Accessibility is about removing unnecessary barriers. Sidewalk crossings with no curbs, doors with automatic functions, digital documents with properly tagged headings - these are features that can help people access a resource. In learning, we want to ensure students can access course content, complete assignments, engage with peers and professors, communicate in meaningful ways, and reach their highest potentials. The principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) help those creating learning experiences aspire for accessibility and openness for all learners. Although it can seem like a big task, incorporating UDL principles and creating accessible course material is an achievable goal. At SIUE, Blackboard Ally is one resource we have to improve course accessibility, as is this article that includes tips for file accessibility. Have questions? Contact IDLT or the University's ACCESS office to learn more.
This toolkit contains resources to help faculty plan and revise courses, find suitable technology, remove learning barriers, and build high-quality learning environments. You are welcome to use these documents, share them with colleagues, or contact IDLT for assistance.
Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning
Bloom's Taxonomy
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Creating a strong course or assessment piece always begins by considering what precisely the student should be learning. Bloom (et al.) provides a framework for learning in each of the domains - cognitive, affective, and psychomotor - and offers a starting point for creating measurable learning objectives by way of specific action-oriented words. The ABCDs of Writing Instructional Objectives document is a helpful resource which provides a list of action words to measure both lower- and higher-order thinking skills.
Course Planning Grid
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How can we "see" student learning? How do we know at what point in the course something went wrong? A course with well-aligned objectives can allow us to deconstruct even the most complicated learning path and isolate performance issues, whether they are related to the material, activities, or a missed learning opportunity. The course planning grid is one resource we use in IDLT to map a course from start to finish. It helps us see what exactly we intend students to learn and plan how to facilitate and assess that learning along the way. This grid is a great resource for faculty who are designing or redesigning a course.
Course Quality Standards (OSCQR)
IDLT uses the Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) rubric to review online courses. This rubric was created by a team of experienced faculty, designers, technologists, librarians, and multimedia staff from 15 institutions across the State University of New York system. The standards used in this review instrument come from years of research in online education and are mirrored in several other nationally recognized review instruments, including the Quality Matters rubric.
Syllabus Template
The IDLT syllabus template builds in quality elements from The Open SUNY Course Quality Review Rubric (see above) as well as accessible document formatting and standard University components, such as statements on accommodations and student support. It is a good place to start building a syllabus from scratch or a reference for updating existing syllabi.
Teaching & Learning Continuity
Emergencies can arise that could require you to hold your class online. Visit the guidlines on the Teaching & Learning Continuity page to help keep your students engaged in learning during these emergencies.
Virtual Training
To access virtual, on-demand training resources for all ITS-supported systems and applications, check out the ITS Training Services organization in Blackboard. There you will find end-to-end system overviews and tutorial videos for systems and applications such as Blackboard, TechSmith Relay, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Starfish, and more.
We do not have resources for every system yet, but we are constantly working to expand our training resource library so check the organization often.
It is important to note that this organization does not replace the ITS KnowledgeBase, which is an excellent place to go for help with specific system and application issues.
To access the organization follow these steps:
- Login to Blackboard at bb.siue.edu
- Select the ITS Training Services organization below the My Organizations header:
- If you do not see the organization in your list, click the cog icon in the top right of the My Organizations section and make sure the ITS Training Services organization is set to display.
- Still can’t access the organization? Email bbhelp@siue.edu