Dr Zahara Batool is a Lecturer in Urban Systems & School Academic Lead for Inclusive Pedagogies (SALIP) in the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds
The Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) is one of the UK’s leading departments for transport teaching and research, and welcomes a diverse range of international students each year for its Master’s courses.
Why accessibility is important
Our motivation for our work digital inclusivity is driven by the need to meet the accessibility requirements of all our learners, whether or not they have disabilities, and we’re especially keen to hear about the needs of disabled international students.
One important issue we’ve found is the high non-disclosure of disabilities among this group, with cultural differences, stigma, and lack of awareness about available support contributing to this. As a result, many international students may struggle to access course materials and navigate digital systems effectively.
Recognising the importance of digital accessibility for all our students, we started work to create a more inclusive digital environment for ITS. By looking at previous data and feeding back progress to meet and support institutionally agreed inclusivity and accessibility priorities, we worked to make Minerva an accessible and welcoming virtual learning environment for our learners.
Building accessibility in Minerva
As the School Academic Lead for Inclusive Pedagogies (SALIP), I began to monitor and understand the digital accessibility of our module content. Although the School has made significant progress in meeting the Inclusive Baseline Standards, it showed several areas where accessibility could be improved. These included further work on Module Accessibility Statements, incomplete Ally scores, and the need for digital accessibility training and support for staff.
Working together to make changes in ITS
I collaborated with the Faculty of Environment Digital Education Enhancement team (ENV DEE) and the Director of Student Education at ITS to inform our local action plan with the aim of achieving a Green Ally score for all ITS modules, and to ensure that all staff can understand, measure, and improve the digital accessibility of their teaching resources.
As a result, Digital inclusivity is now identified as a core expectation and priority for all our student education activities in the ITS Inclusive Practice Action Plan and work is in progress to integrate this into the main School Action Plan.
What has changed
To achieve our goals, we’ve embedded several baseline activities since the beginning of the 2024/25 academic year. These activities include:
- checking that required items, such as reading lists and accessibility statements, are present in all modules
- identifying modules with low Ally scores
- sharing resources via email about improving digital accessibility
- providing one-on-one support for module leaders in developing their accessibility statements
- and delivering tailored training for ITS staff to develop their digital capabilities.
As a result, our initial reviews of the ITS Minerva Dashboard revealed that all ITS modules have the required information. Feedback, especially from new members of teaching staff, shows that they found these support activities really useful.
Next Steps for Digital Accessibility
For the next academic year, we plan to deliver further training for staff on creating inclusive learning resources, with a focus on building and integrating module reading lists into learning units in Minerva and working with module leaders with low Ally scores to identify quick fixes. We’re also planning to offer a Course Accessibility Service to help resolve accessibility issues.
During this process, we’ve also learned that the Ally Score is not always the best indicator of accessibility in module areas. We need to provide tailored support to modules that are heavy with data and statistical analysis or reliant on external web sources and to address this, ENV DEE is supporting us to create bitesize enhancement videos.
With our commitment to deliver the Leeds Curriculum Framework and prioritising digital accessibility at ITS, our efforts reflect the University’s broader mission of providing an inclusive and supportive educational environment where every student can succeed.
Leave a comment