Trinity adapted quickly in March 2020 when coronavirus restrictions closed the university. As classes moved online, so did annual examinations. Mitigating measures were introduced, including the option to defer assessments – without explanation – before or after sitting them, or resit modules students had passed alongside greater latitude in marking of assignments and assessments. Over Hilary term of 2019-20 and into Michaelmas of 2020-21, students were, in general, reasonably accommodated.
Trinity’s disability population accounts for 12 per cent of its entire student body. College has a “reasonable accommodation policy” that allows for actions that help alleviate a substantial
disadvantage due to a disability and a significant ongoing illness. Factors influencing the determination of what is reasonable for students with disabilities will include whether the steps would significantly compromise the academic standards or professional practices associated with the course of study, health and safety issues and the effect on other students.
With these conflicting things going on here that need some thinking as we plan to return to the new way of living with coronavirus. Why did it take a pandemic to reasonably accommodate everyone? Why do students with disabilities always have to prove they need to be reasonably accommodated?
Significant accessibility improvements did happen with online learning and assessment in Trinity. Blackboard Ally, a tool that helps content authors to ensure that the lecture materials that they upload meet accessibility standards, lecture capture (recording) in Panopto and captioning was turned on.
Why did it take a pandemic to reasonably accommodate everyone? Why do students with disabilities always have to prove they need to be reasonably accommodated?
Flexibility is key for students with disabilities, and online allowed for this. Students with disabilities could watch lectures that were recorded at times that suited them. They could also use recordings to go over the material at their own pace. Captioning helped students follow material covered more efficiently and could download transcripts of classes to use as notes. Pacing and managing disability were easier to deal with away from college in the home environment. Assessments were moving online and reasonable accommodation transferred quickly to this new way of examination. It also removed some labour-intensive supports such as amanuensis in exams and the need for rooms to house students with additional needs.
Some downsides of working at home for some students with disabilities include lack of structure or routine that attendance brings, increased anxiety with some reporting online classes, and lecture engagement causing undue pressure to perform online. Broadband connectivity, suitable workplaces at home, isolation, and lack of contact were reported. These issues are not just assigned to students with disabilities. We need to carry forward some of these changes to allow students with disabilities more flexibility and be allowed to continue to work in a hybrid learning way.
For most students, the hybrid model of teaching (or blended learning) aspired to over the summer of 2020 never materialised. Instead, due to the continued spread of coronavirus in the autumn, students have been forced to depend on technology while fundamental opportunities for academic, social, and personal development have been severely limited and hollowed out. While technology has provided us with many tools to study and work from home, many of these solutions have created new problems that technology alone cannot solve, such as loneliness, isolation, anxiety, frustration and boredom. The impact of hybrid learning and assessment on freshers, in particular, is unclear and there is a need to stay engaged with this group as a priority to ensure we are not losing students. Next year, a second-year re-orientation is planned for students with disabilities, but more in-person classes and supports will also be critical.
Students with disabilities are always innovators and change agents. Even in a pandemic, they do this daily when they adapt the learning and assessment environment for students with disabilities.
One benefit of coronavirus from an access and inclusion point of view (while acknowledging that it should have all happened decades ago) is that from the top down, College has been forced to modernise by implementing technological solutions that students with disabilities have always needed and asked for. If an end to the pandemic and its severest impacts is on the horizon in 2021, we must not lose sight of a vision for accessible and inclusive education.
As a return to on-campus teaching emerges, we have an opportunity to strike a better balance between on and offline teaching and learning. Students with disabilities are always innovators and change agents. Even in a pandemic, they do this daily when they adapt the learning and assessment environment for students with disabilities. Now we can do this at a systemic level leading to better inclusion for all.
Declan Treanor is Director of the Trinity Disability Service
