A University Perspective
HREOC Forum
Accessible Tertiary Materials
Professor Sue Johnston
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning),
· This Forum is a very timely and welcome initiative from the perspective of universities, as we find ourselves grappling not only with the increasing costs of transcription services but also with many organisational issues of meeting the needs of students who require these services. Until now, there has been a sense that universities have been grappling with these issues alone, when a more co-ordinated approach could bring substantial benefits to all parties.
· There should be little doubt that universities and their staff are committed to providing equitable educational opportunities for all their students. This commitment comes not only from the legislative requirements but also very much from the shared values which underpin these requirements.
· However, despite all the goodwill, the practicalities of enacting those commitments are often not so easily achieved.
· Whether or not one believes the current debate that Australian universities are in crisis, there are few people (students and staff) within universities who do not have first hand experience of the substantial funding pressures that are being experienced across the board in higher education. The escalating costs of transcription services, like costs of all services, are being scrutinised to see if savings can be made. I should add that all essential services are coming under this scrutiny. For example, in almost all universities there is current discussion about the escalating costs of library acquisitions caused by high costs of serial subscriptions and the low value of the Australian dollar.
· One of the pressures on universities is the need (and, indeed, desirability) to cater for students with very diverse learning requirements. Students with visual disabilities, and also those requiring special arrangements for access to print materials for other reasons, are only one (quite small) aspect of this diversity. A recent survey undertaken on behalf of the Tasmanian Regional Disability Liaison Officer Initiative had responses from 25 universities that indicated a total of 270 students currently accessing transcription services at those universities (ranging from 1 to 40 students at any one university). Estimated costs ranged from an average of $1,300 to $10,000 per student, with $45,000 reported as being spent on one particular student in one semester. Given the small number of students requiring transcription services at any one university at any one time, it is not surprising to find an absence of well-oiled procedures in place. It is often the case that each time a student requires this service, new contacts have to be made and new procedures established.
· There is no doubt that timely access to special print resources and associated support is essential for students with visual disabilities or associated requirements. The success of these students in their university courses relies on universities fulfilling their obligations to provide such materials. However, there can easily be a mismatch between the central focus of these students and the central focus of some academics. The reality of life in universities is that most academics do not see print resources as the primary focus of the teaching/learning process. For academics in universities such as mine, the primary focus is on organising face-to-face interactions with students in lectures, tutorials and practical sessions. Print resources are planned around these and are a supplement or even an add-on. In many cases, there is a strong view that an important aspect of studying a discipline is developing the skills of finding the resources to support that study. Concerted professional development is often required to change these attitudes and to suggest alternative teaching approaches that do not disadvantage some students.
· Add to this the cycle of teaching activity which puts the primary focus on the current semester or the semester just about to start and it is not difficult to see why academics find the long lead-times for transcription services very difficult to meet. Many academics pride themselves on up-dating their subjects each semester and this can mean last minute changes to the written documentation and often changes to reading lists.
· Universities that specialise in distance education are a notable exception to this description. Here, the focus of teaching and learning is very much on print resources. However, having been responsible for the distance education operations in one university, I am only too well aware of the battle to have academics meet very long lead-lines in that situation as well.
· Having presented this somewhat pessimistic view of the realities of life in universities, I would like to move to some more positive developments.
· The rapid move of universities across to embrace online teaching delivery offers great potential to address the issues being discussed at this Forum. The increased access for students to a wide range of digital resources, including those designed in-house as well as through publishers and the Internet more generally, will benefit all students in our universities. This is an example of a well-supported, mainstream initiative that will have direct benefits to students with special requirements for print materials and, indeed, to all students.· Associated with these online teaching developments, there is increasingly a sharing of responsibility for provision of teaching resources across several parts of the university. For example, libraries are well placed to advise academics on which resources are available in formats most accessible to students and need to take on that responsibility to a greater extent. Many universities are also considering content management systems so that their digital teaching resources are available for re-use and can be managed more efficiently, thus increasing their accessibility.
· In moving towards accessible digital resources, universities would find it helpful to have more guidance about the minimum level of resources to which all students should have access. Funding could then be allocated to special circumstances in which higher levels of support are required. More co-ordination of experience and specialist expertise across the sector would also be helpful. Of particular value would be funding for strategic projects to individual universities or consortia aimed at developing the expertise, procedures and materials needed to cater successfully for students with specific equity needs.
· In summary, I believe the way to address many of the issues raised today is not generally to perpetuate approaches that set up special arrangements for individual students, but rather to work towards inclusive teaching practices, especially in the online teaching area. If we succeed in this direction, all students will have access to a wide range of learning resources and information in digital form and all students will benefit. Having this as a mainstream activity is the key to gaining support.