Keeping it Old School? Move it in a New Direction! Strategies for an Inclusive, Synchronous Lecture Delivery

Handouts

Presented at 10:30am in Colorado G-H on Friday, November 10, 2023.

#38182

Speaker(s)

  • Celine Greene, Senior Digital Teaching and Learning Strategist, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Toni Picker, Senior Learning and Systems Integration Designer, Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals, Johns Hopkins University

Session Details

  • Length of Session: 1-hr
  • Format: Lecture
  • Expertise Level: All Levels
  • Type of session: General Conference

Summary

This session will discuss dismantling barriers that are too often found in the traditional lecture. Take-aways include best practices towards delivering accessible, inclusive lecture presentations. Our lectures should be an engaging experience that reaches everyone. This means going beyond accessibility and other considerations in our handouts and artifacts. In fact, we need to plan for the manner in which we present, and carefully consider how and what we display.

Abstract

To move forward, we need to break with tradition. As presenters and lecturers, we are bombarded with expectations and guidance to verify our presentation slides, handouts, and any other associated resources are digitally accessible. These checks are in place for our “old school” legacy lectures in face-to-face and hybrid courses, our conference proceedings, and even the seemingly ubiquitous asynchronous recordings. However, even when we strive to meet these success criteria, we reinforce barriers by employing comfortable, yet outdated, delivery practices. Of course, we want our presentations to be engaging, but if we’re only making connections with some and not allowing everyone to be psychologically invested, we are failing.

The inclusiveness of our presentations is somewhat controlled and limited by the environment and technologies available, but as the presenters we will always have a responsibility in our delivery that can’t be fixed after-the-fact. Moreover, we need to plan for and even rehearse the manner in which we present, and carefully consider how and what we display.

Our session will begin with defining the scope of inclusion, including accessibility, in a synchronous lecture. We will then engage the audience to discuss barriers that we all may have witnessed or encountered. These barriers may be due to different perspectives; temporary, permanent, or situational abilities; languages; or a host of other identities and experiences. Moving forth we will select a subset of these barriers to discuss how they may be avoided in a presentation, working together to build insights and discoveries beyond our own. Lastly, the presenters will share a living document that will start with a set of pre-defined lecture delivery best practices and grow to incorporate the crowd-sourced techniques.

Keypoints

  1. The traditional sage on the stage has no place in learning until and unless accessible practices are embraced.
  2. Accessible experiences are not just digital.
  3. While there are no pre-defined success criteria, there are a set of best practices for inclusive lectures

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Accessible Course Design, Accessible Educational Materials, Faculty Development & Support, Teaching about Accessibility in Curriculum, Uncategorized, Universal Design for Learning

Speaker Bio(s)

Celine Greene

Celine is Senior Digital Teaching and Learning Strategist within the Center for Teaching and Learning at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She helps lead others toward innovative, inclusive solutions in online learning. In 2018, she was named the Hopkins Universal Design for Learning (HUDL) Initiative’s Ambassador for the Bloomberg School. And in 2022, she was appointed a member of the JHU Diversity Leadership Council (DLC). As HUDL Ambassador, she champions UDL awareness and practice. As DLC member, she advises university leadership, encouraging programs supporting diversity and inclusion. Both responsibilities tie into her expertise specializing in technology integration where she emphasizes accessible, inclusive learning experiences.

Toni Picker

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonipicker/

Handout(s)