Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

Texthelp Blog - Our latest thoughts from the world of technology in education & the workplace

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It’s so often the case that when people talk about the accessibility of content, they default to thinking about screen readers. 

Hold up. There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK. Of these, almost 2 million are living with sight loss. And this is only accounting for the people with registered disabilities. What about the people who have temporary impairments, such as a broken arm, or people with caring responsibilities, who are short on focus and time poor? 

Screen readers will not cover it. Not even close. There’s so much more we can do to make our websites and digital services inclusive. This is where content steps in. 

Inclusivity is structure, format and language

Let’s talk about structure and the F shaped reading pattern. Basically, it takes fewer eye muscles to look down, than it does across. This overview section on the page below is about orientation - “Am I going to get what I need?” 

But humans are lazy. If we aren’t getting what we need from the top of the page, that’s when we start to scan and skip down it. 

Headings anchor your content and orientate your users

When it comes to usable, accessible content, headings are really important. They help people decide if they want to read all of the content. Your headings can give the story of what’s on that page. 

Headings lay out your page structure and prioritise your content. Help people understand what’s important to them by using proper labelling and heading hierarchy. For people with visual impairments, their screen readers will be able to easily tab and zip down them.

When you use specialist language, you are adding extra cognitive load. It will slow people down. In terms of usability and accessibility: it's exactly the same, whichever way you look at it. You can push people away from your content just by using terms that are difficult to understand. So let’s look at an example of this:  

“Her presentation is euthymic”

Any idea what that means? Well, me neither. This is a phrase I came across in a psychiatric report. I was helping a friend understand her own court documents. Even in the surrounding context, it still made no sense. It wasn’t explained at all. What could they have said instead? 

“She has a normal mental state”

I’m not a psychiatrist so perhaps it was necessary to use the medical term for the court. Fine, just explain what it means the first time you use it. But that’s the thing about jargon and specialist language. We understand it, and we don’t question it. We assume everyone else knows what we know. 

Let’s talk about readability and take a look at the kinds of people who would benefit from clear language. It helps: 

Here’s another thing you can do with content. Use space. Designers love a bit of white space. So do content people. From a brain perspective, the more white space people see, the more they think, “Oh this isn’t going to be complicated.” 

So here’s how you can use space:   

have loads of headings on a page, telling a story, 

use lots of different shapes, such as using bulleted lists, to pull the eye down the page. 


Accessibility is more than code and colours

With all the settings you can now use in browsers and on devices, you can’t hide behind the developers and designers anymore. You won’t lose people by communicating well. Just by simplifying your structure and using clear language, you can open up your content to a much wider audience. 

Hear more from Clare in our recorded webinar session on 'Creating accessible & inclusive content'.

In this guest blog, Clare from Content Design London, identifies the difference between accessibility and usability, and explains how they're linked.

Accessibility is usability

Accessibility. What do we mean by that? For digital people, it means the process of making products and services accessible to everyone. It’s about giving an equal experience to all users, regardless of any impairment they might have. 

What about usability? This is a measure of how well a specific user, in a specific context, can use a product to achieve a defined goal.   

Now, I’m sure I am not the only one here who sees crossovers between those two descriptions. Accessibility and usability are inextricably linked. If your website isn’t accessible, it simply isn’t usable. 

During COVID-19, many of us are likely to have experienced working from home. It’s a very different environment than the workplace, where we can interact with colleagues directly, make use of workplace facilities and have a clear distinction between work and personal life.  

With the move to distance or hybrid learning, students are experiencing a similar change in environment. Group work, one-to-one support, and practical tasks all look very different when they move from a school setting into the home. 

That’s why the final F of distance learning is family-friendly. With distance learning, you’re relying on families to provide the in-person support and encouragement that’s normally the role of a teacher. 

Make a deliberate effort to keep open communication channels with parents and involve them in the work that students are doing. Allow them to ask questions, give feedback, and express concerns. As a teacher, you can offer them reassurance and guidance. Keep in mind also that adults might help younger students log onto the learning management system, so ensure anything you post is worded in a way that is appropriate and easily understood by all. 

Once you’ve established clear communication with parents and guardians, you can start to get creative! Make the most of the opportunities that distance learning offers. Engage family members in projects or activities. This can be as simple as asking students to give a presentation of their work or to explain a concept to a family member. 

With math or science lessons, there’s lots of ways to incorporate practical activities. You could have students cook with their family and double a recipe, and record themselves doing so. Or you could do a measurement activity where students measure the heights of everyone in the family and conduct data analysis, such as a box plot or histogram. 

Invite parents to a family video conference where you talk to them directly about your distance learning objectives. Here you can discuss expectations, progress and answer any queries raised. Transparency and good communication will go a long way in alleviating the anxiety faced by parents, students and teachers in this uncertain time. 

Allow for open channels of communication with parents and guardians. A family video conference can be a great tool for informing and involving parents. When posting to the learning management system, keep instructions clear and transparent. And finally, find creative ways to involve the family in learning activities - they’re part of the distance learning journey too!

The last blog in this series focuses on making your distance learning sessions family-friendly.

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Family-Friendly

As teaching moves from the school environment into the home, parents and guardians are taking on the supervisory role normally held by teachers. In the last blog of our series on the Four F's of Distance Learning, we look at how we can make our distance learning family-friendly. 

Often we think about fun as being the opposite of work. We think of it as something that’s free from thought or conscious effort. But in practice, fun goes hand-in-hand with learning. When we have fun, our brains release a powerful dose of feel-good endorphins. We come to associate that action with positive enjoyment, and this makes us want to repeat it. Learning requires concentration and repetition, so making the learning process enjoyable is a great way to encourage engagement and enhance learning acquisition.

Try to include one fun activity per week with your students. Not only do fun activities improve memory-retention and promote self-learning, they also serve as an effective motivator, helping to sustain interest and boost student participation. Even better, incorporating fun activities will incentivize your students to do the not-so-fun activities!  

Fun activities don’t necessarily have to be a game. They could be something hands-on, like a craft project or science experiment (using materials found around the house). Your activity might involve your students taking photos or recording a video of themselves completing a project. On video conferences, you can use breakout groups for interactive or team activities such as quizzes. 

Look for opportunities to gamify learning. Challenges, teamwork, competitive tasks, regular feedback and completion rewards are all great ways to incentivise students. When tasks are personalized and interactive, they’re likely to be much more memorable and productive.  

For big incentivisation pieces, consider taking a virtual field trip or scavenger hunt. Draw up a checklist of challenges to complete (with rewards for the students who complete them all successfully). Or, create a list of materials for students to gather across a week - these can then be used for an art or science project. Or else you can make use of digital tools. Museums, planetariums, zoos and nature parks offer virtual tours. Give your students a treasure trail or quiz to complete and let them explore!

Fun activities are a great way to incentivise, motivate and engage students in their learning. Look for creative ways to incorporate hands-on or interactive activities, and remember to make use of completion rewards and digital tools.

This blog focuses on the third F of distance learning - fun.

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Fun

There’s few better ways to engage students than by making learning fun. Of course, that’s easier said than done! How do we make dry or difficult content into something that students feel motivated to do? 

In a remote learning environment, students will not have access to the full benefits of classroom learning. Without one-to-one teacher supervision, in-person group activities, or access to materials such as science lab equipment, students may struggle to replicate the progress they would normally make in the classroom. That’s why it’s essential for educators to re-examine the learning objectives for each class and ensure they are realistic and fair. 

When we assess the feasibility of a task, we need to consider two things: difficulty and practicality. Let’s look at these in more depth. 

The difficulty of a task or lesson depends on the volume and complexity of the content. Be mindful that students will not be able to do quite as much work as they did in the classroom setting, where teachers could provide more support as well as all the tools and resources students needed. 

You may have students with special educational needs who require extra support. You’ll need to consider how you can adapt the lesson to accommodate their needs while they study remotely.   

When evaluating whether a task is feasible within the virtual setting there’s a number of practical considerations to keep in mind. 

Naturally, there will be certain facilities or tools which students can’t access remotely. In these cases you’ll need to adapt the lesson, either by streamlining course content or finding creative alternatives. 

Distance learning also brings changes to how we interact. Consider whether students will be able to work independently on the work you set. Will parents or guardians be able to support their children if necessary? You might also want to think about ways of integrating collaborative work, for example through breakout discussion groups or interactive activities.

We all want to prevent students from becoming stressed or overwhelmed. That’s why it’s of key importance that teachers ensure they are not setting unrealistic learning objectives.

This may involve reducing the workload, distilling the content down to essential concepts, or allowing greater flexibility in deadlines. By moderating our expectations to fit what is feasible within the circumstances, we can create happier and more productive learning environments!

The first blog in this series focuses on the first F of distance learning - feasibility.

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Feasibility

First in this blog series on the Four F's of Distance Learning is feasibility. The first and most important question we must ask ourselves as educators is this: is the work feasible? In other words, is it realistic to expect that students will be able to perform these tasks? These questions become even more important when it comes to distance learning. 

Often, the feasibility of a task depends on how flexible it is. That’s why integrating flexibility into distance learning is so important, and vital if you’re to maintain a student-centered approach. 

Circumstances are unique for every student, and many will face issues that impede, either temporarily or long-term, on their ability to attend and engage in remote classes. 

To function well, distance learning needs to make allowances for disruptions outside students’ control. These may be minor and short-term, such as issues logging in or connecting to WiFi. However in other cases the disruptions may be of a more serious nature. 

Some students may have limited or no access to a computer, meaning they can’t access their school’s online learning system. These students will require alternative arrangements in order for them to keep on track with content and to complete assignments. Students with special educational needs may depend on additional learning support software. This will also need to be made available to them as they study remotely. 

For students affected by sensitive issues such as illness or bereavement, it’s not feasible (or fair) to expect that they will be able to attend classes as usual. 

That’s why flexibility needs to be at the core of your distance learning strategy. Flexibility means providing as many different ways as possible for students to access and engage with content and to communicate their progress. If you provide only a video chat, what happens if a student is unable to attend? Without other means of checking in and viewing the daily learning objectives, the student misses out on a day’s work and falls behind. 

By providing multiple ways to engage with content, you’re enabling students to keep up to speed with the rest of the class, no matter their present circumstances. What’s more, you’re also giving them the opportunity to progress through the content at their own pace. This has numerous benefits: 

it encourages students to be self-motivated

it alleviates unnecessary stress or time pressure

it enables students to take control of their own learning and move at their own pace. 

You might want to set up a checklist of weekly deliverables (tasks to be completed across a week) and make this accessible from your learning management system. Offering a one-stop portal for online learning allows for transparency and ease of use. Your students will thank you for it! 

To maximize the potential of distance learning, it needs to be adaptable to the changing needs of your students. A flexible learning environment allows everyone to be included regardless of their circumstances. Providing your students with options and workable alternatives is crucial to investing in their learning outcomes. 

The second blog in this series focuses on flexibility.

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Flexibility

Feasibility goes hand-in-hand with flexibility. In this blog we'll look at why it's important to make our distance learning flexible for remote learners, and how educators can achieve this. 

Among the speakers at this event was Edtech consultant and experienced math teacher Tinashe Blanchet, who held a session on ‘The Four Fs of Distance Learning’. Her talk covered four key elements of distance learning: feasibility, flexibility, fun and family-friendliness. In this blog series, you’ll learn about each of these components, why they’re important, and how to implement them in your own teaching. 

So if you’re a teacher looking to develop an effective distance learning strategy that keeps students engaged and motivated, keep reading!   

If you're interested in developing an effective distance learning strategy that keeps students engaged and motivated, this blog is for you.

The Four F's of Distance Learning

On August 18th-20th 2020, our annual back-to-school event went virtual with a conference called ‘Design and Delivery in a Blended Learning Jungle’. The three-day conference was packed full of keynotes, panel discussions and sessions, all focused on helping teachers design and adapt teaching strategies for a distance learning environment. 

Blog

Accessibility is usability

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Family-Friendly

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Fun

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Feasibility

The Four F's of Distance Learning: Flexibility

The Four F's of Distance Learning

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