IHE Accessibility in OER Implementation Guide
Overview
Our teams Landscape Analysis to uncover key structures and supports that can guide our work to support Accessibility in OER.
May 11 - Section One: Landscape Analysis for Accessibility in OER in Local Context (Work on during May 11th implementation)
In this section, you and your team will engage in a Landscape Analysis to uncover key structures and supports that can guide your work to support Accessibility in OER. We exnourage to explore some of the questions from each category. You may or may not answer all of these questions, but this is an offering. We ask that you complete Parts One, Two and Six.
Part One: Initial Thoughts
Explore the possibilities of OER classroom materials, both what exists and the how to create, and creating a guidelines document for faculty.
Part Two: Introductory probing questions:
We currently don't measure it. We have a new faculty member taking over accessibility services this year, but not much else in place.
OER is currently done on an individual basis, with approximately 3 faculty exploring the possibilities. There is not centralized resource or data to assist (besides one helpful librarian!)
Part Three: Clarifying questions for accessibility:
Accessibility Services Coordinator
We have a voluntary UDL Academy on campus and we will be requiring use of UDL in a general education program currently under design.
Our librarian, Bree!
All of them! Outside of the Accessibility Services Coordinator we have not had much attention to this area until the pandemic.
Part Four: Clarifying questions for OER:
There isn't organizational support or any specific office or role devoted to this. We have a Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching and UDL academy, but both are voluntary and without sufficient funding. These are also not focused specifically on curricula.
What is our organizational structure that supports OER? The librarian is available for specific questions, but no specific structure dedicated to OER.
Who generates most of the curricular resources in our organization? It's left to each faculty member on their own, with support available from the librarian.
Where do most educators get support with curricular resources? We really don't have anyone in that dedicated role.
What content areas might have the largest gaps in access to curricular resources/OER? All
Part Five: Clarifying questions for Faculty learning and engagement:
What Professional Learning (PL) structures have the best participation rates for our educators? CELT and our UDL Academy are both voluntary participation, although they are encouraged by the Provost. CELT this year had a participation rate of around 30%. The UDL Academy is open to 15 people maximum per year, but funding for future years is uncertain.
What PL structures have the best "production" rates for our educators? Same as previous. We are seeing the same people participate across opportunities, but also have a large group who don't participate in anything.
What incentive do we have to offer people for participating in learning and engagement? Limited, and grant based.
Who are the educators that would be most creative with accessibility and OER? The cohort attending, with a few additional.
Who are the educators that would benefit the most from accessibility and OER? Everyone
Part Six: Final Probing questions:
What is our current goal for Accessibility in OER and why is that our goal? Raising awareness and creating a guidelines document to support all faculty.
Who have we not yet included while thinking about this work? Students and staff.
What barriers remain when considering this work? Time and money.
What would genuine change look like for our organization for this work? Centralized organizational structure for support, more funding both for developement and incentives.
Section Two: Team Focus (Finish before May 25th to share during Implementation Session Two)
Identifying and Describing a Problem of Practice
The following questions should help your team ensure that you are focusing your collaboration.
What is your Team’s specific goal for this series? You may consider using AEM Quality Indicators for Creating Accessible Materials to help add to or narrow your work. Since we lack a centralized hub/caretaker for accessability information, we are going to focus on #1 from the AEM Quality Indicators and develop a proposal for a coordinated system for the university.
What other partners might support this work? IT, our accessibility services coordinator, the team, chair of general education, and academic dean.
What is your desired timeframe for this work? To have a plan completed over the summer that we can present heading into next year. (Deadline August 15th)
How will you include diverse voices and experiences in this work? Present at the All-Faculty back-to-school meeting.
Please create a Focus Question that explains your goal and provides specific topics that you would like feedback on. This is what you will share in your breakout groups for feedback. How do we collate existing work/resources and plan for additional needs in an easily located space?
(Save for during May 25th's session.) What feedback did you receive from another team during the May 25th Implementation Session? Be sure to have a section for getting started that won't overwhelm people with too many details.
Section Three: Team Work Time and Next Steps (Complete by the end of Implementation Session Three)
Sharing and Next Steps
What was your redefined goal for this series? Creating awareness of accessibility issues and establishing a central webpage containing information and resources.
What does your team want to celebrate? We had our first meeting with additional people! Our group of employees interesting in and working on accessibility on campus is growing.
What did your team accomplish? If you have links to resources, please include them here. We met with our Accessibility Services Coordinator and a member of marketing this week to start discussions about raising awareness of accessibility resources on campus. This meeting also highlighted some areas for potential growth in what we offer both students and employees that we can start working to address. Individually, we also learned a lot about new tools and ideas.
What are your team’s next steps? (1) Create a website. (2) Support our new Accessibility Services Coordinator in reaching out to students and faculty regarding available services. (3) Continue collaborating.