This seminar was originally advertised under the title "Improving Disability Accessibility in your Teaching"
Australia has 4.4 million people living with disability and around 11% of school students require inclusive education support. Learning and teaching increasingly rely on digital resources, and this reliance has deepened by the Covid pandemic. Many students use screen readers or voice recognition software to access learning resources due to visual impairment, hearing impairment, mobility disability, or neurodiversity. Learning resources must be accessible and meet the different ability needs of students. Specifically, the digital learning resources of Australian education entities need to meet at least Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA standards.
This Connections seminar invites educators and professional staff in universities, with the goal of improving their understanding and abilities in digital accessibility. Participants will learn various tools and methods that will enable them to create accessible learning materials.
About the Speaker
Dr Veronica Jiang is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School, who is passionate about improving student educational experiences, particularly by applying principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Currently, she serves as the UNSW Diversity Champion for Disability and Academic Disability Advisor at the Business School. She has designed and developed a module Using Universal Design for Learning in your course, a self-paced professional learning module for all UNSW staff, in collaboration with the PVCESE. Veronica also leads a Digital Accessibility Enhancement project with an EF School Grant. Together with students with disabilities, Veronica and her students have audited 10 courses, the Moodle platform, as well as some UNSW websites. With these experiences, Veronica and the students with disability have put together a Digital Accessibility Guide for Learning. In 2022, Veronica received the UNSW Scientia Education Academy Exemplary Teaching Practice Award for efforts in improving classroom diversity.
---
This event is a part of the Connections series, consisting of seminars and workshops that provide you with the opportunity to learn from your colleagues to inform your own teaching practice.