Moving Online with Accessibility

Image of braille laptop

With the rapid transition that has been necessary due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by accessibility? Over this last year, there’s been a focus on digital accessibility with the introduction of the new Public Sector web accessibility regulations. This requires all institutions to look at how they make their websites accessible for all users including staff and students with accessibility needs. This includes those with specific learning needs but also includes people who… Read moreMoving Online with Accessibility

Moving Online – connecting with students

light strings connection people

With the rapid transition that has been necessary recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by connecting with students online? As teaching begins for some for the summer term or students are preparing for their online exams coming up in May, it’s important to think about how we’re keeping connected with our students and helping them to connect with each other. Students can gain much from the informal, social learning that accompanies the… Read moreMoving Online – connecting with students

Moving online with self-directed learning

two person standing on gray tile paving with text saying "passion led us here" on ground

With the rapid transition that has been necessary recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of colleagues are looking for ideas, alternatives and suggestions for developing their learning and teaching approaches online. This series of blog posts are aimed at supporting staff looking for ways to incorporate more blended or online learning teaching whether for the short term or long term. What do we mean by self-directed learning? Self-directed learning allows students to define and investigate topics of their own choosing. Students, without the help of others, determine their own learning needs and learning goals or objectives. As the motivation for this is likely to be intrinsic, it can lead to higher levels of engagement from students as they pick topics of personal… Read moreMoving online with self-directed learning

Hello World

White letter say dont panic against a white background

So, it’s Monday and we are, as we keep hearing, in unprecedented times. It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks, to put it mildly and before I go any further I want to give credit to the amazing work of both the TEL unit and IT Services here at Worcester. But if this is your first full day of teaching, studying online or working from home (possibly while home schooling) then I have some suggestions below. Don’t panic if the audio doesn’t work on the first attempt at a Collaborate session/Skype/Teams meeting. Have a look at this troubleshooting guide on using Blackboard Collaborate. You can check your audio settings in Skype following these instructions and there are similar ones for Teams. Be kind… Read moreHello World

Your handy Office 365 Accessibility Checker- Good to go

Image of check list with passed stamped at bottom

Changing digital practice to accommodate accessibility within the range of documents and learning materials we produce can seem like a daunting task. Thankfully, there are some tools that can help you get the grips with the needs of disabled students when it comes to accessible content. In this brief post, we take a look at the Accessibility Checker in the Office 365 suite such as Word, PowerPoint etc. To note: this advice is based on the latest version of the MS Office. IT services have been rolling this out across the institution. If you don’t see the same as the images below, then contact IT who will be able to help. What is the Accessibility Checker? The Accessibility Checker is a tool that been included… Read moreYour handy Office 365 Accessibility Checker- Good to go

A Month of Digital Accessibility

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So, that was October. The start of term, welcoming our newest students and getting to grips with the new academic year.  We also started to raise awareness of the new Public Sector Website Accessibility Regulations. And, now, to support staff with developing accessible content we’re publishing a range of support, guidance and tips and tricks to help everyone with making their content as accessible as possible whether it’s content for a website, content for internal colleagues or learning content for our students. It can seem that creating or adapting existing content to make it accessible is quite challenging. But in reality there’s some really quick ways to achieve this. For this month there’s handy calendar of Office 365 tips and tricks which provide some ideas… Read moreA Month of Digital Accessibility

Digital Learning and Teaching Update

Photo of trees with gold and brown leaves depicting autumn

The leaves are tinged with the hints of reds, golds and browns of autumn, there’s the familiar chill in the early mornings . Yes, it’s the start of the new academic year for both schools, FE and HE institutions across the sector are gearing up to welcome thousands of new students to a new phase in their education or perhaps restarting their education. There’s a range of activities that have occurred over the summer months to help put digital learning and teaching on a stronger foothold and plenty of innovative practice to get engaged with over the next academic year. If you’d like to know more, then read on. What’s been happening over the summer? Here’s just a few of the things that have been… Read moreDigital Learning and Teaching Update