With regard to reasonable adjustment processes, the National Code of Practice outlines the following:

G2 To ensure programs are accessible to students who have a disability, institutions make reasonable adjustments to course content, delivery and assessment methods without compromising the standards or essential components of programs.

G2.1 In establishing reasonable adjustments, institutions:

1. vary the educational process when students are able to demonstrate that they are disadvantaged as a result of disability
2. minimise the disadvantage resulting from disability without creating a competitive advantage in relation to other students
3. are satisfied that the essential components and rigour of the program are maintained.

G2.5 Reasonable adjustments are embedded where possible in the development of flexible curricula that take account of student choice and preferred styles of learning.

There is no one prescriptive set of guidelines which, when applied, will meet the needs of all students. The following set of guidelines outline a broad approach to the process of determining suitable adjustments which meet both the needs of the student and the academic requirements of the course.

1. Determine the `essential’ requirements of the course

• What is the purpose of the course?
• What are the essential requirements that need to be achieved for the student to successfully complete the course?

- award requirements

- specific knowledge, concepts, skills to be mastered

• What methods of instruction are non-negotiable?

(eg. auditory demonstration of musical compositions)

• What methods of assessing essential knowledge and skills are absolutely necessary and why?
• Consider if it is essential for the student to `demonstrate the skill’ or `demonstrate knowledge of the skill’.
• In the process of designing curriculum, ensure flexibility by avoiding making course content and objectives too prescriptive.

eg - greater focus on the practical demonstration of skills rather than theory

- utilisation of technology, for example, making course materials available on

the Internet

- modification of practical components to accommodate the needs of students

who have a mobility or sensory impairment

• What auxiliary aids might be useful?

eg - assistive technology

- tutorial support and extra time may need to be planned

- a support person to assist the student to complete physical tasks

• What other methods of assessment of academic requirements are possible?

• A Lecturer adopted a more practical based "applied" mode of learning experiences for a student with learning disability. It was negotiated that the student would provide oral and graphic presentations in the place of written assignments and that the student would be able to use the services of a scribe for examinations.

For further information, please contact the University Disability Advisers:

Student Services Student Services

Ph. 6226 2381 Ph. 6324 3787

Monash University "Course accommodations for students with learning disabilities"
(Brochure Series - Learning Disabilities in Higher Education Kit)

Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, University of Tasmania

I don’t think I ever set out to be "inclusive". Rather, I sought to use what I thought of as my common sense and life experience. In my case my life experience was living with a disability, such that inflexible pedagogy meant that I failed at school. I didn’t realise it at the time but the inflexibility of pedagogy and the narrow norms that were used needlessly excluded me. I also found this as an undergraduate, especially as I started to realise the norms and values that we use in designing curricula and indeed assessment.

In my first Year Ethics Course for Medical and Pharmacy students, several years ago I decided that it made sense to put my lectures on the Web but also to have them available in paper format. I found especially that overseas students were asking me for copies of my lectures and that students who either missed lectures or didn’t hear all of the lecture missed out as well. Likewise, we all take different time to process and a lecture is hardly the most educationally appropriate way of delivering material. Of course, I worried about the stealing of my lectures. I even had the understandable concern that if students had access to my lecture notes, why would they come to the lectures?

In the first place I had to work out that the lectures were for the benefit of students and also discovered that it was possible to restrict access to the website through the use of a password system. Secondly, I thought about how I teach, and the fact that I rarely stick to reading rigid lectures. Indeed, what I made clear to the students was that I place the lectures and a few resources on the closed web page to supplement face-to-face work. I suggested that whilst the bare content is there, there would be advantage in them attending lectures, since the themes of the lecture notes are developed upon. Also, it makes for a greater interaction and a fun learning environment as I seek to remove the necessity for students to take notes and instead to participate in interactive learning during face to face encounters.

Of course, the technology is not always the answer. Several students do not have ready access to the World Wide Web or still do not feel comfortable using the technology. With the high tech must go the high touch and support for them in either gaining access to that or in providing paper formats. We might also reflect that this suits people with a variety of abilities and disabilities but is not totally inclusive since I only place the lecture notes and articles on the web as English text. If your primary language is not English this is certainly hardly totally student directed.