Accessibility in a Team-based Learning Class

Shreya Verma

Jun 26, 2023 • 3min read

Picture a dynamic classroom where students from diverse backgrounds and abilities seamlessly come together, leveraging their unique strengths to learn and grow together. However, in the pursuit of fostering a truly enriching learning environment, there is an essential factor that should never be overlooked: accessibility. An estimated 1.3 billion people – 16% of the world’s population – have a recognized disability (World Health Organisation, 2023).

Accessibility holds the key to unlocking the full potential of every learner, regardless of their unique abilities or disabilities. It is the driving force behind inclusivity, ensuring that no student is left behind, unheard, or excluded from the educational journey.

Understanding accessibility

Accessibility is rooted in the principle of enabling and empowering individuals. In a class that utilizes web content, accessibility takes on even greater importance. It embraces the fundamental belief that people with diverse abilities should be granted equal opportunities to access and engage with the web content, tailoring the experience to their unique capabilities.

As educators, it is crucial to be able to identify and utilize software that adheres to WCAG principles, ensuring accessibility for all students. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) Principles serve as a vital framework of foundational guidelines for developing web content that is accessible to diverse users.

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InteDashboard, an all-in-one Team-based Learning (TBL) platform, exemplifies this commitment to accessibility. It is designed with accessibility in mind and strives to achieve the highest compliance with international standards such as WCAG 2.1, Section 508, and EN 301 549. By prioritizing accessibility, InteDashboard aims to minimize exclusion and enhance outcomes for all students, ensuring a more inclusive and equitable learning experience.

We will delve into the diverse features of InteDashboard that empower accessibility in TBL classes in our upcoming blog post.

Importance of accessibility in Team-based Learning

In a Team-based Learning class, accessibility plays a vital role in providing equal opportunities for all students to actively participate, contribute, and flourish within the collaborative learning environment.

Here are some key reasons why accessibility is essential in team-based learning:

Inclusive participation
Accessibility guarantees that students with diverse learning needs can actively engage and contribute to team activities without any hindrances. By eliminating barriers to participation, such as inaccessible materials or technologies, accessibility enables every student to participate on an equal level. This fosters a sense of belonging, promotes inclusive teamwork, and ensures that all students can fully contribute to the collaborative learning experience.
Diverse perspectives and strengths
Team-based learning thrives on the diverse perspectives, skills, and strengths that students bring to the table. Accessibility guarantees that students of all abilities have the chance to share their unique perspectives and talents, thereby enriching the collaborative learning process. By embracing accessibility, a broader range of ideas and approaches is welcomed, leading to enhanced creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving capabilities within the team.
Equal access to resources
Accessibility guarantees that every student has equitable access to educational resources, materials, and technologies. This encompasses providing alternative formats, captions, transcripts, and assistive technologies tailored to diverse learning styles and needs. By addressing barriers to access, accessibility fosters fair learning opportunities and supports students in reaching their full potential.
Promoting empathy and inclusion
Highlighting accessibility within a team-based learning class nurtures empathy and cultivates an inclusive culture among students. It nurtures an understanding and appreciation for the diverse abilities and challenges experienced by classmates.
Real-world readiness
Inclusive TBL classes that prioritizes accessibility prepares students for future professional environments that value diversity and inclusivity. By engaging in inclusive collaboration during their academic years, students develop essential skills for working in diverse teams and interacting with individuals of different abilities in their future careers.

In conclusion, accessibility is not just a buzzword but a fundamental pillar of inclusive education. It ensures that every student can fully participate, engage, and thrive in a team-based learning environment. By embracing accessibility, educators foster a culture of inclusivity, empathy, and respect, where diverse perspectives and strengths are celebrated.

As we continue our exploration of InteDashboard's empowering features in our upcoming blog post, we invite you to subscribe to our blog here to stay updated and join us in promoting accessibility in education. Together, we can create truly inclusive learning experiences where no student is left behind.

Testimonials

Dr. Julie M Estis Associate Professor University of South Alabama

"Outstanding tool for face-to-face, web-blended and fully online TBL courses! We've been using InteDashboard across several TBL classes at the University of South Alabama and are consistently impressed with the tool as well as the exceptional support from the team. We look forward to increasing utilization of InteDashboard through our campus-wide project."

Dr. Sandy Cook Emeritus Professor, TBL Consultant, TBLC-APC Committee Chairperson Formerly from Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School

"The administrative challenges behind TBL are often viewed as a major barrier to effective implementation. InteDashboard is the only technological solution that puts it all together, allowing the faculty to focus on creating the learning environment - not fumbling with papers, grading and pulling data from different sources."

Dr. John Chapman Assistant Professor Southern Virginia University

"I'm convinced, and I've done a fair amount of looking over the past few years to identify an online quizzing/survey tool that allows for individual question submission and real-time feedback (especially for the TRAT). InteDashboard really is the premier solution in this category. Bar none. Hands down."

Dr. Jennifer Styron Assistant Professor Eastern Virginia Medical School

"Ability to get real-time data on RAT test items during teaching and save this information (i.e. scores on assessments) has made the tool an essential element to my everyday online teaching."

Dr. Judy Currey Professor Deakin University

"I love having real time access to my students performance data and knowing exactly what concepts have or haven’t been understood while they complete their IRATs and TRATs! InteDashboard has significantly enhanced the ease and effectiveness with which I prepare for, and teach in, my TBL classes at Deakin."

Dr. Tom DeWitt Professor Michigan State University

"Overall, I’ve been really pleased with how InteDashboard has elevated the ability to engage students in Team-based learning."

Victor Holmes Assistant Professor University of North Texas Health Science Center

"The InteDashboard platform is unique in what it offers for educators and learners. The ability to interact, work with the quizzes easily, and general functionality of the program are key features not to miss. I have been able to create a more experiential learning environment allowing learners to immediately dive into experiences that simulate real clinical challenges."

Dr. Sarada Harichand Bulchand Lead Associate Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School

"InteDashboard is a fantastic and very useful platform to conduct classes in a team-based learning setting, probably because it has all the features that team-based learning requires. The features on InteDashboard are so nuanced that they help in enhancing the learning of students, which is the core objective that the educators try to achieve from TBL methodology."

Matthew Robson Senior Learning Designer Macquarie University

"The feature which we find most valuable is the automated grading and item analysis dashboards. They effectively provide staff and students within information that help inform what the clarification session should address. Also, the InteDashboard team provides great support. The team has been responsive to our feedback when we have asked for a possible enhancement to their tool in the past!"

Dr. Chitra Pai Professor Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine

"The support staff was prompt when we were in the initial phase of integrating it into Canvas. It provided the benefits of graded IRAT and TRAT and was really a seamless way to provide active learning in an online environment."

Tanya Bomsta Curriculum Project Manager The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy

"Tech support is great, the software is easy to use and learn, online TBL is awesome (and helpful in this time of the pandemic), and the ability for easy peer review is stellar."

Dr. Grady Campbell Professor Nova Southeastern University

"Student evaluations were higher the semester we used InteDashboard than the previous semesters we held TBL in in-person setting."

Russell Marcus Department Chair & Associate Professor Hamilton College

"The great advantage of InteDashboard is that it is a single platform for RATs, peer evaluation, and 4S activities."

Hillel W. Cohen, Dr.P.H. Professor Associate Director of Curriculum, Clinical Research Training Program Albert Einstein College of Medicine

"InteDashboard allowed a seamless transition from paper-pencil response forms to electronic response."

Michael E. Woods, Ph.D. Associate Professor Pathology & Director of Research Laboratories Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine

"InteDashboard gives me the ability to run online TBLs with ease. The interface is intuitive for faculty and students and matches what we would have done in the classroom."

Paul Mcdermott Senior Lecturer University of East Anglia School of Pharmacy

"I have recommended the product to many people already. It is a very versatile product with features that can be applied across a wide range of pedagogies. I have presented this tool to my school not just as a TBL tool but also a way to collect and analyse MCQ data and as a way to facilitate group learning and peer evaluation."

Steve Schneid Managing Director University of California

"I just want to say I love InteDashboard, and it is an integral part of my teaching!"

Dr. Simon Twedell Professor of Pharmacy Education University of Bradford

"It’s more sustainable now – there's less printing, less admin work, and saves a lot of time."

Dr. Gemma Quinn Associate Professor in Clinical Pharmacy University of Bradford

“InteDashboard has made a huge difference. We could have gone back to the way things were before we started using the software, but it would have been an absolute nightmare. The platform is great – it’s all in one place!”

Dr. Steve Cayzer Director of Studies in Mechanical Engineering University of Bath

"I think the real-time dashboard is just really, really, good. It just works. Recently, I used the histograms and answers feature that you can present to students during the RAT debrief – I found that a very useful way of presenting the results!”

Dr. Zachary Noel Assistant Professor University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

“Because InteDashboard is entirely built for TBL, you don't have to fiddle with a lot of settings and multiple softwares, so that certainly saves time. And now that we're in our third year of using InteDashboard, we're able to copy the activities from the prior years and use those, so that has certainly saved time as well!"

Dr. Suzan Kamel-ElSayed Associate Professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

"It was very, very easy for us. When comparing what we did before using InteDashboard, with what we have now with InteDashboard - it has been really easy for us. Everything is available on one platform!"