Building online learning communities that are truly inclusive
Read time: 5 minutes
OES Learning Designer, Kate McDonell shares key strategies for designing flexible, accessible, and empathetic learning experiences that empower students of all backgrounds and abilities.
How can we ensure all learners feel connected and supported in online education?
[A university education isn’t] exclusively about acquiring skills and competencies [or] access to them; it is about much more than that including the idea of having a place in the scheme of things and the deeper sense of belonging within a culture that values diverse people and talents.”
– Engagement Australia, 2024.
(Australian Universities Accord: An Access perspective).
We’re all striving to make our higher education institutions communities of diverse perspectives, and supportive of all abilities and backgrounds.
It’s clear that a feeling of belonging in this community has a tangible impact on learner motivation and success.
But how can we ensure non-traditional learners who may not attend campus are still included?
We believe online learning has a unique opportunity to support the differing needs of a wide cohort of students.
Our goal is to go beyond a base level of accessibility standards, to build online education that’s truly inclusive.
Here are three key considerations in our strategy for accessible and inclusive learning design.
1. Can learners access the course content?
Access is our top priority, as students can’t learn without it. We aim for AA level compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
These standards can be quite dry and technical, so our Accessibility Working Group has translated them into tangible tips.
The WCAG success criteria fall under four principles. Our learning materials must be:
Perceivable
Audiovisual materials have closed captions, transcripts, or text descriptions as needed, and web design considers text colour contrast ratio against background colours.
Operable
Content design supports the use of assistive technologies like screen readers and keyboard navigation with a clear heading hierarchy and allows multiple methods of interaction with all content.
Understandable
Learning materials have a predictable layout, with consistent use of icons, instructional text, labels, and terminology, reducing cognitive load.
Robust
Learning materials are compatible with a variety of assistive technologies and can be easily updated to suit evolving technology.
2. Is the experience inclusive of all learners?
Once we’ve met basic access standards, we focus on designing for the inclusion of all learners, including those with physical or cognitive disabilities, neurodivergence, trauma experiences, and diverse cultural or language backgrounds.
Here are some key theories of inclusive design that we’ve embedded in our day-to-day online learning practices.
Social model of disability
Rather than an intrinsic limitation, disability is viewed as a set of barriers created by society, that prevent full participation and that we have an obligation to help remove.
Our goal is to create learning materials that support education for all.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Universal design means creating a product or environment that is usable by everyone from the start, without the need for adjustments.
In online learning, this means providing flexible options for multiple ways of engaging with the materials, supporting and valuing learners with diverse abilities and identities.
Trauma-informed design
Learners who have experienced trauma may find some learning materials stressful, which can create barriers to learning.
The key to supporting these learners is enabling agency and autonomy, and highlighting available support services.
Providing information about the kinds of materials they will encounter allows them to make choices about how they engage with the content, and work at their own pace, feeling supported and safe.
3. Is the learning design approach empathetic to the learners?
The student experience is central to everything we do.
We aim to understand and learn from our students’ experiences by conducting research to reimagine learning from their different perspectives.
Student demographics
Who are our students, what are their unique strengths and needs? Online learners are often non-traditional cohorts attracted by the flexibility of online learning.
They may be returning to study, busy parents who learn on mobiles, neurodivergent learners with different communication preferences, culturally diverse learners, or first-time university students less familiar with academic environments.
We dig deep into our demographic data to better understand how to design learning that suits students’ needs.
Student feedback
When we try new tools or software to offer different modes of learning or expression (using UDL), we want to know if it is working well for students or if they are experiencing challenges with access or understanding.
We have also invited some of our students to help co-design some units.
Our work is iterative in nature: we build and rebuild units, constantly listening and improving.
Role playing as the student
We try to step into our students’ perspective:
What is it like to use a screen reader and access learning materials with only audio narration?
Can I make sense of the materials or is it confusing or overwhelming?
Can I navigate this page using only a keyboard, or are some elements inaccessible without a mouse?
If I were a student with English as an additional language, could I easily understand the materials, or do they contain idioms and jargon that create barriers to learning?
Empathy helps us remove these barriers.
We are building the future we want to see in higher education, where all learners know that they belong. It’s a lofty aspiration, but one we’re committed to achieving!
It’s exciting to know that we are empowering learners and improving people’s lives through access to education.
