The UK Consultancy LearnJam recently carried out research for The British Council on how to support teaching of SEN in remote ELT settings in the Americas. As a result, a toolkit has been developed that provides a comprehensive discussion of the subject, with a detailed description of principles and strategies, key considerations and practical tips to create a more inclusive teaching and learning environment. This article draws from the second module of this toolkit and expands on the subject of managing the learning environment for everybody.
The approach in the toolkit invites us to be proactive to anticipate barriers our learners may face and make adaptations to help them overcome them. Reflecting about the physical environment from which our learners connect will help take action towards inclusivity. For example, ask yourself, do students have a space that is exclusively devoted to engaging with the class? Are there background noises and distractions? Are there adults that can provide support if needed around?
One of the main concerns teachers tend to have when initially delving into remote teaching is the emotional distance they fear might be experienced by the lack of eye contact, physical proximity and other face to face only cues. However, a number of strategies can be implemented for students to feel you have come across their screens and you are not just a talking head i.e. there is a sense of telepresence. This was dealt with in more detail in this entry about motivating and engaging learners online.
Additionally, when all learners share the physical space and the teacher connects through videoconference, it is challenging to differentiate instruction and provide individual support, as well as setting up group work. Adaptations will be needed.
So, what can we do about these potential barriers? The toolkit suggests two principles with associated strategies:
Principle 1: Leverage the physical environment
This requires a clear understanding of the context of your learners so you can take advantage of it.
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Strategy 1: Plan for interruptions:
There are a number of ways in which we can help learners that for various reasons may experience interruptions in the class (unstable connection, domestic duties, etc). One way to do this is recording the lesson and pinning notes so it is easy for learners who suffer interruptions to catch up with the class when they return to it, which they can later use for reference. Having backchannels such as whatsapp groups could also be helpful in this scenario, though it is important to make sure that its use is aligned with institutional policy.
Also, suggesting beforehand what they can do in case of an unavoidable interruption is useful: you can suggest they download certain self-paced material they can work on, they could continue working on a project, etc.
Lastly, whenever possible, schedule breaks that coincide with interruptions. Certain interruptions like domestic duties tend to be at fixed times so if there is flexibility to set the time of breaks, learners would benefit from having them coincide with those.
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Strategy 2: Make sure tasks are appropriate for the environment
Some environments pose limitations to students’ engagement. For example, learners could connect from a space where they cannot speak, in which case it is advisable to offer alternatives such as participating through the chat box or allowing them to send audios or videos at a later time. They could also connect from noisy classrooms, for which proposing quiet time activities would be appropriate.
A general recommendation is to try to involve the surrounding environment in the class through activities such as having them present objects, describing what they can see, moving around. Lindsay Cladfield provides a variety of examples of microbreaks in remote teaching that leverage on the physical environment in this webinar.
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Strategy 3: Make sure tasks are appropriate for the device
Many learners connect to remote lessons using mobile phones, which have a number of limitations, so lesson plans need to consider this. Avoid very small print or tasks that require switching among different tabs, which can be tricky in mobile phones. Alternatively, if some learners connect from mobile devices and others from laptops, you can pair them strategically so the ones in laptop computers can share their screen and work collaboratively.
Principle 2: Improve communication in the digital environment
Make the most out of the affordances of the digital environment by exploiting the possibilities of communication and considering learner differences and preferences when working together. Some strategies you can use for this:
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Strategy 1: Manage how learners collaborate
Learners should be actively collaborating throughout the lesson. If possible, use breakout rooms for learners to work together. It is important to establish netiquettes for this (i.e codes of conduct for the online environment). Also, bear in mind teachers cannot see all learners at the same time when they are working in breakout rooms, learners do not benefit from eavesdropping on other groups, so techniques to record student production to socialise them will be needed.
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Strategy 2: improve the clarity of your visual communication
Guidelines to improve the clarity of communication can be useful for all learners, but especially so for SEN ones, as indicated by the British Dyslexia Association in this style guide. Advice here includes using readable fonts (such as Arial or ComicSans), using large fonts (at least size 12) and enough inter-letter and inter-word spacing to improve readability, avoiding justification so that space will be even and it will be easier for learners to identify where sentences start and end. Also, using colours with high contrast and avoiding distracting backgrounds or patterns. In terms of style, active voice is preferable to passive. Concise, simple, clear language is key.
When it comes to video and images, it is important that whenever possible, they have closed captions and that the image and the message match. If colours are used as a code, this should be used consistently. Videos should be short and clear. Images and graphs should also be plain. Instructions and images should be together so learners don’t have to move back and forth in between them. Check out this article for further tips on combining text and graphics in online learning.
Using technology to address SEN
Hand in hand with improving the clarity of visual communication is taking advantage of accessibility tools and features of existing software. Most videoconferencing software have accessibility features. Below we describe accessibility features that some of the most widely used ones have.
- Screen captioning and transcription are features that will be especially beneficial for hearing impaired learners. There are tools that do this automatically, which may result in some errors, but in some programmes it is also possible to enable third party typing, which will be much more accurate.
- Multi spotting, pinning and spotlighting allow for relevant screens to be highlighted throughout a video call so supporters such as a sign language interpreter can appear side by side with the presenter and facilitate comprehension.
- Magnifying screen options and adjusting text formats to easy to read fonts with larger size and high contrast of colours to follow the previously mentioned guidelines.
- Screen readers allow learners to engage with texts in the form of audios, which is largely useful for visually impaired learners and learners with dyslexia.
- Keyboard accessibility with shortcuts for easy navigation can also be enabled.
- Teams has an accessibility checker, which considers features that make content accessible, flags what is not and suggests alternatives.
- Voice typing is a valuable tool for students who struggle with writing.
- Meeting recording is another support strategy as it allows learners to go back to the lesson at their own pace and revisit parts they may have missed or failed to fully grasp.
Also, it would be beneficial to have guidelines for participants to follow to facilitate understanding for learners with different difficulties. E.g. It is important that participants speak one at a time, limit interfering noises such as background ones and write with standard language so the accessibility features can function better. Similarly, it is preferable for participants to have their cameras on so communication can be aided with body language. If you’re using images, consider adding alternative text in the slide or in the chat box.
The following table notes the accessibility features of Zoom, Meets and Teams (find specifications and instructions to enable accessibility features here for Zoom, here for Meets and here for Teams), which are some of the most popular videoconferencing software:
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|
Zoom |
Teams |
Meet |
|
Customise font size |
x |
||
|
Magnifying screen |
x |
x |
|
|
Enable high contrast of colours |
x |
x |
x |
|
Screen captioning and transcription |
x |
x |
x |
|
Screen reader |
x |
x |
x |
|
Keyboard shortcuts |
x |
x |
x |
|
Pairing tiles, spotlighting and/or pinning screens |
x |
x |
x |
|
Accessibility checker |
x |
||
|
Voice typing |
x |
||
|
Meeting recording |
x |
x |
x |
|
Removing distractions features (e.g. pin chat, … |
x |
x |
Stay tuned as we will soon be sharing the next part of this series which will centre around giving inclusive instructions.