8/4/2019 Assignment 6 - Inclusivity
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Creating an inclusive learning and teaching experience
Adapted from University of New South Wales TOOLKIT resources
Under the Euality Act 2010, it is unlawful for education
institutions to discriminate
against any student in any teaching and/or learning activities.
Providers must ensure
that teaching and learning is inclusive for all students,
including disabled students.
The anticipatory duty requires that teaching staff anticipate
the needs of students
regardless of whether or not they have disabled students in
their classes and to make
reasonable adjustments.
Example
Teaching searching and researching (information literacy) skills
to students from the
School of Performance.
The aim is for students to:
Learn why it is important to be able to search effectively
Develop search terms and use a variety of search techniques to get
relevant
results
Know where to look for informationwhich databases, catalogues,
websitesto use
Reflection
Sometimes the concept of research is difficult to integrate into
the students current
work, unless the session is organized in the context of
beginning a particular
assignment.
In consider that information literacy skills to be useful
transferable skills, that once
certain concepts are grasped that these can be reapplied
indefinitely to a wide
variety of situations beyond Higher Education. I found it to be
helpful for the students
to make the connections between library research in an academic
context and to
research/ information searching in a wider context e.g. leisure
pursuits and futureemployment.
With students of Performance in particular, I find that they can
express ideas through
music and the body, but struggle to make the transition to using
the written word. Just
for students to articulate their research idea is problematic
for them. Before they can
start researching they need to identify search terms or phrases
that are relevant to
their research. Sometimes getting them to use a thesaurus can
help, or just to discuss
their ideas with a friend. I have also discovered that one of
our new resource tools,
Credo Reference, can be enormously helpful in stimulating ideas
for search terms
and help them make connections with related material.
Constraints on applying this guideline
I would like the Performance students to feel comfortable in the
library space and
reasonably confident in tackling research in this environment. I
have therefore
devised some teaching ideas for the new term, which initially
would begin in their
studio space exploring a topic of research in a familiar way.
After which we would
move into the library and translate these ideas into a search
strategy. I think that
physically making the transition from one space to another would
help students break
down any barriers they may have to using the library.
Unfortunately, this learning experience would require more time
in both the planningand execution. Moreover, exploring a range of
environments within one session is
8/4/2019 Assignment 6 - Inclusivity
3/3
Creating an inclusive learning and teaching experience
Adapted from University of New South Wales TOOLKIT resources
ideal might may be impractical given the notice period for
booking sessions and
room booking considerations.
Kolbs Experiential Learning Cycle indicates the value of
learning by doing and think
these type of sessions would be beneficial for students who are
both visual and
kinesthetic learners.
Providing access to resources such as handouts and PowerPoints
could also be
beneficial to many students, especially those with dyslexia,
however the notice
period for the delivery of sessions is often too short to ensure
that these are ready and
available in advance.
Resources
Looking at resources to support the teaching of information
literacy (IL) is something I
am very interested in. I like to pursue the possibilities new
technologies offer students
in improving the experience and enhancing understanding.
Recently I have been working to set up an Online Information
Literacy module for our
students. This will mean that there is more flexibility in IL
course provision. We can use it
to complement, supplement or preempt library research sessions.
It would also allow
students to refer to it as a reminder or work through the
modules at their own pace.
Library resources also provide a variety of options for students
who learn in different
ways, for example:
We loan Dictaphones and coloured sheets There are many
e-resources such as eJournals, eBooks, video streaming which
can help students interact differently with text resources and
other types of
information sources There is mindmapping software installed on
the computers in the library There are more accessible PDFs
developed by our Digitisation Officer for core
text extracts
There are text to speech technologies on computers
Staff development and liaison opportunities
Inclusivity is about sharing good practice with people internal
and external to the
organization. For me it is about sharing good practice with
other library colleagues
and lecturers to understand student needs and encourage IL
sessions to centre roundassignments to make them as relevant as
possible.
It is important to work with the student services such as
Disability support, ASK, Dyslexia
Support, note-takers, support tutors to share experience, to
understand, and to
accommodate different needs during library sessions. The
Educational Development
Lecturers are useful contacts to have as they can identify
problem themes and are
also great advocates for the library service.
