, however, the fact that they exist and are "officially" in place gives instructional designers more information to work with when the time comes to collaborate with these stakeholders. Of course, there is a plethora of documents that are released periodically by those respective education departments, however, there is a potential for informal methods of learning to be employed in the classrooms and other more official (i.e. government-approved) learning environments. The goal here is not to replace existing systems, but to supplement or enhance teaching and learning strategies that are already in place as technology continues to evolve.
Reference:
Timmons, V. (2006). Impact of a multi-pronged approach to inclusion: Having all partners on side. International Journal of
Inclusive Education, 10(4-5), 469-480. doi:10.1080/13603110500392726
What surprised me during my endeavour to find resources related to accessible strategies employed by educational institutions was how limited they were in number, as well as the lack of depth and application success in the existing ones. My search for such resources were uneventful when I used the terms "accessibility" and "education" together, so I refined my search to "inclusive schooling" and "universal design for learning" within Canada's provinces and that resulted in a few more leads.
Since Ontario is the densest province in the country (Timmons, 2006), I expected to find more results related to these strategies and policies in practice, but it was for nought. Based on the sources I've found with relation to accessibility in Canadian educational institutions, there are a few key questions that need to be answered:
1) Why is there an emphasis on creating more accessible building structures/physical spaces and not on actual learning capabilities
and virtual spaces?
2) Have there been any strategies that are proven to be efficient and successful in practice?
3) Are the education departments of provincial governing bodies in conversation with each other regarding the implementation of
inclusive instructional design strategies that would benefit their respective student bodies?
4) In terms of actual practice, how does each province account for diversity in their student population? Is there current statistical
data on this?
Another reason why I decided to do some research on these institutions is to see if the implementation of multidisciplinary learning strategies can actually be done. Unless a school gets funding from a non-governmental source (e.g. private schools with a wide pool of donors), they usually depend on municipal powers in order to get access to certain resources. It is also important to be aware of organizations that work to obtain the finances to improve education in their respective provinces.
Many sources listed below contain policy documents from some provinces within Canada and the reason why I decided to go through them is because I wanted to get sense of how formal education is provided and what it is intended to accomplish within those institutions. The implementation of these policies may look different in practice, however, the fact that they exist and are "officially" in place gives instructional designers more information to work with when the time comes to collaborate with these stakeholders. Of course, there is a plethora of documents that are released periodically by those respective education departments, however, there is a potential for informal methods of learning to be employed in the classrooms and other more official (i.e. government-approved) learning environments. The goal here is not to replace existing systems, but to supplement or enhance teaching and learning strategies that are already in place as technology continues to evolve.
Reference:
Timmons, V. (2006). Impact of a multi-pronged approach to inclusion: Having all partners on side. International Journal of
Inclusive Education, 10(4-5), 469-480. doi:10.1080/13603110500392726
Alberta Education. (2020). Alberta Education Support Service. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from
https://education.alberta.ca/help-desk/?searchMode=3
This source is simple: it gives schools, parents and teachers a primary contact to reach out to should they require or want to request resources or aid for to support the learning environments. This would be helpful if a student has different learning assessment requirements and intends to complete specific exams or courses. Having these learning assessment requirements helps when we try to create a program or product that is tailored to improve the learners' chances of accomplishing these goals.
Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation. (n.d.). Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from
https://teaching.utoronto.ca/teaching-support/udl/
This source is useful as a landing page to different ways of accommodating students in synchronous classroom environments. Even though it is aimed at teaching university students, a lot of the teaching strategies they cover can be applied to learners of different ages. They address potential scenarios like setting the tone for the first class of the term, or how to set up a comfortable environment for students who are distressed. The list of strategies even suggest the types of media to use for better accessibility versus those that are not. Definitely a page that is worth revisiting multiple times.
Government of Alberta. (2020). Diverse learning needs. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.alberta.ca/diverse-
learning-needs.aspx
The government site provides several links including the Inclusive Education Library, for teachers and parents to consult if they require help with their child's learning regardless of learning style. They even wrote their own handbook (titled The Learning Team) for parents who require aid with their special needs children, exclusive to special needs education in the province. Even though this handbook's primary readers are parents, the points it discusses is relevant to any educator or designer whose goal is to transmit knowledge that works with a wide variety of learning styles.
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. (n.d.). Education and Early Childhood Development. Retrieved August 15, 2020,
from https://www.gov.nl.ca/eecd/k12/studentsupportservices/services/
There are multiple references for teachers and education institutions in Newfoundland and Labrador with students who require assistive technology to support their learning experiences. There is also a category for home tutoring depending on the child's personal education requirements and home circumstances. The thing that stands out about this government's education strategy is to provide alternate format materials to students who require them. An application by the school is required but it looks like it's a free resource that is loaned out. Accessibility in the financial sense, is crucial and evident in this program.
Henry, S. L. (2020, August 13). What's New in WCAG 2.1. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-
guidelines/wcag/new-in-21/
This international source is the most valuable with reference to making digital (namely, computer) technologies more accessible to a large audience with a wide range of capabilities. Even though the full list of guidelines have to be purchased, this section lists all the updates related to accessible web pages, as well as a glossary of relevant terms. Each category leads to an emphasized page with greater details on how to accomplish a specific function e.g. how to space text for students with dyslexia or people with poor vision.
Nunavut Department of Education. (2008). Inuglugijaittuq: Foundation for Inclusive Education in Nunavut Schools. Retrieved
from https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/files/Inclusive%20Education%20ENG.pdf
Indigenous approaches to education is often overshadowed by more Western and colonial perceptions of how learning happens. That is why this source is just one of many vital documents that should be consulted when we tackle a mammoth of a subject like instructional design for education and learning. In the background section, there is an emphasis on life-long learning and how education and schooling should aid and not hinder the emotional, mental and physical development of an individual. Nunavut's approach to inclusive education involves the community, not just the student and their teachers. In addition, a significant finding that is mentioned relates to how students who have been retained at least once in their academic career tend to lose interest in their education.
Province of Manitoba. (n.d.). Education: Student Services. Retrieved August 20, 2020, from
https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/index.html
This government source introduces the public to the province's Student Services Unit, a group of experts who specialize in working with and supporting students with exceptional learning requirements. A lot of their roles are based on the SAMR Model by Ruben Puentedura. One of the main takeaways from this source is the introduction of what they call "Appropriate Educational Programming" that applies to all students in Manitoba. This program was enacted out as part of their Public Schools Amendments Act and this can be a gateway to introducing new educational methods that would further efforts of inclusion within the school system.
Sasketchewan Ministry of Education. (2015). Actualizing a Needs-Based Model. Retrieved from
https://pubsaskdev.blob.core.windows.net/pubsask-prod/87218/87218-Actualizing_a_needs-based_model.pdf
The aspect that drew me to this document is their Needs-Based Delivery framework and how it is not limited to students with exceptionalities. Every student has a need, regardless of the level of their abilities and the Needs-Based Model holds up against a traditional or "medical" model. The primary emphasis of this framework is the student and given the opportunity, they may be able to play a larger role in their educational experience.
SET-BC. (2020). General Support Information. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.setbc.org/general-support-
information/
Even though this resource is specific to schools in British Columbia, the team of technicians would be an ideal group of people to contact in order to determine the kinds of problems (frequent and infrequent) that arise with regards to learning technologies used in the schools located in B.C. They would also be a dependable source in order to get feedback on current technologies that have not worked and analyzing what these technologies are missing.
Vancouver School Board. (2020). Accessible Resource Centre - British Columbia. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from
https://www.arc-bc.org/
A factor that stands out about this source is that they have specified and separate links to extensive resources catering to vision-impaired and students with learning or other physical disabilities. The link for vision-impaired students include loaning out braille devises and the link for hearing-impaired students. It distinguishes between the different disabilities and makes suggestions on how students falling under those categories take in sensory information.
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