Accessible Learning Tools

Tools for Strategic and Accessible Course Design

In considering accessible course design, I created a chart of six tools available at my institution that could be used to support more accessible learning in and out of the classroom. Since I work at a high school-college partnership, we have resources from both the local school district and community college; however, the abundance of tools can be overwhelming to sift through and determine what would be most beneficial for our students to use in class. I focused on tools that would promote different composition techniques, including audio, visual, and written modals. In addition, the resources described in this chart also allow for synchronous and asynchronous learning through collaborative and remote opportunities to engage with the information.Regarding composition specifically, MindMup was one of the first tools I thought of as a helpful resource for students. This tool allows students to create visual maps to plan out their writing. The maps can be manipulated and organized in a variety of fashions, allowing students to find a visual representation of their ideas that works for them. The tool supports conversion into a variety of different formats, such as PDF and PowerPoint. Students can work concurrently with each other as well on this platform, providing them with the opportunity to collaborate with their peers without needing to meet face-to-face. Similarly, SoundTrap also allows students to work with each other remotely, and the tool promotes voice-to-text options that can transcribe their work into a text format. As a secondary educator, it is quite common to come across students who struggle to write, and ultimately, this leads to a lack of confidence in their composition skills and may derail them from wanting to write. These voice-to-text options prove to be quite necessary in these cases as they provide students with an additional option to compose their work beyond traditional composition techniques.In addition to composition tools, PearDeck and Kami allow more direct instructional experiences for students. Kami is an annotation software that lets students manipulate and engage with a text using various tools like the highlighter, strikethrough, and drawable shapes on any PDF document. What sets this tool apart from other word processing software is that Kami has a built-in optical character recognition (OCR) option that can recognize manipulative text in a PDF. The tool also includes a clickable dictionary feature that can be used to define words, as well as uncover synonyms and antonyms based on what is in the PDF. PearDeck also allows for synchronous and asynchronous learning, but moreover, instructors can choose to have either student- or instructor-paced options for assigned work. By providing more choices on how to engage with the content, instructors have the option to promote more transferrable knowledge across different contexts. Below is the referenced infographic that describes each of these tools and their respective features that could promote accessibility in the classroom.
Artifact 4. Infographic that introduces six digital tools to promote accessibility in the classroom.

Certification Artifacts

Use the buttons below to access the homepage and other artifacts from my OLI certification during the 2021 - 2022 academic year.