Good Practice Examples

Effective teaching incorporates a range of inclusive teaching strategies as standard practice into a lecturer/tutor's arsenal of communication skills. Specific strategies tailored for students with disabilities cannot be implemented if a student has not disclosed their needs to relevant teaching staff. For further information on disclosure click here.

Examples

• Camille - inclusive teaching strategies - learning disability
• James - inclusive teaching strategies - behavioural issues
• Alex - inclusive teaching strategies - mental health condition
• Clare - field trip
• Juan - accessible formats
• Sandeep - supervising postgraduate students

Camille - inclusive teaching strategies

Camille is a fulltime student who has a learning disability. Her disability means that it takes her longer to process information and she has trouble keeping up with the pace of notes in class. It also takes Camille longer to prepare written material due to difficulties with research (often needing to re-read material several times to understand intent), organising thoughts into logical sequence and spelling/editing.

Inclusive teaching strategies:

• provide copies of overheads and lecture notes prior to class so that students can pre-read material and better engage in class. Also provides opportunity to annotate notes rather than capture large amounts of material.
• i-lecture is utilised where available.
• Key points of lecture are summarised on board and read aloud providing written and auditory backup.
• Glossaries and key dates are provided in a written format at commencement of semester
• Assessment criteria for written assignments are readily available. This assists Camille in structuring written assessment pieces.
• Extensions negotiated where required.
• If Camille feels confident to do so, an oral presentation in consultation time with her tutor may be substituted for in-class writing tasks.
• Part time study may be an option.
• Staff familiar with Working with Students with a Learning Disability.

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James - inclusive teaching strategies

James has a neurological condition that causes him to have little insight into his behaviour and its impact on others. He is a bright and capable young man who manages all of his academic requirements independently but his behaviour in class has disrupted the learning of other students and is causing friction between himself, his peers and some academic staff. James has specific areas of interest and likes to interrupt teaching to engage staff on his particular topics of interest that are loosely related to the subjects in the course. Several students have become agitated at what they consider to be James' 'hijacking' of the class. James can become stressed and at times aggressive if he perceives people are being aggressive towards him.

Inclusive teaching strategies:

• Course coordinator contacts DLU to explore appropriate strategies.
• Meeting is set up between James (and support person if appropriate eg parent, case worker), course coordinator and DLU representative to explore topics such as what is appropriate behaviour, rights of other students, why James interjects, strategies to manage interruptions, and consequences of non-compliance.
• Strategies are agreed upon and communicated to all staff teaching in course to ensure consistency. Strategies include James being encouraged to write questions down rather than call out, teaching staff to be confident in calmly advising James that question time is later in the class or that his question is not directly related to the topic at hand, James to have a participation assistant employed by the DLU to support James in managing his behaviour, James to have a brief period of time available at the end of class to directly ask his question/s and teaching staff to advise James to leave a class if his behaviour is unacceptable.
• Inclusive strategies such as identifying key points to be covered in lecture at the commencement of class give the class (including James) a structure for the session.
• A meeting is scheduled regularly to review and refine behaviour management procedures so that the strategies enhance the learning experience of all students, maintain James' dignity amongst his peers and enable academic staff to deliver their classes in the manner intended.

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Alex - Inclusive teaching strategies

Alex has a mental health condition which is fairly well managed but he does experience side effects from his medication. Side effects include headaches, a dry mouth, weight gain and a tremor in his hands. Alex also experiences panic attacks which cause him to have increased heart rate, sweating and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Alex is self conscious about his weight gain and does not wish to use a notetaker from the DLU (tremor makes notes illegible) as he feels he will be even more visible amongst his peers.

Inclusive teaching strategies:

• Alex has disclosed to teaching staff and he sits nearest the exit in all classes to help minimise stress
• Alex is permitted to take water into all classes
• provide copies of overheads and lecture notes prior to class so that he can pre-read material and better engage in the learning environment. Also provides opportunity to annotate notes rather than capture large amounts of material.
• i-lecture is utilised where available/ permission granted to audiotape lectures
• Students are selected for group work tasks rather than self selecting to accommodate students who feel uncomfortable to do so
• Extensions negotiated where required
• Staff familiar with Working with Students with a Mental Health Condition

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Clare - field trip

Clare has chronic fatigue syndrome and uses a scooter to assist mobility/ energy conservation on campus. She catches a taxi to and from Uni as she cannot drive and public transport is physically too taxing. Clare uses notetakers in class and she has difficulty sustaining high levels of concentration and can engage more readily with her learning material if she is able to focus solely on what is being said. The class has a field trip to a number of inner city galleries organised where they are expected to complete reports on contemporary art spaces and review gallery operations. Students, in groups of 4, have been assigned three galleries which are accessible by public transport, to review. Reports are to be written individually. Clare will not be able to participate in this activity as planned due to the impact of her health condition.

Inclusive teaching strategies:

• Tutor arranges meeting to discuss field trip with Clare. At this meeting the inherent requirements or essential tasks of the field trip are identified. (See academic standards for further information on inherent requirements). Tutor seeks input from Clare regarding participation
• Clare is able to replace one nominated gallery with a contemporary art space in her local area and is able to review one interstate or international gallery by reviewing information available electronically and contacting gallery director.
• Clare meets with her group to identify how group feels comfortable with task being managed. Clare to attend one gallery with group. Clare to attend one gallery individually
• Department to provide taxi vouchers for Clare to get to and from University to gallery space
• Clare is granted a two week extension to accommodate additional time required to visit galleries and prepare report.
• Clare to explore use of Dictaphone to tape notes from gallery visits. She must seek prior permission for any interviews to be audiotaped. If permission is not granted DLU to provide a notetaker for 'in-person' gallery visits

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Juan - accessible formats

Juan is an honours student who has a vision impairment. His honours year comprises of a number of core subjects, elective subjects and a thesis. Among the impacts of Juan's disability is that he is reliant on accessible formats, his preferred format being electronic text which his computer then 'reads' to him via a software program called JAWS. Keeping abreast of readings in this manner is both fatiguing, time consuming and limiting as Juan cannot visually scan documents to ascertain relevance to topic.

Inclusive teaching strategies:

• Lecturers prepare reading materials in accordance with University guidelines for Improving Information Access for Students with a Print Disability
• Tutor and Juan prioritise readings to enable Juan to manage his workload more effectively
• Handouts are sent as word documents via email to Juan in advance of class
• Thesis proposal is discussed early in semester with Juan and a plan for regular consultation is identified
• Juan organises Research assistant with DLU to 'read' for him in library to identify relevant articles, texts to be converted into alternative formats
• Staff are familiar with Working with Students who have a Vision Impairment

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Sandeep - supervising post graduate students

Sandeep is a PhD candidate who has a spinal injury. The impact of Sandeep's injury means that he is reliant on supports for most aspects of daily care including bed transfers, hygiene, cooking, home duties. Sandeep has a range of adaptive equipment at home to maximise his independence. Sandeep is heavily immersed in the initial stages of his PhD and would prefer to be on campus several days each week to have access to the University collections and databases. Sandeep will arrange attendant care from his preferred agency to be available at required times when he is on campus.

Inclusive strategies:

• Supervisor and Sandeep schedule regular phone appointments to maintain up to date awareness of progress/barriers
• Sandeep is referred to DLU who organise him to be linked in with the Disability Contact Officer at his preferred library location who provide advice and support with book collection, on-line databases, photocopying, inter-library loans in accessible formats
• Supervisor assists in identify key texts which DLU converts into electronic format which Sandeep can independently manipulate (he cannot turn pages of books)
• Department funds dial-in access so Sandeep can maximise access to on-line systems and allocates a consumables budget to Sandeep for stationary and software
• Supervisor and Sandeep explore attendance needs and if required or requested accessible office space is allocated with consideration of issues such as proximity to accessible toilets, adaptive equipment e.g adjustable desk to fit wheelchair under, modified phone and computer hardware, software.

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