Inclusive Teaching

 

Preparing teaching materials using user-friendly styles

The Code of Practice

The University publishes a Code of Practice that sets out expectations of support for disabled students. The latest version (along with archived versions) of the Code of Practice: Access and Inclusion for Disabled students can be found HERE.

There is a legal obligation to make ‘reasonable adjustments‘ to ensure that the University’s provisions do not put a disabled student at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with students who are not disabled. These adjustments are in relation to:

(1) A provision or practice (e.g. teaching & assessment methods)

(2) Physical access (e.g. access to lecture theatres, labs etc.)

(3) Auxiliary aids (e.g. hearing loops, accessible content etc.)

But while we are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled students,  it’s important to remember that these adjustments are generally just good practices that will benefit all students. More information about inclusive teaching and user-friendly styles can be found below.

Inclusive Teaching

There are a number of easy things you can do to make sure your teaching is accessible for all. Many of these things are frequently listed in individual student support documents, but they are generally good practices that will benefit all students. 

Inclusive teaching – lectures

Give permission to record lectures

Include a synopsis at the start of lectures

Review major points at the end of the lecture

Allow sufficient time for copying from the board

Provide electronic copies of lecture slides & handouts in advance

Use effective signposting throughout lectures

Number lecture slides to assist with note-taking

Use user-friendly styles for slides and handouts (see below)

Inclusive Teaching - Lectures - find out more

  • Give permission to record lectures, supervisions, dissertation tutorials, and guest speakers
  • Provide slide presentations on a pastel-coloured background where possible
  • Provide lecture materials (e.g. slide presentations, handouts, lecture notes etc.) in advance, in electronic format
  • Where required, provide handouts on yellow or off-white paper to enable the student to access the reading material
  • Number lecture slides to assist with referencing during note-taking
  • Provide a synopsis at the start of the lectures and effective signposting throughout. At the conclusion of each lecture, review major points
  • Identify essential information
  • Introduce new vocabulary in context with concepts explained
  • Label diagrams in handouts, where possible.
  • Where relevant, leave information on the board to allow adequate copying time
  • Provide guidance with reading lists and/or directed reading tasks

Inclusive teaching – practicals

Give permission to record instructions

Provide both written and verbal instructions and protocols

Break lengthy tasks into stages

Repeat information when necessary

Inclusive teaching - Practicals - find out more

  • Provide instructions, processes, and protocols in written and verbal form
  • Give permission to record instructions
  • Break lengthy tasks into stages
  • Repeat information when necessary

Inclusive teaching - Small Groups

  • Give adequate time to assimilate information and prepare answers to verbal questions
  • Provide group discussion materials in advance
  • Use concise, clear, and explicit language
  • Provide instructions in written form if required
  • Provide assignment deadlines well in advance
  • Provide exemplars and models of expected work/assignments (e.g. an example of a 1st class essay, a 2:1, a 2:2, etc)
  • Provide constructive written and verbal feedback
  • Provide detailed, legible feedback on strong points of the essay or assignment as well as areas for improvement

User friendly styles

These adjustments are often specified in Student Support Documents (SSDs), but are typically just good practices that will benefit all students.

What makes a style user friendly?

Adopting practices that have been identified as best for dyslexic readers makes all written materials easier on the eye for everyone. Other accessibility guidance, such as the Web Accessibility Content Guidelines (WCAG2), should also be considered.

(A) Fonts for documents

WCAG2

Use a minimum font size of 12-14pt

Use sans serif fonts. e.g. arial, calibri, helvetica

Avoid using blocks of UPPERCASE text

Use bold text for titles or subheadings

Avoid underlining and italics for emphasis.

Use bold text to emphasise key points

Fonts for documents - find out more

Readable fonts

    • Use sans serif fonts, such as Arial, Calibri, and Helvetica, as letters can appear less crowded.
    • Font size should be 12-14 point or equivalent (e.g. 1-1.2em / 16-19 px).
    • Use bold text for titles, sub-headings or to draw attention to important information or key vocabulary.
    • Avoid underlining and italics as this can make the text appear to run together and cause crowding. Use bold for emphasis.
    • Avoid text in uppercase/capital letters and small caps, which can be less familiar to the reader and harder to read
    • Larger inter-letter / character spacing (sometimes called tracking) improves readability, ideally around 35% of the average letter width. However, if letter spacing is excessive it can reduce readability.
    • Inter-word spacing should be at least 3.5x the inter-letter spacing.

(B) Slide Colour & Contrast

Use pastel backgrounds - avoid bright white

Use sufficient contrast between background & text

Use single colour backgrounds

Use dark coloured text on a light background

Click Here to find out more about 'colour and contrast'

Slide colour & Contrast - find out more

Slide colour and contrast

  • Consider alternatives to white backgrounds for paper, computer and visual aids such as whiteboards. White can appear too dazzling. Use cream or a soft pastel colour (e.g. hex code: # FFFBEB; see image).
  • Use single colour backgrounds. Avoid background patterns or pictures and distracting surrounds.
  • Use dark coloured text on a light (not white) background.
  • Use sufficient contrast levels between background and text

See Colour & Contrast page to find out more about determining  contrast ratios.

    Download slide template

    (C) Layout for blocks of text

    Left align blocks of text - without justification

    Use larger line spacing
    (1.5 preferable)

    Avoid using multiple columns

    Break up text with regular headings & ‘white’ space

    Layout - find out more

    • Left align blocks of text, without justification.
    • Avoid multiple columns (as used in newspapers).
    • Use white space to remove clutter near text and group related content.
    • Break up the text with regular section headings in long documents and include a table of contents.
    • Larger line spacing improves readability and should be proportional to inter-word spacing; 1.5/150% is preferable.
    • Use text boxes or borders for headings or to highlight important text.

      Department of Biochemistry