Episode 32- Accessible Assessment Instructions
0-0:12 Orthotonics Accessible as Gravity plays and fades out
0:13 Hello and welcome to Accessagogy a podcast about accessibility and pedagogy. I’m your host Ann Gagné and this podcast is recorded on land covered by the Upper Canada Treaties and within land protected by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Agreement, which is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples.
0:35 Welcome to episode thirty-two. In this episode we’re going to talk about what accessible assessment instructions could look like and things to think about when we’re providing instructions to learners so that we can support them. I know a lot of the conversations that I’m seeing in online spaces or even in passing conversations between educators not just in HigherEd but in all eduspace is about how we get learners to understand the task at hand.
1:02 This kind of conversation tends to go along with conversations about getting learners to read, whether it be assignment instructions or materials for the course. So today I am going to break down some things to think about in terms of what assessment instructions should strive for and maybe help support the kind of disconnect that we’re seeing, that some are saying that they’re seeing or experiencing in their eduspaces. Basically, I hope this episode kinda debunks the whole reading discourse that we’re seeing right now and reframe it as a conversation about design, and organization and just overall frameworks.
1:44 So First point, we have talked a lot in this podcast about accessible documentation and it’s very important that assessment instructions are accessible in terms of the document itself. So whether that be a Word document that gets uploaded into the LMS (the learning management system) or if the instructions are given in that LMS directly, all that information needs to be done in a way that’s accessible in an accessible format. So that means awareness of titles, headings, and if something like a table is used then that is formatted accessibly as well. I’ll link to a resource about how to support inclusive tables, but I also want to put the idea out there that it’s more accessible to not put thing in a table unless they really need to be in a table. A lot of this is very contextual to your course and discipline specific so maybe reflecting on what the table is used for and one thing that you can do to make it a little bit more accessible along with titles and headings and font types and sizes, all of that is important to the instructions we are creating.
2:54 Again we’ve had a lot of conversations about fonts and types and sizes on this podcast and how most stick to 11 or 12 font and a sans serif font. And then again there are different fonts that folk have used and can use like heaver bottom fonts like the dyslexie font and some say that can support dyslexic learners, but also some LMS or even Word documents will allow learners to change the font of the document so that it’s one that is more accessible or meaningful to them. So that should be an option as well.
3:29 Second point, include the alignment to course learning outcomes in your assignments. Give the students a why and what your assignment is about and why you’re assigning it. They want to know the point of the work they are doing to produce and how that relates to the larger course outcomes and even if the skills that they’re going to be using can be transferable to other areas and other scopes of practice.
3:56 Third point, if there is a series of ways that the students should be doing the work, like first do this thing, then do that thing, then have it as the document, on the document itself, like a list or a point form to support that series. It’s not you know, it unnecessarily complicates instructions by putting things into a paragraph form if they don’t need to be. And I know that I can hear folk saying well you know you’re trying to make this too easy or some kind of argument about rigour. And I guess my response to that is if your idea of rigour is a convoluted set of instructions then maybe we need to reflect on what rigour is. Is this some disciplinary gauntlet type stuff, or signature pedagogy lore?
4:45 Anyway just number the steps clearly and if there is a reason as to why they should be in that order explain why that is in a concise manner.
4:55 And this concise manner takes me to point four, which is try to keep your instructions to about two pages long maximum. Again I can hear some folk saying oh that’s not enough space for everything. And so I guess my question back is so if the instructions for the assignment are longer than 2 pages why is that? Is this an assignment that actually should be broken up into two or maybe even three parts instead?
5:20 The longer and the more points that need to go through, that the students need to go through to complete the assignment, the more chances are that the output will actually not be what you intended and maybe you end up evaluating their ability to go through the points as opposed to the analyzing or creating or whatever you wanted to assess originally. I mean unless you are literally teaching something like “Follow the numbers 101” this is an important part of assignments yes, but should not be the main thing that you’re evaluating.
5:55 Point five, include the rubric for the assignment either as a separate page (so okay this can be your third page of your document) or something embedded in your learning management system. This will allow the learners to guide themselves through the different aspects of the assignment as they work through drafts. And also if you could go through the rubric with the class as well that would be really helpful. As I mentioned in the episode about accessible rubrics, often this will be the first time that a learner will see a rubric or maybe even see a rubric like the one that you have, such as analytical rubric versus the kind of point form rubrics that maybe they’ve seen in high school or elementary school. So going over the rubric in class is as important as going over the instructions.
6:42 So finally point six, record yourself explaining the instructions. So this can be in a video where you share screen, or even a 1-2 minute audio file (with captions and transcripts please). You can do this when you’re happy with the assignment instructions so early in the term and upload that video or audio into your learning management system. Or you can wait until the assignment is explained in class and then upload that information. I teach an online course so I audio record all the instructional and information points anyway so it’s fairly easy for me to do this, but for others who teach in person or on campus this may be something that is more intentionally part of your lesson planning and your design process.
7:29 So that’s it, that’s episode 32 of Accessagogy, with a discussion of what to do with your instruction documents and how to make your instructions for assessments more accessible and inclusive.
7:41 Remember that I want this to be a space where you can ask questions and share concepts that you’d like me to discuss. So if there’s anything that I’ve mentioned here about accessible assessment instructions or if you have any good examples of instructions that you’ve created or seen out in the wilds of eduspace and you would like me to flag those please let me know.
8:02 As always if you have any ideas or aspects of your pedagogy that you’d like me to address in this podcast, please feel free to send me an email at Accessagogy so that’s acc e ss a gogy at gmail dot com. I will try to include as many of these suggestions as possible in the podcast because ultimately, this podcast is for you. So that’s it, that’s episode 32 of Accessagogy, thanks so much for following along and asking how can I make my space more accessible today? Have a great week!