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The Practice
We surveyed 30 students and talked to 10 students in focus groups. We asked them what changes to teaching and study support plans (SSPs) would most improve their
learning experience.
In the lab
Feedback from students:
Disability and neurodiversity support training for demonstrators/
Demonstrators can’t access SSPs and are the staff that students most often interact with in the labs.
Quiet lab sessions or areas/ The high noise levels in the lab can be challenging for students.
Buddy system/ Some students find it challenging to attend labs and work in a group when they don’t know anyone.
What we are doing:
Additional demonstrator training will be introduced in September/ This will focus on highlighting the diversity present in our student body and the adjustments available.
Introducing a quiet bench in each teaching lab/ From September each lab will have a labelled quiet bench, with dimmed lighting. Each teaching lab podium will have a list of quiet spaces students can use if they need a break from the main room.
Buddy system will be trialled/ This will be trialled in a Year 1 TB1 unit and a Year 2 TB1 unit and feedback collected.
In lectures and workshops
Feedback from students:
Lecture slides and workshop materials available in advance/ Providing accurate resources in advance allows students to prepare for teaching.
Live screening of lectures/ Replay is only available 48 hours after lectures, making it hard to stay up to date and watch lectures before related labs.
Volume checking and relaxed lecture format/ Students with physical disabilities may sit at back and sometimes can’t hear. Students may need to move around or stretch during lectures.
What we are doing:
Disability and neurodivergence training for all teaching staff/ This September all staff will attend training which will include reminders regarding making slides and resources available in advance, manually releasing lectures from Replay as soon as possible, checking microphone volume and encouraging students to move around as needed during teaching sessions. Live screening was discussed but won’t be trialled this year due to concerns around attendance and sense of belonging.
In exams
Feedback from students:
Disability and neurodiversity support training for invigilators/ Students reported that exams were often made more stressful by invigilators being noisy or disruptive in small room exams.
Timetable students to nearby and familiar exam locations/ Students with fatigue or physical disabilities said they’d benefit from exams occurring close to them and others reported that having exams in familiar locations would reduce stress.
AEAs for formative assessments/ Students said AEAs weren’t always applied to formative assessments, reducing their ability to participate in these learning opportunities.
What we are doing:
Fed back / Information regarding invigilators and exam locations has been fed back to disability services.
Training for teaching staff/ This will include a discussion of AEAs for formative work.
In administration
Feedback from students:
Attendance emails/ Many disabled or neurodivergent students may not be able to attend all teaching in person. Automated attendance emails cause unnecessary stress for these students.
Unit choices/ Some students choose optional units based on how accessible they think these units will be.
What we are doing:
Overriding attendance emails/ This can be done by the admin team if SSPs mention that disability may cause students to occasionally be absent. This information has been shared with disability services and School Disability Co-ordinator so this adjustment can be put in place for those that need it.
Adding accessibility and adjustments info onto unit information and eBiolabs
pages is currently being discussed with teaching lab techs and the Associate
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Students and Education.
Contact
This work was carried out by Poppy Firchau, Aster Antwi and Jasmine Nedham, supported by Kiah Tasman.
For more info contact Kiah: kiah.tasman@bristol.ac.uk
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