New accessibility training courses for higher and further education

Annie Mannion | 29 Mar 2021

For disabled students, now more than ever during the global pandemic, an inclusive digital experience is crucial to their ability to participate in education on an equal footing.McNaught Training Consultancy Authoring

Yet, we often find that accessibility investments in one part of an institution can be undermined by lack of awareness in another, or we identify a lack of long-term institutionwide planning for accessibility overall.

With this in mind, we have created two new accessibility training courses, in partnership with Alistair McNaught of McNaught Consultancy, aimed specifically at higher and further education professionals.

The courses ran in February and March and were so well received that we are repeating the sessions later this year.

"I think the main thing this has raised for me as someone from a school where commitment to accessibility is really high, is that it's useful to be well-meaning, but being well-meaning doesn't mean we don't need to do the work of going through materials in more detail and consider things from different angles." - HE course attendee, Spring 2021

Introductory discount options

As a special introduction to the courses, we are offering a 10% discount on each course: Just use the code AbilityNetHE10 at checkout.

There is also a 3 ticket bundle (£99 each) discount available. See below for more information.

How to grow your accessibility maturity - for HE and FE professionals





Date: Wednesday, 26 May, 2021

Time: 2pm

This training course will show you how to:

  • Evaluate your digital accessibility maturity
  • Gauge your institution’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Identify gaps in policy, practice or responsibilities
  • Set priorities and plans to embed lasting change and new ways of working.  

The intended audiences for this training include anyone with responsibility for (or interest in) improving student experience. This may include senior managers, digital teams, student experience, learning and teaching. Bring your team - 3 ticket bundle (£99 each) discount available.

What previous attendees have said about our similar training:

  • "The process was really good and showed how close we are, even where scores are low, I can see what needs to be done and can use the findings to encourage senior leadership into taking action."  
  • "Thank you, this provides a great roadmap for us and what we need to focus on now." 
  • “The activities and focal discussion points have provided a most useful lens for critical self-refection at an organisational level.”
     

Find out more and book >

 

How to deliver and sustain accessible digital learning - for HE and FE professionals

Date: Wednesday, 16 June, 2021

Time: 2pm GMT

Good accessibility practices make teaching and learning more effective for everyone. Baking digital accessibility considerations into your course design will improve the learning experience for all.  
This training course will show you how to:

  • Evaluate your course creation approach for accessibility 

  • Identify strengths, weaknesses and training needs using a range of evidence-based checks 

  • Consider how to bake digital accessibility considerations into templates, quality assurance and feedback  

  • Engage content creators and teaching and learning staff with accessibility
  • Provide a framework for auditing the accessibility of courses/subject areas
  • Improve the overall learning experience for all students 


Students in a lecture, taking notes

The intended audiences for this training include course leaders, heads of subject, digital teams, student experience, learning and teaching. Bring your team - 3 ticket bundle (£99 each) discount available.

What previous attendees have said about our training:
"We’re about to pilot universal design for learning and bringing disability visibly into the curriculum with a set of modules and will use the scoring early in the process to review what they have built in for students in their module."
“An excellent and informative session”
“Very useful session and a nice model to use. It was good to know that others have similar issues and challenges” 
"The overall excel tool is a fantastic resource that I can see us using regularly"

 

Find out more and book >

 

two students studying in classroom with laptops

If you are interested in an institution specific session engaging key stakeholders from across your university or college, we can arrange this.
Please contact Helen Wickes, Education and Workplace Relationship Manager, on: 01926 562 671 or email Helen.Wickes@abilitynet.org.uk. You can also use the contact form on this site.


How AbilityNet can help

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