Keywords

1 Introduction: Digital Accessibility in Higher Education

University teachers are particularly challenged in the context of digitally supported teaching and learning [3]. Digitization processes open up both new potential and challenges. In view of the increasing heterogeneity of students at German universities, the risks with regard to comprehensive technical and didactic accessibility of teaching must be addressed [1, 8]. In order to guarantee the right to equal participation, increasingly digitalized university teaching must be accessible to all students.

Although accessibility is enshrined in policy and/or law worldwide, the requirements are still insufficiently implemented in everyday university life [10]. Despite the obligation arising from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to make universities a place of non-discriminatory participation for all students through accessibility and reasonable accommodation, students with disabilities continue to encounter barriers. These relate to structural, communicative, organizational and didactic factors and prevent equal opportunities for students [4]. This applies not only to individual students, but to an increasingly large group. In summer 2021, around 16% of students in Germany reported an impairment that made studying difficult, compared to 8% and 11% in 2011 and 2016 respectively [4]. Similar figures can also be seen in other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom (11%), while in the USA the figure is as high as 21.9% [10].

The increasing number of students with disabilities or more difficult study conditions point to the urgency of anchoring digital accessibility in university teaching. Education policy in Germany has responded by launching a series of initiatives and funding projects for digital accessibility at universities. This is because expertise in the areas of equality, diversity and accessibility can counteract the risk of reproducing and reinforcing disadvantage and discrimination through digitalization in the university context [7].

Current projects are mostly aimed at students and teachers. For example, the Kompetenzzentrum digitale Barrierefreiheit.NRWFootnote 1 was founded for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The Uni digital & inklusivFootnote 2 project at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt Oder also provides various services to promote digital accessibility at German universities. All projects offer support for students in reducing barriers in teaching, address individual needs and work together to find access and solutions. Among other things, training and advisory services are developed and provided for teachers in the implementation of inclusive teaching. The creation of accessible teaching and learning material (PDF, PPT, videos) is also part of the support developed in the projects. However, it should be noted that the offers are usually not made available in a bundled form, meaning that teachers have to obtain information from various platforms.

This is where the package of accessible teaching materials developed in the SHUFFLE joint project comes in. Central assistance and materials for teachers are bundled in a learning management system and thus offer a low-threshold solution for increasing digital accessibility in university teaching. In addition, the material package not only provides concrete implementation aids for digital accessibility, but also content that is intended to help raise awareness. They therefore take into account the specific needs of teachers. The basis is the Universal Design before Learning (UDL) model (see chapter 3).

2 Needs Analysis: Results of a Teacher Survey

In order to gain more detailed insights into accessible, digital teaching, an empirical needs analysis was carried out as part of the SHUFFLE joint project in spring 2022. To this end, a standardized online questionnaire survey (N = 179) was conducted at the four universitiesFootnote 3 participating in the project at the beginning of 2022. Among other things, the questionnaire asked about the level of knowledge, personal attitudes and experiences regarding digital accessibility.

In addition, 30- to 60-min guided interviews were conducted with six teachers from the four universities. The sample was interdisciplinary and covered as wide a range of experiences as possible in terms of teaching formats and experiences. The interviews focused on the key question of how teachers deal with digital barriers in their teaching. In addition to the individual understanding of digital accessibility, the researchers were particularly interested in the assessment of possibilities, opportunities and risks in the implementation of digital accessibility as well as wishes and challenges for the future. The qualitative data was evaluated using content analysis [6], while frequency counts were carried out for the quantitative data. The overall results paint a comprehensive and detailed picture of the importance of digital accessibility for the respondents as well as their motivation, wishes and concerns regarding implementation [5].

Teachers’ knowledge proved to be a key factor influencing the implementation of digitally accessible teaching. The question about the subjective assessment of the level of knowledge about digital accessibility shows that just under 6% of teachers ascribe extensive knowledge to themselves. The majority of respondents (58%) ranked their own knowledge in the middle range and more than a third (36%) ascribed very little knowledge to themselves. In the free text responses, some of the teachers also stated that they did not feel that they knew enough to identify all possible barriers. The subjectively perceived low level of knowledge is also reflected in the qualitative data. Overall, although teachers are fundamentally aware of many aspects of digital accessibility, in-depth knowledge is only available in isolated cases.

When explicitly asked about difficulties in designing accessible teaching materials, a lack of knowledge about implementation was also mentioned in addition to time-related difficulties. One interviewee summarized: “The main problem, however, is that many others, like me, probably don’t know exactly what I have to do to ensure accessibility”.

The attitude of teachers towards digital, accessible teaching can be identified as another influencing factor. Both the quantitative data and the analysis of the qualitative interviews confirm the sometimes-contradictory attitudes of teachers. On the one hand, teachers fear the disproportionate additional work involved in implementing digital accessibility. Teachers express concerns and doubts about the implementation of digital accessibility, particularly with regard to the additional time (67%), technical (54%) and didactic (34%) effort involved. Various statements in the interviews with teachers support this information. In addition, some teachers express considerable doubts about the relevance of the topic. For example, teachers ask in the survey: “Accessible, for whom?” and thus highlight concerns about actual occasions.

Despite the extensive concerns and doubts, on the other hand, there appears to be an awareness of and interest in digital accessibility as well as a willingness to engage with and provide further training on these topics. The majority of the teachers interviewed were in favor of integrating this topic into university didactics: “I do believe that we should get involved and agree on a minimum level of accessibility that can be implemented.” The quantitative survey also illustrates a fundamental interest in further education courses on digital accessibility. For example, 64.25% of respondents stated that they would be interested in a corresponding offer.

The question of what teachers would like to see in terms of digital accessibility in teaching opens up clear starting points for the implementation of the materials package. In addition to more time or personnel resources, teachers would primarily like to see “measures that are easy to implement”, “tools that are easy and time-saving to use” and “guidelines with brief explanations” with “examples and descriptions of use”. Teachers’ limited knowledge can be assumed to be one reason for doubts about the balance between (additional) effort and (added) value. However, the willingness of teachers to expand their knowledge through further or advanced training can be seen as an opportunity not only to expand the skills of teachers and thus minimize the additional workload, but above all to sensitize them to the needs of students and thus emphasize the importance of digital accessibility.

The results of the survey in the context of the discussion about a (digital) university for all make it clear that teachers need to be qualified for the cross-cutting issues of digitalization and heterogeneity in the context of university teaching and the associated challenges. It is also clear that teachers need more intensive support at various levels in this regard. As outlined above, they primarily need technical and didactic skills to design digitally accessible teaching. The findings of the needs analysis were used to develop support measures for digital teaching that is as accessible as possible and were incorporated into the development of the materials package.

3 Material Package: Implementing Digital Accessible Teaching

The aim of the material package developed in Shuffle is to open up low-threshold access to the complex topic of digital accessibility and to provide concrete assistance in designing digitally accessible university teaching. In addition to specific wishes and needs expressed by teachers in the surveys, the material package also takes into account findings with regard to the state of research on digital accessibility. It is therefore primarily aimed at teaching staff at universities and is intended to support them in designing accessible digital teaching. However, it can also serve as an aid for other university stakeholders in the design of accessible digital content.

The accessibility of this support is ensured by making all materials available in a learning management system (Open Moodle). This central collection enables uncomplicated and bundled availability of support aids: Materials for creating accessible documents (1) and materials for designing accessible teaching (2) as well as a topic-specific knowledge database (3).

The core of the material package consists of clear checklists on various aspects of accessible digital teaching. These provide tips and assistance for creating documents and teaching situations that are as accessible as possible. They contain simply formulated checkpoints to tick off as well as a supplementary implementation aid with detailed descriptions of the aspect. The material package is completed by the knowledge database.

Checklists for Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF are available for creating accessible documents. These checklists are primarily based on the European standard (EN 301 549) for digital accessibility, which specifies requirements for the accessibility of information and communication technology. However, in order to create legally compliant accessible documents, many technical criteria must be taken into account, some of which are less relevant in practice. For example, the requirements for video embedding were excluded from the Word checklist. In order to ensure the low-threshold nature of the checklists, some of these criteria, which are rarely used in practice, were not included in the lists. By reducing the checklists to the central criteria used in practice and adding didactically relevant checkpoints, checklists were created that are specifically adapted to everyday university teaching and the needs of teachers. In order to ensure clear orientation in the checklists, the checkpoints are also divided into different areas depending on the document format. For example, the checkpoints relate to general document settings, text, links, headings, graphics and tables (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
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Accessible Word checklist with links

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If help is needed with the implementation of individual aspects, users can use a link at each checkpoint to go directly to the implementation aids, which provide them with further information. This implementation aid contains a detailed description of the aspect to be checked off under the heading “What does this mean?”. The section “Why is it important?” describes which barriers are removed with the respective aspect and for which groups of people this is essential. Finally, under the heading “How can I implement/check this?” you will find detailed instructions on how to implement or check the respective aspect (see Fig. 2). The implementation guide therefore not only provides concrete support for the implementation of accessible document creation, but also raises awareness. Mentioning the groups of people who benefit from the various aspects can raise awareness of the fact that many more people benefit from accessibility than is apparent at first glance.

Fig. 2.
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Accessible Word implementation guide

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Several checklists have also been compiled in the material package for the design of accessible courses. On the one hand, information has been compiled to help design courses in the Moodle learning management system to be as accessible as possible. This includes both structural aspects (e.g. course format, table of contents, activities) and content-related aspects (e.g. materials used). As video productions such as instructional videos, screencasts or explanatory videos have also become a central component of digital university teaching, information is also compiled in a checklist to help make these video productions accessible. Further checklists are intended to support the planning of inclusive digital teaching. The various design aspects are structured according to the chronological course of the semester and the seminar and supplemented by measures and precautions for the atmosphere of an inclusive classroom (e.g. group size, diversity-sensitive communication). The points to be ticked off consist of instructions that can be implemented quickly and easily.

These checkpoints are also supplemented with information about which student groups find it particularly helpful to take these aspects into account. This is intended to raise awareness of different needs. At the same time, it shows that in terms of UDL, a large target group can benefit from small changes. UDL refers to the creation of teaching materials and learning environments that are designed from the outset to meet the needs of as many learners as possible, including students with disabilities [2]. In this respect, the integration of UDL concepts into higher education can help to create a more inclusive and accessible learning environment that meets the individual learning needs of all students. In this context, the importance of digital accessibility is particularly emphasized, as learning processes today are increasingly supported by digital technologies. In addition to illustrating the content, the presentation of good practice offers guidance. At the same time, examples of successful implementations serve as models of good practice and can therefore be motivating.

The knowledge database is a collection of further information on relevant topics of accessible, digital teaching. In addition to recommendations on the use of methods and social forms, information is also provided on accessible (specialist) literature, accessible language and compensating for disadvantages. The information is selected in such a way that it is relevant for teachers. Particularly in the case of complex topics, such as compensation for disadvantages, this means that some information is merely referenced. In many places, the knowledge database is also supported with examples of good practice, so that the transfer to your own teaching can be successful.

To enable flexible use, the content is available in various formats. All checklists are created as progress lists in the Moodle course. These progress lists make it easy to check them off digitally and also show the growth in accessibility (see Fig. 1). The detailed implementation aids and the knowledge database are laid out in book format. The division into chapters with links makes it easy to navigate and find the desired information quickly (see Fig. 2). The checklists and implementation aids are also available as accessible Word documents for download. In addition, the document checklists were implemented in an Office add-in (Word, PowerPoint, Excel Accessibility Checker - WEPAC), which can be integrated directly into the Office tools and thus into the workflows of the teachers (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
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Office add-in: WEPAC

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The entire material package is available in German and English under the Creative Commons License CCBY and is freely accessible as a Moodle course in German under the name “Materialpaket barrierefreie Lehre”Footnote 4 and in English under the name “Material package accessible teaching”Footnote 5.

In summary, the material package presented offers teachers a starting point on the topic of accessibility in digital university teaching. In particular, it addresses the obstacles that teachers perceive when designing accessible digital lessons. It offers low-threshold materials that teachers can use, even with limited time resources, to make their teaching as accessible as possible. The additional information helps to increase awareness and knowledge about accessibility. Based on the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the needs of as many people as possible are already taken into account during the development of the materials, so that major adaptations afterwards or (necessary) individual solutions are avoided. This ensures accessibility on a technical and didactic level from the outset. The materials also enable teachers to independently check their teaching materials for a certain degree of accessibility.

4 Conclusion and Outlook

With the material package, a solution approach was created to expand the skills of teachers at a low threshold to entry, to support them in the challenges of implementing accessible teaching and to sensitize them to the needs of students with individual impairments. At the same time, the use of the checklists and tips enables a large number of students to benefit from accessible content. This makes it possible to stimulate a change in values and culture. According to Rabbel and Porsche (2021), this can help to ensure that digital accessibility is actively and naturally considered and integrated into everyday university life in all status groups in the future. Awareness-raising and education are two important pillars for enabling all students to participate fully in everyday university life.

The material package was presented at Bielefeld University and in the context of several university didactic conferences and made available for testing. Encouragingly, a total of 94 people have registered to use the course so far, and 13 people have taken part in the evaluative feedback survey. The survey shows that despite a fundamental interest on the part of teachers to consider digital accessibility in teaching, given the low response rate, presumably only a few teachers have extensively tested the materials. Therefore, a central aspect in the integration of digital accessibility at the university is the accompanying guidance for teachers. This ensures that digital accessibility not only exists as a concept, but is firmly anchored in the structures of the universities. According to Rabbel and Porsche (2021), it is worth taking a look at the US higher education system, as it plays an exemplary role in terms of framework conditions and support structures. The authors refer to a studyFootnote 6 that shows that internal university organizational structures have a major influence on the number, structure and target groups of support services. In order to fully and comprehensively integrate digital accessibility into university teaching, it is therefore necessary to define clear responsibilities within the university organization and ensure the broad participation of IT services, centers for didactics and digital teaching as well as the university administration [9]. Accordingly, an inclusive educational environment for a heterogeneous student body can be pursued, which also takes pedagogical-didactic aspects into account in an appropriate manner. It is not only permanent contact points at universities that could promote the implementation of digital accessibility. The integration of digital accessibility training into existing processes such as onboarding, further education and training is also crucial. One suggestion would be to introduce training on digital accessibility as a mandatory program, similar to safety training in the workplace.

In order to realize a university for all, it is essential to provide teachers with comprehensive support and further training opportunities such as the materials package. This equips them for the new challenges they face when implementing digital, accessible teaching. Only the additional consolidation of digital accessibility in university structures, clear regulations and the provision of specific materials can ensure that educational opportunities are opened up equally for all students and an inclusive learning environment is created. After all, digital accessibility is not just an obligation, but a benefit for everyone.