Supporting Accessibility in Large Classes

Supporting accessibility is foundational to inclusive and intersectional pedagogy. Designing course modules, content, materials, assessments, and activities with accessibility in mind can be complicated when you are teaching a large enrollment class. This resource highlights strategies for designing your large class with accessibility in mind.  

Due Dates

Assessment design around due dates is one of the pressure points felt by the teaching team around designing assessment in an accessible and inclusive manner for large enrollment courses. This will impact assessment design choices such as scaffolded assignments, or using different kinds of grading approaches like ungrading or specifications grading. 

The literature can support design decisions made for the course. The resources include articles that speak to implementation of a “life-happens pass” in courses to support pressure on due dates in a more inclusive manner for learners. This also allows the teaching team to discuss, ahead of time, how they will support assessments submitted at different times, which may include a schedule of grading responsibilities.  

Group Assignments or Activities

Designing group assignments and activities always needs to include a framework for what could happen if a student has accommodations, becomes ill, has a life situation that means they miss one or several of the group work components. Having scaffolded design in the group as well as choice models that are supported by Universal Design for Learning principles can help students who may need to be away from studies for a while.   

Modifying group assignments to become learning stations (Judson, 2019) or jig saws in seminar or lab space can support collaboration but also allow for different ways for learners to engage and learn from their peers in large classes.  

Presentation Assignments

Often presentation assignments are calculated with precision in terms of time allowed and when the presentations will happen. However, if there is anything that occurs (such as a snow storm, an illness, or life event) that may make keeping to presentation schedule difficult. Having alternative ways of presenting or submitting work asynchronously, such as recorded PowerPoints, short videos, or even podcasts with transcripts, can allow students to meet the assessment objectives for the presentation while maintaining structure of a large enrollment course.  See also CPI’s resource on Alternatives to Synchronous Presentations for more ideas on how to support learners and the teaching team with inclusion and presentations.  

Teaching Team Supports for Accessibility

If you are working with Teaching Assistants, Lab Demonstrators, and/or Course Coordinators below we share some tips to help support accessibility within the Teaching Team.

Have clear lines of communication between members of the teaching team: 

Email response guidelines and timelines to make sure that teaching assistants and the instructor are on the same page if an accessibility need is identified.  

Have inclusive pedagogy framework for the course: 

The course values and beliefs should echo the learning outcomes, the instructor’s teaching philosophy and the ways the teaching team will support this. Having a co-created document indicating how you will work towards an inclusive pedagogy in the course can ensure that everyone is aware of what to expect in the course. It can be a great team building exercise at the beginning of term, a document that the instructor can use as a framework for the next semester and other teaching teams, but also become part of teaching dossier documents to demonstrate commitment to equity and inclusion. It can also be a living document that is added to as issues may arise over the term.  

Share resources about universal design for learning (UDL) with the teaching team: 

CPI has many resources (websites, workshops, and educational developers) to support you with UDL approaches to course design. Sharing this information with the teaching team early in the semester can be helpful for facilitating an inclusive learning environment. Teaching team members can also use this framework to identify documents or resources that may not be inclusive or accessible before they are shared with the learners on Brightspace or during lecture, labs, or seminars.  

Additional resources:

  • Blum, S. Ed. (2020). Ungrading : why rating students undermines learning (and what to do instead). West Virginia University Press. 
  • Crocker, J. (2021). Confronting Late Work in the Student-Centered Classroom. College Teaching DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2021.1944041 
  • Judson, E. (2019). Learning Stations in College Classrooms, College Teaching, 67(4), 250-251, DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2019.1650707 
  • Nieminen, J.H. (2022): Assessment for Inclusion: rethinking inclusive assessment in higher education, Teaching in Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2021.2021395 
  • Nilson, L. B. (2015). Specifications grading : restoring rigor, motivating students, and saving faculty time. Stylus Publishing. 
  • Streifer, A.C & Palmer, M.S. (31 Dec 2021): Is Specifications Grading Right for Me?: A Readiness Assessment to Help Instructors Decide. College Teaching. DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2021.2018396 
  • Taylor-Partridge, Boswell, T.S. & Lockhart, L.K (16 Jul 2024): The Life Happens Pass: Use of a Flexible and Fair Assignment Extension Policy. College Teaching. DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2024.2377554 
  • Wolfe, A. (11 Mar 2024): Creating, Sustaining, and Adapting Accessibility in Higher Education: Lessons From COVID-19 and Beyond. College Teaching. DOI: 10.1080/87567555.2024.2327075