Learning and Teaching: Essential Guides

No 9: Teaching Students who have Vision Impairment

• Ask students about any adaptive technology they may be using to access information or prepare assignments. It will always help to understand just what is involved for a particular student in the preparation of their work.

• Students may have experienced past labelling and stigmatising. This can have a long-term effectonconfidence,self-esteem,andtheirapproach to learning.

• Negotiate about teaching and assessment issues on the basis of individual need. You may like to consider negotiating with individual study contracts that allow students tomeetyourexpectationsindifferentways,ways that match their preferred learning style. This ensures that the curriculum offered is inclusive.

• Sometimes students may set unrealistically highstandardsforthemselves,andsoyoumay need to help them focus on more realistic and achievable standards and goals. This process will be assisted if you make your expectations clear and explicit. If you have negotiated any adaptation to teaching orassessmentwiththestudent,itisgoodpractice for both student and staff member to have a written record of that decision.

The impact of vision impairment depends on the type,extentandtimingoftheloss.Somestudentshave gradually lost vision over a number of years; others may have been visually impaired since birth. Studentsmayalsobelight-sensitive,haveloworlimited vision, or have limited peripheral vision.Studentswitha significant visual impairmentwilloften use a guide dog orwhite cane. However,many students may have a significant level ofimpairment which is not immediately obvious.

Studentsmayusearangeofadaptiveequipment,forexamplemagnifiers,close-circuitTV,orscreen-reading software. It is important to recognise that with some vision impairments, sight fluctuates.Some people who are declared legally visually impaired have some vision. Students may have some days when vision or light tolerance is much better than on others.

Communicating with students with vision impairment

• When communicating with students with vision impairment it is important to acknowledgethattheyarestudentsfirstandforemost,not‘victims’,‘sufferers’or‘conditions’.Difficultiesmaynotalwaysbeobvious.

• Donotspeakinotherthananormalspeakingvoice to students who are visually impaired.

• Identifyyourselfbyname,incasethepersondoesnotrecogniseyourvoice,andindicateverbally whenever you are entering or leaving thestudent’spresence.Keepdoorsclosedoropen,corridorsclear,andkeepobjectsin their usual place unless you inform the student that they have been moved.

Learning and Teaching Essential Guides

Learning and Teaching: Essential Guides

Teaching a group of students that includes students with vision impairment

• We often take for granted the amount of visual information received every day. Many visually impaired students do not have a lifetime of visual experiences to draw upon. It may be necessary to consider the amount of assumed visual content in your subject when designing learning tasks.

• Donotmakestudentsover-anxiousaboutmakingmistakes,askingquestions,gettingthroughthework,orparticipatinggenerally.It may be necessary for students with significantvisionimpairmenttohaveanindividual orientation to laboratory equipment or computers in order to minimise the anxiety likely in an unfamiliar environment.

• For students with vision impairment your teachingstylewillneedtobe‘verbal’.Thinkabout how to communicate information to students who cannot see what you are doing. You will need to articulate what is written on the whiteboard and in Powerpoint presentations

• Talk through any calculations as they are made or procedures as they are carried out. Readanyprintedinformation,anddescribeanychartsorgraphsbeingused.Additionally,this information will need to be available in written form so that it can be transcribed for Brailleandlarge-printreaders,andreferredto at a later date for revision or assignments. This information will need to be forwarded in good time to the Sensory Impairment Advisor intheDisabilityandDyslexiaServiceasadaptations can take considerable time.

• Tutors should ensure that academic activities which take place off-campus (such as industryvisits,interviewsorfieldwork)providefull opportunities for inclusiveness.

• Informthestudentifyouplantousevideos,and discuss alternative ways of acquiring the necessary information.

• The vision of some students may be affected bytheglarefromfluorescentlightsorsunlight,and so you may need to attend to some aspects of your teaching environment. This should be done unobtrusively.

Teaching staff should ensure that they are familiar with the requirements of the following legislation relating to disability: Equality and Diversity Act2010.DetailsmaybefoundontheEqualityTabon Portia.

Queries regarding the needs of individual students shouldbe referred to theDisability andDyslexiaServicesTel: (external)01243812076 (Internal)2076or to theSensory ImpairmentsAdvisor on0124381245,e-mailsensadvisor@chi.ac.uk

Centre for Learning and Teaching/Disability and Dyslexia Service Enhancement Guides

The University promotes an inclusive approach to learning and teaching, based on equity and equal entitlement. The university’s aim is to increase the proportion of students who are currently under-represented in higher education in order to widen participation and its objective is to provide suitable facilities, and implement policies that enable all students to undertake and complete their studies successfully.