WOL Blog Post: Inclusive Learning Design Reflection

 Martha Pilling

LDT 508

6/26/24

WOL Blog Post: Inclusive Learning Design Reflection

Upon reflection of the things I have learned over the last several weeks, I can honestly say that I am sad this class has to end. I have enjoyed learning about accessibility, but especially gaining valuable insight through the empathy challenges. Through these exercises, my understanding has been enlightened, and I have learned so many new things. I now understand the need for instructional designers to understand the challenges behind accessibility- Challenges such as visual or hearing impairment, mobility impairment, and sometimes a lack of cultural responsiveness in learning experiences. 

The empathy challenges enabled me to put myself in the shoes of those who may experience one or all of these challenges, and how I might navigate my design with those things in mind. For example, it is not difficult to create a website with greater readability, or ensure it has transcripts and closed captioning for those with hearing impairments, or to create a website which is easily navigated by an individual with mobility impairments. What is more, cultural responsiveness should not be a new concept in education. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, non-hispanic or latino whites make up only 58.9% of the population, which means there is a wealth of diverse backgrounds in the U.S. (U.S Census 2023)

All learners should have equal access to learning experiences, and equal opportunities for engagement. There are numerous benefits to inclusive design: learning is no longer homogenous; therefore all students have a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to share with one another, and students gain empathy by participating in learning with other students of all different ability levels. Some challenges those with disabilities face in non-inclusive classrooms are inability to be fully engaged in the learning environment, and feeling isolated and left out.

In order to demonstrate practical application, I will present the following four images from the semester:

1. POUR Infographic

Understandable: content and the way the information is presented is understandable by all users.

How to adhere to this principle 

• Website is predictable

• Easily navigable

• How user interacts with UI

This POUR principle ensures information is accessible to all learners regardless of their abilities because it demands that the website and learning experiences are able to be navigated by someone with mobility issues, that language used in the learning experience is understandable by users of all skill levels, and that the information can be navigated by students of all ability levels.

2. Instructional Program Accessibility Evaluation

There are many benefits of accessibility evaluation in the instructional design process. One obvious benefit is that the evaluation happens within the process, rather than when the design is complete. It saves time, money, and is much more efficient than scrambling to add these elements once the design is complete.

Subpage “1”: Not only is there very little contrast between the background and foreground colors, the text size is also much too small for someone who is visually impaired. Increase the text size and use readable colors with a strong color contrast.

This demonstrates a difficulty someone with a visual impairment would have with the GreenPath website. This was one of many “fails” I discovered through my evaluation. I also found text sizes that were too small, language that was not understandable for all ability levels, and a missing transcript to name a few. It was not difficult to apply these changes to improve the website. I was able to test the contrasting colors on the WebAim contrast checker, resize text boxes and headings, and reword site pages to a ninth grade level through an AI language program.

3. Making Digital Learning Content Accessible

Some challenges when evaluating designs for accessibility include: It is time-consuming to pull colors into the WebAim color contrast checker, and because it is necessary to do this with every image, text box, and infographic, this takes an enormous amount of patience. However, it reminds the designer of how defeating it could be for a student with any type of disability to encounter a learning experience which has not been designed with accessibility in mind. 

Below is an example of before and after. The before image shows small, low contrast text, which is not in a heading format. The after text shows large text, increased contrast, in a heading format that is easy for a screen reader to navigate.

Before-

Mission: To empower communities to protect and preserve their natural surroundings through education and active participation.

After-

Mission: To empower communities to protect and preserve their natural surroundings through education and active participation.

The changes I made on the website are like night and day for a student with accessibility limitations. For someone with visual impairments, the website is now completely readable. For someone with mobility challenges, the website is now much easier to navigate. For someone with a hearing impairment, each image has alt text, and the video includes both closed captions and a transcript. This enables volunteers to feel that they can fully participate and engage in the learning experience. 

program. 

4. UDL Implementation

One barrier I found in the website was the lack of clear learning objectives for each module. This falls in line with UDL checkpoint 2.1 Clarify vocabulary and symbols (UDL Guidelines 2018). For the homepage, I added the following:

By the end of the course, ninth-grade students will be able to explain the importance of local ecosystems, identify key conservation techniques, and propose community engagement strategies to support the mission of protecting and preserving natural surroundings through education and active participation.

This change enables volunteers to become engaged with the learning process, and gives them a clear directive of what is expected by participating with the Learning Hub. This allows volunteers to have a clear focus through the learning process. 

5. Culturally Responsive Application

According to FCPS, culturally responsive design asks five questions. I will focus on multiple perspectives. This asks “who is being represented and how they are being represented” (FCPS 2021)? When applying this to the learning hub, a designer would include images that represent all the different cultures and ethnicities of its students. Also, the language used in the website would also reflect those things. The infographic used would consider the environment the students live in and how they can make connections to that environment. For example, volunteers could create collaborative groups and come up with their own ideas for conservation techniques in their own communities. Perhaps public exhibitions and fairs do not work in their cultures, but gathering community members for a recycle day or pruning the park day would. 

The most surprising element of this course was that I gained a passion for designing accessible learning. Much like doctors have specific specialties, I would like to become a specialist in accessible instructional design. I found some websites through my research which specialize in accessibility design, and I have become passionate about becoming the next accessibility expert.       

References

FCPS Culturally Responsive Design Principles. (2021). In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6jLyuZ9H9A

The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines. (n.d.). https://udlguidelines.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/udlguidelines/udlg-v2-2/udlg_graphicorganizer_v2-2_numbers-yes.pdf

United States Census Bureau. (2022, July 1). U.S. Census Bureau quickfacts: United States. Www.census.gov; United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045222

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