Introduction
According to Advanced HE, students with visual and hearing impairments and those who fall within the autism spectrum “can be disadvantaged by their campus environment” (2024). Previously, I wrote about the challenges we face when teaching in the jewellery workshops at LCF due to barriers to learning created by the constraints of the workshops.
Intervention
One of the main challenges is demonstrating at the bench effectively to large cohorts of students, the solution to this is to have a set-up in which we can film the demonstration live and have it projected on the screens in the workshops. Setting up a system like this is the intervention that I want to implement.
I have been in touch with AV support at LCF since last term, recently we come up with a short-term solution for this challenge (pictured above). A video camera set-up with transmitters connected to the screens. Although not ideal due to the number of cables involved and limited reach, this is already better. Once perfected this will mean that students can watch the demonstration live on both screens.
In an ideal world at the start of next term we would have ceiling cameras set-up in both teaching rooms (budget allowing), as some other workshops at LCF have (pictured below). I have requested support from technical management in pursuing the installation of ceiling cameras for the next academic year.
Conclusion
Having a camera set-up that can project and zoom in during demonstrations eliminates some physical barriers to learning. This set-up also allows for the creation of new video resources, recording demonstrations for Moodle for posterity (in which closed captioning can be added) and taking stills for handouts and PowerPoints. I am hopeful that this small intervention will make a meaningful difference to our students leaning experiences.
References
Allan, B. (2016) Emerging strategies for supporting Student Learning: A practical guide for librarians and educators. London: Facet Publishing, p. 19-31.
Advanced HE (2024)., Sensory access in higher education (2009). Available at: https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.creode.advancehe-document-manager/documents/ecu/Sensory-access-in-higher-education-guidance_1573998794.pdf (Accessed 26 May 2025).
Cascaval, R.C. (2008). EVALUATING THE BENEFITS OF PROVIDING ARCHIVED ONLINE LECTURES TO IN-CLASS MATH STUDENTS. Available at: https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v12i3.65. (Accessed 26th May 2025).
University of the Arts London (no date) Disability Inclusion Toolkit, Canvas.arts.ac.uk. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/sites/explore/SitePage/45680/disability-inclusion-toolkit (Accessed: 25th May 2025).
University of the Arts London (2019) Using Moodle for Access and Inclusion, Canvas.arts.ac.uk. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/62ea1f01-8ad6-4691-a420-e90767dc280f (Accessed: 25th May 2025).
University of the Arts London (2019) Recording taught session, Canvas.arts.ac.uk. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/7694686e-ff31-4cb0-a92a-ff3fe7e3d3c6 (Accessed: 25th May 2025).
Dear Emilia
I hope that you are well and appreciate your engagement with the formative submission and feedback. The format for this formative feedback is a 300-word maximum summary with 3 questions and or provocations supported by a resource for each item.
Please find below my feedback, which I hope that you find useful:
LO1: Critically evaluate institutional, national and global perspectives of equality and diversity in relation to your academic practice context. [Enquiry] – You have made an impressive start to the task of critically evaluating institutional and national perspectives on equality and diversity in relation to your pedagogic practice, particularly in relation to students with visual and hearing impairments and those who fall within the autism spectrum.
LO2: Manifest your understanding of practices of inequity, their impact, and the implications for your professional context. [Knowledge] – The intervention plan has begun to manifest your understanding, gained from teaching practice, of how inequities can impact students and what the implications might be for you as tutor and for your teaching context. I wonder if it is worth thinking further in terms of the implications of your proposal upon architectural space and architectural design as well as spaces of pedagogy; there is a critique of all three of these issues embedded into your proposal – as well as an implicit positive appraisal of technology for learning; what would happen if you framed the proposal more explicitly around these issues?
LO3: Articulate the development of your positionality and identity through the lens of inclusive practices. [Communication] – Having seen other posts in your blog which very clearly articulate and reflect upon your positionality, I do wonder if your positionality and articulation of your identity is somewhat omitted or absent from this proposal at this stage? Could you bring elements of other blog posts into this submission somehow?
LO4: Enact a sustainable transformation that applies intersectional social justice within your practice. [Realisation] – You are already quite clearly enacting a potentially powerful transformation that applies to social justice within your pedagogic practice. Could you reflect more on intersectional social injustice – perhaps refer to my feedback point 2 re. evaluating from a global perspective (where race and possibly gender might impact upon your findings). Also, how could this transformation be made sustainable and enduring?
Finally, please find some further questions as provocations to support the development of your intervention:
• In our tutorial you asked a very beautiful question: when does / should reflection happen? You asked for resources in relation to reflective writing.
I found this guide:
https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/reflectivepracticetoolkit/reflectivewriting
and also this article seems very interesting:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2025.2463517
• I wonder if there is scope to critically evaluate from a more global perspective in regard to the intervention you suggest? What might that look like? I am thinking, for example, of some of my own Chinese students, particularly young women, being sensitive to cameras in the classroom due to feeling monitored by CCTV at college in their home country; this is only one example, but would it be worth checking with students from different backgrounds how they feel about the presence of the cameras?
• In our tutorial we discussed possible changes to make to sharpen the communication in the intervention; as stated before, the intervention plan is clearly articulated and engaging, but it’s worth considering whether there is scope to make it more accessible eg. using bullet points etc. and by including more references and / or specific details relating to your lived pedagogical experiences.
Regards and take care,
Linda
Intervention
Hi Emilia
I know we are meeting on Monday but just wanted to give you some initial thoughts. As a Specialist Tutor working with neurodiverse students, issues relating to the challenges of some learning spaces come up a lot. Your solution speaks to your technical abilities and problem-solving skills. It looks very achievable and in the spirit of inclusive practice will make the learning experience better for all the students.
You mention students on the spectrum. Some students I work with prefer working online rather than in workshops. I have no idea whether this intervention could be beamed online as well as on screens in the room. Maybe this is something we can discuss at our peer presentation meeting.
Best as always.
Fran