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The acceleration of technological advancements and changes in attitudes and policy developments towards more equitable education opportunities for all in recent years have led to new priorities and demands in relation to inclusive digital education (the European Union’s Digital Education Action Plan policy initiative - 2021-2027). Inclusive digital education involves all education system levels – from individuals to educational institutions, regional or national levels. It aims at addressing inclusion, exclusion, digitalisation and the digital divide. Inclusion in digital education for individual students is illustrated not only by their participation in learning but also by their technical access as well as their physical and virtual presence alongside all the other students.
STRENGTHS of inclusive digital practice
The integration of digital tools and sources in education and training processes can bridge the digital gap and remove learning barriers for specific vulnerable groups at risk of educational underachievement and exclusion (i.e. students with serious illness, attention difficulties) by increasing their opportunities of collaboration and engagement with the learning environment.
Inclusive digital based teaching sources can:
A leading vision in ICT design is the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an educational framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all. Accessibility and Universal Design are two important concepts for digital learning designers who create inclusive and accessible courses and materials to all learners, regardless of their abilities, disabilities, or learning preferences. UDL addresses not only the learning materials and the learning software, but also the methodical integration of digital media. It can offer a set of concrete suggestions/criteria that can be applied to digital sources to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful and challenging learning opportunities. UDL can help teachers to identify point of strengths and weakness in terms of inclusiveness of digital based teaching sources.
The UDL approach leads to three principles for curriculum development:
Strategies for representation
By presenting content through multiple ways the content becomes accessible for students with diverse backgrounds, learning styles, and abilities. This gives students multiple ways of acquiring information and also various ways to interact with that information. Our goal is to give students a variety of alternative sources of information (audio, video and text), that is provide the same information through different modalities (e.g., hearing, vision, touch). Thus, if content is visual, we should add accompanying audio and transcripts. We should also consider providing content in forms that can be manipulated by the user (flexible formats: colours, size, volume of speech or other sounds, etc).
Strategies for action and expression
By providing students with choice in terms of both how they access information and represent their knowledge and understanding, accessibility to the learning process is increased for all students. Our goal is to give students choices in expressing what they learned. Providing students with multiple choices (spoken, written, tests, worksheets, and writing assignments, text, video, a picture book and audio) for output to demonstrate their understanding improves student learning and motivation. Whenever possible, give students options for how they will carry out an assignment.
Strategies for engagement
Motivations for learning and ways of engaging differ significantly between students due to neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, background knowledge, and a variety of other factors. Our goal is to provide multiple ways for students to engage as it is clear there is not one single means which will be optimal for all students in all contexts.
Use different methods of engagement in each lesson and throughout the course to address the diversity in your class. This could include different types of interactional patterns (e.g., individual work, pair work, group work, whole-class work) and different types of activities and assignments. To keep students engaged, make sure that no activity lasts too long (change activities or methods every ten minutes). The online learning environment provides multiple ways to make learning interesting through media and technology tools. But keep in mind that it's crucial not to utilize technology merely for the sake of grabbing attention; rather, use it because it has a learning objective that you are crystal clear about. Show a video, for instance, not simply because it's entertaining, but also because it supports a learning objective.
Inclusion in remote and online learning
https://www.britishcouncil.org.ar/en/remote-teaching/articles/inclusion-remote-online-learning
The blog considers the factors that teachers have to take into account when when teaching online.
Inclusive Instructional Design: Applying UDL to Online Learning
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353631962_Inclusive_Instructional_Design_Applying_UDL_to_Online_Learning
This article describes how educators can use a step-by-step process to design lessons that incorporate UDL guidelines.
How to Write a Digital Lesson Plan: A Guide for Educators Teaching Online
https://www.goguardian.com/blog/how-to-write-a-digital-lesson-plan
The article outlines the questions that teachers should ask themselves when creating a digital lesson plan.
Inclusive Teaching Resources for Online Courses
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/resources-for-online-courses/
The site provides teachers with resource and activity guides that promote inclusion in online classes.
What are Accessibility and Universal Design Principles for Learning?
https://www.digitallearninginstitute.com/what-are-accessibility-and-universal-design-principles-for-
The site focuses on UDL, a framework that aims to remove barriers within physical and digital learning environments so they can be used by all people regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
Digital inclusion, https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/vet-toolkit-tackling-early-leaving/intervention-approaches/digital-inclusion The article focuses on linking digitalisation and inclusion to support vulnerable learners by enhancing their use of digital means.
Adopting the UDL framework
https://intranet.royalholloway.ac.uk/staff/teaching/teaching-learning/using-udl-digital-technologies-to-support-inclusive-practices.aspx
UDL aims at removing any barriers to learning to give all students equal opportunities to succeed.
Toolkit for inclusive teaching strategies
https://americas.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/bc-toolkit-en-final.pdf
This toolkit provides teachers with practical strategies to help students access, participate and progress in class.