This microcredential equips educators with the skills to create accessible and inclusive online learning environments. You'll learn under the guidance of online teaching experts, gaining knowledge in pedagogy, technology, procedures, and legal requirements to enhance course accessibility. The course highlights the benefits of a blended learning approach and explores how technology can support learners with disabilities or additional needs. By examining practical examples and engaging with feedback, you'll develop strategies to overcome the challenges of online teaching and improve your practice.
Key features
- Learn inclusive teaching strategies to support students with additional needs
- Applicable to a variety of educational settings and sectors across the world
- Benefit from the OU’s world-leading expertise in accessibility practice and research
- Acquire skills you can apply to your practice straight away
What you will study
On this postgraduate microcredential, you’ll learn how to make online teaching accessible and plan, design, and deliver inclusive learning and teaching online. Over 12 weeks, you’ll cover the following topics.
- Online learning experiences of students with disabilities (diverse stories, benefits and challenges of learning online)
- Understanding accessibility, including definitions, models, rationale and what this means in practice
- How assistive technologies are used in online learning
- Current trends and innovations in assistive technologies
- Making common forms of learning material accessible
- Strategies of inclusive and universal design for learning
- Making online learning activities and assessments accessible
- Fulfilling our responsibilities, covering laws, policies and expectations in online accessibility
- Evaluating the accessibility of websites, platforms and tools
- Working with students – needs assessment and gathering and responding to accessibility feedback
- Institutional approaches to ensure online learning accessibility, including – roles, responsibilities and stakeholders
You will learn
By the end of your learning, you’ll be able to:
- design accessible learning materials and activities for online learning
- evaluate the accessibility of websites, online platforms, and interactive tools
- reflect on the common challenges and benefits that students with disabilities find with online learning
- synthesise understanding of innovations in assistive technology to support learners in new and effective ways
- lead and develop effective processes to achieve accessibility in educational institutions that meet legal and policy requirements.
Skills you will gain
- Understand disabled student experiences
- Choosing platforms and tools
- Developing policies and processes for accessibility
- Evaluating accessibility
- Understand and apply Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- Making accessible online activities and assessments
- Assistive technologies
- Respond to accessibility feedback
- Making accessible learning materials
- Developing institutional approaches
Vocational relevance
The course will benefit anyone working in or looking to work in universities, colleges, further education, and workplace learning settings. It will enhance the employability of teachers, trainers, lecturers, learning designers, education technologists and specialists, heads of departments, and institution leaders and managers. The course is also highly relevant to those responsible for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in their department or institution.
Created by leading experts and practitioners from The Open University
- Dr Leigh-Anne Perryman leads the OU’s Masters in Online Teaching programme. Her research explores the relationship between equity, social justice, online teaching and open pedagogies.
- Kate Lister is a global expert in accessibility, inclusive pedagogy and mental health. She managed inclusive practice at the OU and co-led Advance HE’s Mental Health in the Curriculum project. She actively contributed to the OU’s Student Mental Health Working Group and the Mental Health Research Group, as well as chairing the Open and Inclusive Special Interest Group and cross-faculty Accessibility Working Group.
- Dr Simon Ball is an OU tutor and consultant researcher, specialising in inclusive online learning, educational technologies and accessibility.
- Dr Tim Coughlan is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology at the OU, researching the design and evaluation of technologies for inclusion, participation and accessibility in learning.
- Dr Ian Kenny is a visiting fellow at the OU with an interest in assistive technology and real-world applications of machine learning.
Entry
This postgraduate-level microcredential will benefit educators from a variety of education settings and sectors. You will ideally have:
- a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent level qualification
- experience of working with disabled students
- a strong interest in making teaching inclusive and accessible.
While some of the content is related to the technical design of computers and digital resources, you don’t require a substantial technical understanding of computing to take the course.
Please note:
- If you don’t have a degree or equivalent level qualification, you may find the postgraduate level assessment challenging.
- The course material doesn’t assume learners are working. Past experiences will be just as relevant.
- All teaching is in English, and your English proficiency needs to be adequate for postgraduate study. As a guide, this corresponds to Level 7 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). However, you won’t need to provide a formal English language score to enrol.
Course length
This 12-week course requires approximately 12.5 hours of self-paced learning per week, totalling around 150 hours for completion.
If you have a disability
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet, you can contact us about the support which can be given to meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.
Study materials
What's included
All learning materials, exercises and activities are delivered entirely online.
While certain content can be downloaded, some content is exclusively accessible online, requiring a reliable internet connection for viewing. Please consider this if you are travelling.
Teaching and assessment
Assessment
You’ll take part in weekly tasks and discussions with co-learners to support and consolidate your learning. Towards the end of the course, you’ll submit a project or assessment demonstrating the skills you’ve acquired. This will be marked and graded by subject matter experts and make up 100% of your final mark.
Study support
- Learn 100% online on the OU’s learning platform with a mix of video, audio and written materials
- Engage in interactive learning through self-assessment questions, polls, tasks and reflection
- Share ideas and experiences in discussion with other learners, building skills, confidence and knowledge
- Receive support from mentors who guide discussions and answer questions
- Study at a time that suits you with the flexibility to access the course from your desktop, tablet or mobile device
What you will gain
15 UK credits at postgraduate level from The Open University*. Academic credits are awarded on passing the final assessment. These will be at postgraduate level 7 of the Framework for Higher Education (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) / level 11 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.
*Academic credit may be used towards selected OU qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications. The credit awarded may also be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.