· How can we provide access and equal opportunity to education for all learners?
This is a difficult question to answer. If I start with the issue of access, this is probably more straight forward. Access for who and what?
For those enrolled in a course at polytechnic, once the fee is paid, the student can gain access to classes and computers on-site at Otago Polytechnic.
Full access to computer and broadband technology is of course reliant on a student’s ability to purchase a computer and to pay the monthly intern account. This may be problematic for many students, especially those facing financial hardship or living away from home where these services may be provided as part of their daily life.
The issue of access also raises the question of access to services, buildings and technology for students with disabilities such as hearing or visual impairment. How does the visually impaired student survive and learn in the daily world of computer technology without appropriate training and support?
How do we provide equal opportunity for all learners? Equal opportunity encompasses the notion of all learners having the same opportunity to apply for and be accepted into a degree programme. In order to make this happen, we need to make explicit our programme entry requirements and collect the same information in the same way from each applicant. This may create difficulties for students for whom English is a send language or for an international applicant.
The second part of this relates to what happens, once a student has been selected and is a student in a programme? Using the blended learning philosophy, we think we provide equal opportunity for student learning by way of providing a range of different learning methods and media. But do we? That is the question for us to ponder?
When considering the next part of the question:
· What does diversity in learning actually mean and how can you be inclusive?
I got side tracked and went to have a look at the wider picture of diversity at work. This site is particualrly useful in realtion to the NZ context. That,s about all for now..I need to do some more reading on this....
Liz you are so right - we know it is ideal to provide a range of media for students, but in reality this can be time intensive and resource hungry. One way to achieve this is to enable students to create their own content, and share it. In the educational sector, a tradition has arisen whereby teachers believe they have to create all content, and provide access to it. Hence a lot of programmes have become very content heavy which impacts on students and teachers' workloads. Teachers feel they have a responsibility to create or find most of the necessary content, and the students feel a compulsion and probably through loyalty to the teacher, and to the assessment structure, to wade through all the content.
ReplyDeleteAs we know effective information processing is necessary to commit the information to long term memory and for understanding so that new knowledge can be created. Information overload actually blocks cognitive processes, and the development of metacognition. So an inclusive classroom is one where all students feel involved, and engaged.
Not only is the design of the content important but also the design of the learning environment and this includes the learning and teaching strategies which are used.
Have you heard of a software called Jaws? It is used by visually impaired computer users, and it enables web material and emails to be read out to the user.