https://www.gather.town/

Burgstahler, S., & EBSCOhost. (2020). Creating inclusive learning opportunities in higher education: A universal design toolkit. Harvard Education Press. https://go.exlibris.link/dcBzmDq3

Thank you Kate and Michael

Kate, that book is excellent and is a large reference throughout our presentation.

Is it possible to set it up so every Zoom session you set up is automatically close captioned?

https://www.emich.edu/drc/faculty/index.php

Under classroom accommodations and universal design. Additionally, we link to this article "Captioning for All" https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/09/08/benefits-captioning-virtual-classes-opinion?fbclid=IwAR1Zw1k7-4-5h_0LcXVuKLs3Kl9y0n5lCXQowUWsJ852QI_d2nQTpFWejTM

Hello All,

I am the DRC case manager and always happy to support faculty and staff with accommodations and access questions as well!

A place I used to work at had an equitable use playground...there were so many great options for kids there!

Yes, an equitable playground is excellent! Thank you for sharing, Heather.

There was a swingset that was a swinging platform that wheelchair-bound students could ride on...they loved it!!

Yes, I've used those with my students as well. They are great.

The park in my town has equitable playground equipment as well….so cool! Every kid deserves to experience the feeling of swinging on a breezy day 🙂

That's spot on Larisa! They just built a new park by me and I can't wait to take my kiddos.

EMU provides Office 365 and Google Suite to all students and employees. They have wonderful accessibility options and both have customer service via email, live chat and/or phone. Larisa and I are developing a document that can be shared with faculty, staff and students, that details the accessibility options to raise awareness and access to these modifications that many can benefit from. We will be sure to share this document with all of you when it is complete!

And that happiness for the kiddos will carry over into so many other things...a better mood in the classroom, potentially better focus after a good session of play...all from equitable equipment!

Have you ever needed support in any of these areas?

At 5'2", I often have to ask passers-by to help me reach items on the top shelf!

@Stephanie, I think I missed you in the introductions--I'm sorry! Thank you for adding your intro and offer in the chat!

Kate, I am an expert at climbing store shelves when my tall husband isn't present!

That is in the grocery store. Often wish they had those kick stools that libraries have.

I have asthma, so air conditions can impact my functioning and concentration as well. Hard to do what I need to do if there's smoke or other heavy pollutants in the environment!

@Heather--the Marshall building on campus is a "scent free" zone, so [in theory

it should be a universal design feature to support those with chemical sensitivity (I have asthma too)

I am very happy that EMU has a smoke-free campus policy. That's my biggest asthma trigger and hard to recover from.

Another good example is sending all the slides and handouts via email, before a presentation. This give all people access to follow along and take notes as they need to, without asking or needing to have proof of a disability. Sometimes it's just helpful for learning content overall, depending on how people learn. I personally find this so helpful for my own learning and retention!

This is an excellent UDL/DEI piece. I also like to send out a learning guide prior to class as well. This provides a general outline for the class in a visual and accessible format. Thank you, Stephanie!

I always printed out the slides used in my lectures because I liked to be able to take notes on the side while the instructor was speaking. It helped me focus on what they were saying and be able to jot down what I really needed vs just trying to copy the information before they went to the next slide

Sharing presentation notes is beneficial in so many different ways!

This is also where having the ability to record the course lecture is helpful as well. When you're trying to write down everything in a mad dash before the slide switches, you miss some important content!

Absolutely.

or as suggested in a previous workshop, having an entire class section where people can add notes is a wonderful way for people to contribute and all access it.

Yes, Jenny. I remember Michael discussing that in his session.

Jenny, we did that in one of my masters classes. It was very helpful to be able to have a running Google Doc where everyone was contributing and could ask questions of one another!

Meet

That's so helpful! Thank you Stephanie and Larisa!

That's an excellent point, Heather!

Meetings over Zoom help our students with young children too - as well as those who don't have a lot of money for gas to travel to campus.

Kate, as someone who commutes from Ohio, I can relate to that gas money concern!!

Yes, excellent points Kate!

I am someone with a small child and if I couldn’t take courses online I would not be able to pursue my education currently. So thankful for that opportunity!

So thankful that the Educational Leadership PhD is an online program!!!

I am going to change all of my Zooms to automatically have captions on.

Here is the Faculty series on the DRC website as well. https://www.emich.edu/drc/faculty/faculty-development-series.php

Being proactive with my planning and adding in various accommodations even before they’re “necessary”

It would be great to have a UDL newsletter sent to all students/staff/faculty listing tips/free technology perhaps every few months

I will also include cc on my Zooms. Additionally, I used Read and Write for Google when I worked in the K-12 public schools. I want to go back and see how I can incorporate it (if possible) in my classes.

Yes, Larisa! UDL is PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE!!!!

Collaborating with faculty at other universities to keep up with what they are doing. How are others handling some of the trickier topics that come up? Are there methods that work at similar-sized institutions in our area?

The FDC would also be happy to share such resources.

I had almost forgotten to include something in the class wherein I upload the notes/powerpoint from last class until this session sort of reminded me to do so!

Although the Text Affordability Initiative was created with low income students in mind, it does also help with accessibility in other ways. Students with ADA disabilities can request accessible texts from the publisher. I've heard from students that don't have ADA disabilities that the library ebook read-out features help them too.

That's great Drew!

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/7040464?hl=en

Thank you, Jenny!

That's a great reflection, Jeff!

I have received a few Google surveys a few weeks before the semester.

Andrea, our class has been adamant about integrating micro learning goals for each section

I'm surprised more professors don't do this

Making explicit learning goals**

I have learned that I definitely focus better when I have the opportunity to move. Yoga ball chairs, and the under-desk elliptical I have in my campus office have been amazing!

Alternative assessments are also great for teachers to use because it allows students to showcase what they’ve learned in a way that they are successful and comfortable with, rather than just paper tests. A lot of students have test anxiety and do poorly even though they really do know the information

I love that!

Larisa, excellent point, and some of those same students with anxiety may also be anxious about asking for what they need. Having choices built in gives them more of an option to access what they need.

Thank you for that reminder, Larisa! So many of us show our knowledge in different ways which furthermore supports that is often no one "right" way to show competency.

Thank you everyone!

Thanks for having me!

Thank you for attending!

Nice job Kat and LaMarcus!

Thanks to everyone!

Great job Andrea!