Professional Development for Accessible and Inclusive Teaching
Academic Accommodation Support (AAS) offers a wide variety of online and live training resources, workshops, and support to the TMU teaching community to help foster an inclusive and accessible learning environment for students with disabilities.
Take a look at what we offer below, and request support by emailing aaseddev@torontomu.ca (opens in new window) .
What we offer
Online Accommodation Training for Instructors (D2L)
Understanding Academic Accommodations at TMU is a D2L resource hub for instructors and teaching staff. It includes a short, self-paced e-learning on academic accommodations at TMU, practical guidance for implementing accommodations, accessible teaching resources, technical information, and other supports. Instructors who complete the e-learning and two short surveys will receive a certificate that can be used as part of their professional development.
Accessible Course Outline Review
Learning and Inclusion Education Developers are available for one-on-one review of any syllabus. We will apply a disability lens to offer insight into what barriers may be present, and offer suggestions to increase the accessibility of a course.
Support for Alternative Assessment Design
Our team can support you in designing alternative assessments. "Alternative assessments" in the context of academic accommodations refer to modified or different assignments and tests given to a student with disabilities, to ensure they have an equitable opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. These accommodations are tailored to meet the specific needs of the student while maintaining the academic standards of the course.
Support for communicating with students with disabilities
The effectiveness of communication between students and faculty directly affects each students’ success. All forms of communication in class may present minor or major barriers to students with a range of disabilities. AAS Education Developers are available to provide general strategies that may minimize the effect of a communication-related exclusion.
Departmental Retreats, Meetings, New Faculty Orientations, or Workshops:
Book an AAS Learning and Inclusion Education Developer to provide advice, guidelines, support and best practices in creating accessible and inclusive content and learning spaces for diverse learners.
Our workshops support those who are just beginning their journey to design with accessibility in mind as well as those who are enhancing their practices.
- Tailored Option - We work with you/your department to develop a session that is best suited to the needs of your group, retreat theme, or meeting topic.
- Universal Design/Flexible Teaching - We offer a variety of sessions on UDL practices ranging from a high-level overview to more hands-on workshops.
- Understanding Academic Ableism - Attitudinal barriers have been documented as the number one barrier to graduation for students with disabilities. Our workshops and sessions on this topic are designed to provide new perspectives on disability that often go unaddressed in professional development activities.
- AAS 101 - Learn how AAS operates, how all stakeholders share responsibility.
- Policy 159 Online Training Overview - We can provide an overview of "Policy 159: A Shared Responsibility" online training to your department or group.
- Case Study Workshop - In collaboration with you/your department can develop a case study that can be presented to the larger group.