i found the following guide on accessibility of college lectures on ian
Webb's website.  More resources are promised on the site, so check back.
Perhaps Ian can let us know once more information has been added.

kelly


URL: http://www.disinhe.ac.uk/resources/guides/teaching_everyone/lecturing.asp



                             Lecturing Techniques

   The art of lecturing in academic institutions has been developing for
   centuries and is the one constant element of university teaching. This
   booklet is about how new technology can be used to help teach students
   with disabilities, and how lecturing technique affects accessibility
   to learning for disabled students.

   It is not so long ago that the priest in Catholic mass preached in
   Latin with his back to the congregation. When the church reformed this
   in 1958 they swept away centuries of tradition but, more importantly,
   they made the words and language of the mass more accessible to the
   millions who attend every Sunday. During the course of their careers,
   lecturers develop a style with which they become comfortable and
   confident.

   Unfortunately in some areas this very style can cause the flow of
   knowledge from lecturer to student to break down when there are
   students with certain types of disabilities in the class. Lecturing
   technique which takes into consideration the various inherent
   individual characteristics which make up a class of students will
   benefit everyone in the class, which means that good practice in its
   entirety is good practice for each individual.

   For some, the passing on of knowledge seems to come almost naturally.
   Like most performers, though, good technique is down to hard work,
   experience and the acknowledgement of basic rules.

   So how does the lecturer ensure a good performance whilst not
   excluding those students who may be deaf, blind, partially sighted, or
   who may have difficulty with short term memory retention as
   experienced by some dyslexic students? Techniques include:
     * Identify those students within your class (obviously without
       making a big song and dance about it) who may have a degree of
       disability and ask them if they feel they're getting the most out
       of your lectures.
     * Deaf and hard of hearing students may rely on lip reading.
       Position yourself where they're most likely to follow your
       lecture.
     * Always try and speak directly to the class and avoid talking to
       the board or screen.
     * Repeat contributions and questions from other students.
     * Try not to see wearing a radio mic as an unnecessary intrusion
       into your private space.
     * Reading people's lips is very difficult and a thick beard or
       moustache can make it almost impossible.
     * Accurate note taking can be impossible for dyslexic and blind
       students or those who find writing physically impossible. Allowing
       them to tape your lectures will help, but the recorder needs to be
       close to the lecturer.
     * If possible make your lecture notes etc. available on floppy disk
       or on the World Wide Web (see section on Enabling Technologies).
     * Make it clear that you are willing to adapt your style to
       accommodate individual needs.

Visual Aids

   Teaching can be greatly enhanced with the use of visual aids but it is
   important that these are presented in a way that can truly be
   beneficial to all students.
     * Visual aids must be clear and concise. All students will benefit
       from this but, more importantly, this will improve the chances of
       some partially sighted and dyslexic students being able to read
       them.
     * Be aware of colour schemes. Red on green will cause difficulties
       for many people but there are other inappropriate colour
       combinations. Ask your students to comment on the legibility of
       your slides and projections.
     * Make copies of visual aids available to students with disabilities
       in electronic form if this is requested. Number your overhead
       slides/papers and say which number you are talking about. Give
       students a cue when a new image is presented to orientate visually
       impaired students and alert those with dyslexia and literacy
       difficulties.

Handouts

   The ability to digest and retain information varies from person to
   person but most of us are blessed neither with photographic memories
   nor the ability to assimilate and commit to memory immediately.
   Students with disabilities can find handouts especially useful.
     * Students who have a disability which makes writing difficult and
       those with dyslexia find printed handouts particularly helpful.
     * Visually impaired students may need large print, Braille or floppy
       disk versions of any hand outs, depending on the extent of their
       vision.
     * For blind students, pictures and diagrams should be kept to a
       minimum or text alternatives provided.
     * Hearing impaired students, who are concentrating on lip reading,
       also find handouts particularly useful.
     * Many computer based learning packages rely heavily on pictures and
       graphics which can make them inaccessible to students with
       disabilities. Check that any packages you recommend are compatible
       with the access technology used by your students (see section on
       Enabling Technologies).

Examinations

   Examinations present students with disabilities with similar types of
   problems that exist in lectures. To ensure that everyone is on as
   level a playing field as possible, certain considerations should be
   taken into account.
     * It is very important that students with disabilities are judged
       against the same academic standards as their peers. Take full
       account of the effects of their disabilities on their performance
       but take care not to over compensate.
     * Some students will need to have their examination papers converted
       into a different format. For example, floppy disk or Braille.
       Examination papers will have to be prepared well in advance so
       that there is enough time to make that conversion.
     * Allow students to submit assignments by E-mail. Using conferencing
       tools can offer equal access and allow students with disabilities
       to participate in discussions.
     * Special arrangements are necessary for some students, such as;
       extra time, a separate venue, a computer with a voice recognition
       device and/or speech output, a scribe or a reader.
     * Some students have a legitimate need for extra time for
       examinations and in certain cases may have to sit their exams in
       stages over several days.
     * For visually impaired students give consideration to how the
       questions are laid out on the page. Some find it difficult to
       locate the beginning and end of the question so it may be helpful
       to set one question per page or to put questions in clearly
       defined boxes.


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html