Teaching

Accessibility in teaching

Barrier-free / diversity-sensitive teaching "is a form of teaching in which as many students as possible can participate with equal opportunities without having to approach [the lecturers] separately in order to

• to "come out" or
• ask for "special conditions".

Students with disabilities do not ask for "special requests" and should not be excluded in terms of location, space or content. When implementing barrier-free teaching, [lecturers] do not act with "goodwill", "niceness" or "less rigour", but implement the university's obligation to provide barrier-free studies." (https://barrierefreielehre.univie.ac.at/einfuehrung/)

How different teaching formats can be made (more) accessible: Further information can be found on the website of the University of Vienna.

Digital accessibility in teaching is the topic of a video which is part of the iMooX course 'Gut durch den Hochschul-Alltag: diversitätssensibel, vor(ur)teilsbewusst und inklusiv’ (‘Getting through everyday university life well: diversity-sensitive, pre(original)-conscious and inclusive’).

The course, which was created by the University of Graz in 2022, is available free of charge as an OER (Open Education Resources) offering. It “makes the diversity of experiences in everyday (university) life and the diversity of people at the university visible. It offers suggestions for a more sensitive perception and for reflecting on one’s own position within the existing power relations. In the nine lessons of the MOOC, possible challenges in everyday university life relating to gender, race, class, disability, religion, etc. are highlighted. There are explanations of everything that happens when people work together at the university, as well as (action) suggestions for an inclusive, bias-free and non-discriminatory way of working together.”

Creating accessible documents

The accessibility of courses can be increased by providing documents that are designed according to accessibility criteria. On the "Accessible teaching" page on the University of Vienna website you willl find more information on how to make Word documents, PowerPoint presentations or PDF documents accessible.