Learning and Teaching: Essential Guides
Learning and Teaching Essential Guides
No 9: Teaching Students who have Vision Impairment The impact of vision impairment depends on the • Ask students about any adaptive technology type, extent and timing of the loss. Some students they may be using to access information have gradually lost vision over a number of years; or prepare assignments. It will always help others may have been visually impaired since birth. to understand just what is involved for a Students may also be light-sensitive, have low or particular student in the preparation of their limited vision, or have limited peripheral vision. work. Students with a significant visual impairment will • Students may have experienced past labelling often use a guide dog or white cane. However, and stigmatising. This can have a long-term many students may have a significant level of effect on confidence, self-esteem, and their impairment which is not immediately obvious. approach to learning. Students may use a range of adaptive equipment, • Negotiate about teaching and assessment for example magnifiers, close-circuit TV, or screenissues on the basis of individual need. reading software. It is important to recognise that You may like to consider negotiating with with some vision impairments, sight fluctuates. individual study contracts that allow students Some people who are declared legally visually to meet your expectations in different ways, impaired have some vision. Students may have ways that match their preferred learning style. some days when vision or light tolerance is much This ensures that the curriculum offered is better than on others. inclusive. Communicating with students with vision • Sometimes students may set unrealistically impairment high standards for themselves, and so you • When communicating with students may need to help them focus on more with vision impairment it is important to realistic and achievable standards and goals. acknowledge that they are students first This process will be assisted if you make and foremost, not ‘victims’, ‘sufferers’ or your expectations clear and explicit. If you ‘conditions’. Difficulties may not always be have negotiated any adaptation to teaching obvious. or assessment with the student, it is good practice for both student and staff member to • Do not speak in other than a normal speaking have a written record of that decision. voice to students who are visually impaired. • Identify yourself by name, in case the person does not recognise your voice, and indicate verbally whenever you are entering or leaving the student’s presence. Keep doors closed or open, corridors clear, and keep objects in their usual place unless you inform the student that they have been moved.
Learning and Teaching: Essential Guides
Teaching a group of students that includes • The vision of some students may be affected by the glare from fluorescent lights or sunlight, students with vision impairment and so you may need to attend to some • We often take for granted the amount of aspects of your teaching environment. This visual information received every day. Many should be done unobtrusively. visually impaired students do not have a Teaching staff should ensure that they are familiar lifetime of visual experiences to draw upon. It with the requirements of the following legislation may be necessary to consider the amount of relating to disability: Equality and Diversity Act assumed visual content in your subject when 2010. Details may be found on the Equality Tab designing learning tasks. on Portia. • Do not make students over-anxious about Queries regarding the needs of individual students making mistakes, asking questions, getting should be referred to the Disability and Dyslexia through the work, or participating generally. Services Tel: (external) 01243 812076 (Internal) It may be necessary for students with 2076 or to the Sensory Impairments Advisor on significant vision impairment to have an 01243 81245, e-mail sensadvisor@chi.ac.uk individual orientation to laboratory equipment or computers in order to minimise the anxiety likely in an unfamiliar environment. • For students with vision impairment your teaching style will need to be ‘verbal’. Think about how to communicate information to students who cannot see what you are doing. You will need to articulate what is written on the whiteboard and in Powerpoint presentations • Talk through any calculations as they are made or procedures as they are carried out. Read any printed information, and describe any charts or graphs being used. Additionally, this information will need to be available in written form so that it can be transcribed for Braille and large-print readers, and referred to at a later date for revision or assignments. This information will need to be forwarded in good time to the Sensory Impairment Advisor in the Disability and Dyslexia Service as adaptations can take considerable time. • Tutors should ensure that academic activities which take place off-campus (such as industry visits, interviews or field work) provide full opportunities for inclusiveness. • Inform the student if you plan to use videos, and discuss alternative ways of acquiring the necessary information.
Centre for Learning and Teaching/Disability and Dyslexia Service Enhancement Guides The University promotes an inclusive approach to learning and teaching, based on equity and equal entitlement. The university’s aim is to increase the proportion of students who are currently under-represented in higher education in order to widen participation and its objective is to provide suitable facilities, and implement policies that enable all students to undertake and complete their studies successfully.