Dear Education Committee, Each year students in my classes approach me to request learning accommodations for disabilities or special circumstances. In addition to these student-specific accommodations like extra time on tests, how can I make my sections of introductory biology and cell biology more accessible?
UDL is ideally a curriculum-wide intervention, supported by learning technologists, student support, and administration. If you are teaching just one section of a course it might not be feasible to accept assignments in different formats for different students, but you can check to make sure a screen reader can interpret your PDF and read it to both a student with vision problems as well as a commuter student driving to class, work, or daycare.
Overall, make it easy for students to engage with and learn the material by presenting it in different ways. Why? Students will be listening, watching, or reading and they will experience the material through different devices one of which is almost certainly a smartphone. If you were teaching during the height of the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, at least some of your course materials are likely in an online format. Even if you are new to teaching, there are a lot of cell biology resources out there, including the Allen Institute, HHMI Biointeractive, Xbio, and iBiology. These resources and materials can complement your teaching even when you have returned to in-person instruction.
Increasing Accessibility of College STEM Courses through Faculty Development in Universal Design for Learning DO-IT. Retrieved July 12, 2021. -accessibility-college-stem-courses-through-faculty-development-universal-design-learning.
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