Comment below on the National Student Forum’s ideas for how universities and colleges support teaching and learning
We would like to see all universities and colleges:
- professionalise teaching and learning within the institution
- personalise and differentiate approaches to take account of disabilities, learning difficulties and learning styles
- increase flexibility in course structures and modes of study
- develop a cross-institutional strategy to enable students to co-design and manage their learning
- undertake regular reviews of course content and material to ensure currency and relevance (where appropriate to subject matter)
- ensure a university-wide focus on assessment for, not just of, learning
- review adequacy and accessibility of study resources for number and range of students
- monitor and formally record students’ broader learning
The key elements of a system that makes course materials and materials from books available to disabled students who can’t use print are:
That tutors provide reading lists to learning support workers responsible for transcription of material well in advance of a student’s arrival at university;
Transcription officers start work on the material well in advance of a student’s arrival;
Learning support workers are given time, and if necessary money, to train themselves in the latest technology relevant to their work;
Learning support workers are trained on how to deal with publishers when asking for an electronic file of a book and are aware of TechDis’s publisher lookup service http://www.publisherlookup.org.uk;
Support workers have clearly laid down procedures for knowledge transfer, so that if one leaves a new person can cary on without any drop in the quality of work.
My research indicates that all too often no such system is in place in universities. Tutors are poor at supplying reading lists in advance; transcription officers are often poorly trained and aren’t given the time or the money to upgrade skills. Print-disabled students experience delays in obtaining key materials, particularly when it comes to material from books. There is a university postcode lottery in effect in this matter, with a few universities having the matter relatively under control, quite a few universities doing at best averagely and some being hopelessly unprepared.