The Teaching and Learning Innovation Digest - May 2023

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced the college
to quickly adapt to virtual learning, while also
providing a platform to creatively address
accessibility in the postsecondary
environment. This institution has a long track
record of supporting the academic needs and
accommodations of students with disabilities and
should be proud of this legacy. Prior to the
pandemic, most courses were delivered in
person, where faculty and CALCS worked
collaboratively to support the accommodations of
students with disability-related needs. That being
said, there was an opportunity for growth and
WE HAVE THE
TECHNOLOGY
Observing the impact of digital
accessibility post-pandemic
Lyle Williams
Adaptive Technology Specialist,
Centre for Accessible Learning and Councelling Services (CALCS)
improvement. The pandemic provided
an opportunity for us to reconsider how
Centennial delivers education, services, and
accommodations while providing a more
inclusive and accessible environment for our
students. Through this experience, we have
come to learn that many of the adjustments
we made must persist as we progress into
future academic years.
With an influx of classes switching to an
online mode of delivery, we quickly began
to examine which virtual delivery solutions
worked best from a faculty, student, and
institutional perspective. We wanted to
ensure that virtual delivery platforms were
robust, easy to use, integrated, and
accessible. For instance, areas of
the college reviewed how Adobe
Connect had many features
that supported good teaching
and learning but lacked
accessibility components.
Bongo/Virtual Classroom
was integrated into
Brightspace (eCentennial)
but lacked many of the
virtual conferencing
features that existed on
other platforms.
Microsoft Teams
matured during
the pandemic and
had much of what
was desired in a good
virtual conferencing
platform. Likewise, its
counterpart Zoom began to excel, continuing to
add several features and gained the capacity to
be integrated into Brightspace.
Impact on students
Students with and without disabilities found
virtual/remote education to be more accessible
with improved access to digital content,
recorded lectures, recorded demonstrations,
etc. Recorded lectures have provided many
students with the ability to review course
content at a different pace to support their
study/learning style. Students have commented
on how personal the instruction feels with them
being able to see the faculty’s screen, face,
and content more clearly. Students expressed
a sense of anonymity and did not feel singled
out as a student requiring accommodations.
Captions transformed the learning experience
for many students. Students who are deaf,
deafened, or hard-of-hearing now have access
to real-time captions and transcripts through
the virtual conference platform. Captions also
supported students who benefit from livecaptioning
or transcripts for clarity and
understanding, such as English-language
learners, students with attention/focus
challenges, etc. Students with hearing devices,
such as implants, or hearing aids
were now able to directly connect
their computers for improved sound
quality. Most importantly, students
were able to use their assistive
technology for lectures, labs,
and studying.
Students identified other benefits
of virtual delivery relating to
the cost-effectiveness of not
having to commute or pay for
parking. Students with medical
conditions or those who are
immunocompromised,
also benefited from virtual
delivery by not having to expose
themselves to the potential risk of
in-person instruction.
Virtual delivery was not a perfect
solution as students cited drawbacks and
challenges, including not having access
to reliable internet, a computer (device),
to concentrate during lectures or while
studying, or being challenged with general
technical issues connecting to synchronous
lectures. Additionally, students reported
difficulties focusing for extended periods of
time in front of a computer screen, feeling
disconnected from the student experience,
not having direct in-person access to their
faculty or other students, challenges with
self-discipline, managing time, clarification,
and other commitments. Some students felt
disconnected from the student experience
since they were not on campus or able
to socialize. Students also expressed an
inconsistency with video-conferencing solutions
and confusion or misunderstanding of how to
use these technologies. These inconsistencies
utilizing virtual proctoring solutions
highlighted the inaccessibility of these
platforms in their goal of supporting student
accommodations. Students found they
were not always able to use their assistive
technology on some of these inaccessible
conferencing platforms.
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