Case Study: OPERA: Improving access to learning for all

1. Case Study: OPERA: Improving access to learning for all Alison Dean and Ben Watson, University of Kent

2. Overview • The OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project • Implementing accessibility initiatives to raise awareness of inclusive design and assistive technologies • Shifting towards anticipatory reasonable adjustments and inclusive practice by design to tackle accessibility barriers at source • Working collaboratively with Jisc to develop a practice-based model for inclusive information delivery applying Jisc theoretical approaches • Using external best practice, support and networking to drive the institution’s knowledge and capabilities to develop its own practices

3. OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) project

4. Background • Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) changes • Identify risks and opportunities, recognise potential efficiencies and savings • Improve the experience for everyone • Branding the project as OPERA (Opportunity, Productivity, Engagement, Reducing barriers, Achievement) was significant

5. The beginning… • Wouldn’t it be better if we just made things work for everyone from the start?

6. Working in partnership with Jisc • Enabling collaborative development of a practice-based model for inclusive information delivery applying Jisc theoretical approaches • Sense of best practice across the sector • Helping Jisc to develop a diagnostic tool

7. Senior management sponsorship • To champion the project • To bring it to the attention of members of the executive team and committees reporting to Senate • To keep it on the agenda • To facilitate cross-University engagement • To identify local and portfolio champions

8. Linking existing cultures • There were a number of projects across the university – from lecture capture to the Student Success Project – that fitted really well with what we were trying to achieve and it made sense to work together • Involvement from across the range of University activities brought multiple perspectives which meant broader thinking about opportunities to embed accessibility: resource discovery, academic repositories and archives, TEF and REF • “It’s great when other people see the value accessibility brings to their own processes”

9. Assemble a team  • Bring together people who can represent different views, influence different areas and share responsibilities/actions • The OPERA steering group has been very important in representing different interests and opportunities. It has also allowed us to weave together accessibility practices so they integrate into existing systems, policies and practices

10. Anticipating not reacting • Shifting towards anticipatory reasonable adjustments and inclusive practice by design to tackle accessibility barriers at source • Using external best practice, support and networking to drive the institution’s knowledge and capabilities to develop its own practices • University of Edinburgh • ‘The Kent Edinburghs’ • KIPs

11. What is inclusive practice? • Being inclusive is about offering services that are designed to work well for everyone

12. How do you practice inclusively? Three key vehicles to achieve inclusive learning:  • Individual reasonable adjustments • Anticipatory reasonable adjustments • Inclusive practice

13. Kent Inclusive Practices (KIPs) data

14. The power of KIPs • Kent Inclusive Practices (KIPs) offer guidance on simple but powerful mainstream adjustments to learning and teaching delivery at Kent and are informed by analysis of our most frequently requested Inclusive Learning Plan (ILP) adjustments.

15. Kent Inclusive Practices (KIPs) • Maximise electronic resources • Make documents easy to navigate and understand • Make presentations meaningful • Provide alternative media but make it accessible • Make assessments accessible • Promote productivity tools

16. Embedding KIPs into standard processes • Move from private adjustments for individuals to public entitlements for all – the things any member of university community (disabled or not) should be able to expect of a 21st century institution. • Module and programme specifications • Presence in the right places • KIPs in Inclusive Learning Plans (ILPs) • Closing the circle – peer to peer influence • Paving the way for Blackboard Ally

17. Listen and learn • Find out where good practice already exists and identify pockets of expertise in different roles and departments from student services to e-learning teams, procurement, libraries and academics. • If everyone does their little bit, the institutional impacts can be huge • Raise awareness: Online accessibility literacy module • Alternative Formats process

18. Ally: Accessibility as business as usual

19. Raising awareness of the potential for inclusive design and assistive technologies • Better to make a small change soon that benefits people straight away than spend years negotiating bigger changes that thousands miss out on in the meantime • Quite early on we incorporated Sensus Access into our processes for information delivery to enable everyone at Kent • As we explored new assistive technologies we made them available to everyone through our productivity tools pages

20. The power of procurement: accessibility by default • Proactively tackling barriers upstream • Collective buying power • Addressing the market with one voice and incentivising to meet the needs of our users • Working collaboratively with suppliers • After all, we are paying for a service for all of our users!

21. Steps

22. Further opportunities • The Public Sector Web Accessibility Regulations.

23. Contact Alison Dean A.Dean@kent.ac.uk Ben Watson b.watson@kent.ac.uk