Enhancing Accessibility and Participation in Online Learning

Spring is a season of change, and, as a teacher in the Seattle area, I (like many of you) have quickly transitioned with my students to distance learning as a result of COVID-19. Considering that there are already systemic roadblocks to the success of some of my students, who may receive special education, 504, and/or language accommodations, I’ve been thinking about what a rapid transition to online or distance learning means for them.

As a teaching community, we are also worried about what this new instructional paradigm means for us as we consider how to meet the diverse needs of all of our students. Luckily, there are many easy-to-use resources available to educators that support the participation (and therefore learning) of all students and provide equitable access to learning opportunities. In this article, I’ll make a few suggestions that have worked for me and my students. Hopefully, this can serve as a jumping-off point as you consider how to best support the unique needs of your learning community.

Understanding Your Students

Meeting the needs of our students requires first having an understanding of what those needs are. Many schools and educators have recordkeeping systems for tracking students’ needs outlined in Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), 504 plans, or language support plans. I have reached out to the relevant people in my school community — these can be special education teachers, social workers, or district-level coordinators — when I’m not sure how to get this information and want to clarify my legal obligations in meeting these needs in an online setting.

As you transition to an online learning model, consider sending out a survey to students, parents/guardians, and other members of your school community, such as those listed above, that asks about specific students’ needs in an online setting. After the first weeks of online learning, I found it helpful to ask myself, “Who haven’t I heard from?” In reaching out to these students and their parents/ guardians, I often heard back about specific student needs that had to be met before they could re-engage with their learning.

Accommodations vs. Modifications

When considering the accessibility of online instruction, it’s helpful to distinguish between the terms “accommodation” and “modification.” Accommodations change how students learn or access instructional material, while modifications change what content or material the student is expected to learn. There are a wide range of possible accommodations and modifications; the table below describes some of the most common instances and gives ideas for how to meet these needs in an online class with examples using BioInteractive resources. You can also learn more about BioInteractive’s accessibility features in the Educator Voices article “Accessibility Features.”

Accommodations	Examples
Extended time	I expect all students to need more time to complete work in an online setting. If I post activities to an online learning management system (i.e., Google Classroom), I try to post activities early and communicate to all students how to let me know if they need additional time.
Chunking of instructions/activities	I break down lessons into discrete steps and clearly communicate each step and how long it may take to complete. Instead of giving an entire handout or worksheet for a BioInteractive resource, I choose a few questions for students to work on at a time.
Frequent checks for understanding	I try to communicate expectations clearly and frequently with all students, and schedule regular check-ins with individual students by email, phone, Zoom, etc.
Assistive technologies — general	I work to familiarize myself with any assistive technologies (screen readers, etc.) my students are using. Special education teachers, library professionals, and technology departments are all good resources and can help test the accessibility of resources before sharing them with students.
Assistive technologies — formatting	I make sure I’m using videos with accessibility features. All BioInteractive videos have closed captioning; many also have Audio Description (AD) technology and transcripts available for download. I also try to use documents that students can fill in easily. Some BioInteractive handouts and worksheets are available as fillable PDFs, which can be used by students to fill in, save, and submit answers online. Select resources also have links to a Google Docs folder with student handouts.
Assistive technologies — screen readers	For activities that require hyperlinks, I write descriptive labels for these to make them more compatible with screen readers,  including links for BioInteractive resources (e.g., “Accessibility Features” and not just “click here”). I also try to make sure to include “alt text” — descriptions of what’s in an image — for any images in Office or Google documents. Generally, alt text should be brief, use proper punctuation, and describe the content and context of the image. For example, “microscopic image of tattooed cells” is better alt text than “red tattoo.” These often do not transfer when images are copied and pasted into a new document, but can be easily added. G-Suite: Select an image, right-click, select “Alt text,” and enter a brief description of the image as a title or description. Microsoft Office for Mac: Select an image, right-click, select “Format Picture and then “Alt Text,” and enter a brief description of the image as a title. (Other Microsoft products may have different interfaces.)
Translation	I try to provide students with materials in other languages as appropriate. For instance, many BioInteractive resources are also available in Spanish. Spanish versions are posted on BioInteractive's Spanish website and in the “Materials” boxes of related English resource pages, where they are labeled as “Español.”
Large-print materials or limited screen time	I give students access to materials with large text if helpful, and provide printed materials if students have limited computer access. Many BioInteractive materials are available to print and can easily be printed to provide large-text materials, or students can use the zoom function on their browser to enlarge text.
Modifications	Examples
Simplified materials including simplified vocabulary, lower reading levels	When assigning a potentially challenging assignment, I provide key vocabulary and definitions. Some BioInteractive resources (like the Click & Learn The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle and Cancer) have simplified worksheets. I’ve also created my own simplified worksheets by modifying the language and/or copying and pasting a few key questions into a new document.
Specialized or limited curriculum	I choose specific questions from a BioInteractive activity or pick only one activity from a collection or playlist.

 

Asynchronous Collaboration

Research, such as Cohen and Lotan’s related to complex instruction — and most educators’ lived experiences — supports the idea that student participation is linked to learning. As we move to online learning, ensuring accessibility is one way to promote participation. Another is to build in opportunities for peer-peer collaboration and community building. Even when students are collaborating asynchronously, or not working together at the same time, there are ways to support accessibility and engagement:

• I pose “Questions of the Day” to students using Phenomenal Images or Data Points as starting points. I make sure to include alt text for the images and figures, which BioInteractive provides in PDFs. This educator video serves as an example of how to incorporate Data Points in an online class. I also use clips from BioInteractive videos, such as the Scientists at Work series. BioInteractive provides closed captions and transcripts for these videos. 
• I also create versions of BioInteractive resources in the Google Docs format, which allows for multiple students to work on them synchronously or asynchronously and tracks student contributions. Some BioInteractive resources, such as The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle and Cancer, have Google Docs versions available as well; these resources have a “Resource Google Folder” link in their “Materials” box.
• When doing group work, I assign “buddies” or small “home groups” to give consistent peer-peer check-ins or act as working groups. I also work to ensure students have ways to communicate that allow for the use of assistive technologies.

Takeaways

To ensure all students can access content and participate in classes, educators need to have clear and consistent communication, understanding of student needs, familiarity with assistive technologies, and activities with multiple formats to access the content. For many students (and educators), the transition to online learning is increasing levels of anxiety. I see clear routines, communication, and consistency in how students access material as accommodations to meet this emotional need. I try to consider how my school community is collecting feedback on instruction and identifying student needs, and how I can direct students to these resources. I know, as educators, this can seem overwhelming. I try to step back and consider my colleagues as resources so that I’m not reinventing the wheel — and work to modify existing quality resources like those available from BioInteractive. The HHMI BioInteractive Facebook group is a great place to start these conversations, and I can’t wait to hear how you’re using these and other online resources to support your students in distance learning.