Dear readers,
Welcome to the first BALLON project newsletter, which will always focus on accessibility. The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying shift from face-to-face to digital learning and teaching pose particular challenges to university (teaching) staff and students. Our team has created the BALLON Project – Accessibility in E-Learning and Teaching – to establish a support system for accessible e-learning and teaching for teaching staff and students at Bremen State universities. As part of this, we will publish a monthly newsletter that will cover various topics related to accessible teaching and learning. In this first issue, we will provide an introduction to accessible digital teaching.
1. What is BALLON?
The BALLON project aims to increase equal opportunities and to work with university staff to meet legally binding accessibility requirements (according to the Bremen Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Act (“Bremisches Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz, BremBGG”)). Our support services include providing information and raising awareness of accessibility, advising on the independent creation and review of course materials, providing checklists and a tool kit, and reviewing course materials for accessibility.
2. (Full) Accessibility
Accessibility refers to the goal of achieving full and unrestricted access for all people to all areas of everyday life. This includes the removal of both structural and digital barriers, which may especially disadvantage people with disabilities. According to the Liebenau Foundation, a complete and equal removal of barriers for all people can never be achieved due to the most diverse needs.1 However, the concept of “full accessibility” is about emphasizing an ideal and clearly striving for it. It is important for us to emphasize that accessibility does not just benefit a minority of people, but rather brings benefits to everyone.
3. Accessibility and E-Leaning and Teaching
In the digital context, accessibility means that people with disabilities are able to find, access, and use content as is customary without any particular difficulty and generally without assistance (see Section 5 BremBGG). The COVID-19-induced shift from face-to-face learning spaces to exclusively digital teaching in particular has placed greater focus on the importance of existing digital barriers in learning and awareness of the consequences for those affected. Creating digital environments that are as accessible as possible is essential for students to succeed in their studies. Accessible e-learning and teaching is becoming increasingly important for other reasons as well, regardless of the pandemic. For example, as the general digitalization of universities is progressing, the future-oriented promotion of digital accessibility becomes equally necessary.
4. Disability and Illness Rates and Forms
Disabilities and illnesses of affected students are very diverse and often not apparent to teaching staff and fellow students. In Bremen State, 31% of students interviewed reported having a physical or mental disability or illness. Of these, 16% have disabilities and illnesses that make studying difficult. Among these, 60% indicate a strong degree of impairment in their studies, 28% a moderate degree, and only 12% a weak degree. Of all disabilities and illnesses, 53% are predominantly mental health problems. In addition, the incidences of chronic somatic illnesses is increased by 20 % and other long-term illnesses by 6 %. The remaining 14% are distributed among mobility impairments, hearing and speech impairments, visual impairments, and minimal brain dysfunctions. The causes can be of various origins. An impairment can arise due to a disability, an illness, but also due to care giving tasks, or in the form of a language barrier, especially for non-native speakers.
5. Demands on Teaching
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to overcoming barriers while studying, considering all the different types of disabilities and illnesses. However, the compatibility between teaching staff (senders) and students (receivers) certainly can and should be improved. As this is a legal requirement, the results are changes to teaching structures in order to meet these legal requirements for accessibility. In order to achieve the most accessible teaching possible, you can use the KISS and multisensory instruction principles as guidelines. The KISS principle means: Keep It Short And Simple. In addition, information should be conveyed via at least two sensory channels (multisensory instruction), for instance, accompany an auditory lecture with a written script. Teaching material ought to be designed with these principles in mind. More information, checklists, and tools are available on our website.
It is evident that accessibility is not just an isolated issue. In order to facilitate full access, it is necessary that teaching staff engage with the issue and adapt their teaching accordingly. In addition to further background knowledge on accessibility and the legally binding requirements, the upcoming newsletters will focus in particular on providing assistance with developing accessible content such as PDFs, lectures, and accessible examinations. Our next newsletter, for example, will deal with the use of language around terms such as “impairment” and “disability.” If you have any questions or would like further information and assistance on accessible digital teaching / learning, please contact us at (ballonuni-bremen.de).
Kind regards,
The BALLON team
Sources:
1Busch (Stand 2019): Steckbrief Barrierearmut und -freiheit, Zukunftszentrum Holzminden Höxter, https://www.behindertenbeauftragter.de/DE/DerBeauftragte/DerBeauftragte_node.html.
2Wenz und Hauser (2015): Websites optimieren - Das Handbuch. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
3Barrierekompass (2005): Portal für digitale Barrierefreiheit. URL: barrierekompass.de/aktuelles/detail/barrierefrei-barrierearm-accessible-oder-einfach-benutzerfreundlich.html
4ebd.
5On the German term "Barrierearmut" ("low barrier"/accessibility): Stiftung Liebenau (Hrsg.): In unserer Mitte - Der Mensch, Barrierearmut - Stiftung Liebenau (stiftung-liebenau.de).
On the German term "Barrierefreiheit" ("barrier free"/full accessibility):Aktion Mensch (Hrsg.): Einführung in Barrierefreiheit, Einführung in die Barrierefreiheit : Einfach für Alle (einfach-fuer-alle.de).
6De Oliveira, Domingos (2018): Barrierefreiheit umsetzen. Ein Leitfaden für Unternehmen, Behörden und NGOs. Books on Demand. Norderstedt.
7Middendorff, E. et al (2017): Die wirtschaftliche und soziale Lage der Studierenden in Deutschland 2016. 21. Sozialerhebung des Deutschen Studentenwerks. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), URL;
Poskowsky, J. et al. (2018): Beeinträchtigt studieren – best2. Datenerhebung zur Situation Studierender mit Behinderung und chronischer Krankheit 2016/17. Berlin: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), URL.