Teaching Strategies and Tools to Address Accessibility Barriers in Our OR/MS Classrooms

Editor’s note. All contributing authors are or have been part of the Teaching Pathways subcommittee of the INFORMS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEIC).

In fall 2022, undergraduate students in an introductory industrial and systems engineering class were presented with access to a newly developed tool that provides automated digital notes [1]. The notes were automatically transcribed and generated from preexisting recordings. Thus, students with disabilities (both students who had officially reported their disabilities and students who had not) were able to maintain their rapport with the course material and instructor. This was especially important for students experiencing disabilities preventing them from attending class. Additionally, the benefits were reaped by all students; for example, students who were feeling under the weather could actually protect themselves and others instead of attending class. 

As educators in the field of analytics, operations research and management science (OR/MS), we share a common belief: Our students can succeed with the right support. This inclusive teaching mindset relies on identifying and appropriately addressing the barriers to learning. Recent studies have shown that disabilities play a crucial role in causing new and/or worsening existing learning barriers [2, 3], which can be physical, mental, emotional, cultural or social elements that obstruct a student from achieving their learning goals [4]. For example, according to Inside Higher Ed’s Student Voice survey of 2023, 4 in 10 students cite mental health struggles as barriers to success [5].

There are different ways to describe disabilities, but the common forms include visible, invisible, physiological, cognitive, mental and dynamic. Visible disabilities are apparent to an outsider viewing the person with the disability. Physiological disabilities may be caused by medical conditions that limit a student’s energy, requiring them to leave class periodically or miss class sessions to receive treatment. Cognitive disabilities may manifest through a wide range of learning disabilities that affect how students receive, process and synthesize information. Mental disabilities can cause episodic symptoms that may be visible or invisible, impacting the mental health and well-being of the student. A dynamic disability is typically associated with, but not limited to, those living with chronic illness, and describes when one’s needs or abilities change from day to day, perhaps in response to a health flare-up.

Each of these disabilities can hinder learning and present barriers that potentially result in achievement gaps, stress and the lack of a sense of belonging in the classroom. These effects can lead to worsening overall health and well-being, and worse outcomes. In turn, this leads to fewer professionals and academics with disabilities, contributing to further exclusion and devaluation from our field [2].

But how can these different forms of disabilities represent learning barriers? Examples of visible disabilities may be mobility-related, affecting the types of furniture, transportation and equipment that a student uses, or visual- or hearing-related, affecting a student’s ability to read/hear course materials (e.g., mathematical formulas on our slides). As an example of physiological disability representing a learning barrier, a student with diabetes might need opportunities to manage blood sugar during class by eating or using the restroom, which can result in missing some of the material, causing distractions or becoming disconnected from class. Mental disabilities such as anxiety, depression, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder can negatively impact students’ attendance, attention and participation in class activities and interactions. 

We can and should accommodate students’ needs by addressing disabilities and removing barriers by using appropriate strategies and tools, leading to better learning outcomes. Technology advancements, similar to the automatic note example at the beginning of this article, can serve as a breakthrough to prevent and ease learning barriers. Table 1 shows a variety of available tools (share your favorite tools we may have missed!).

Table 1. Strategies and tools to address barriers to learning that arise from disabilities.

In recent years, students have been increasingly reporting conditions that hinder them from attending or following closely all course components, even without having previously reported a medical disability. After the major pivot to online education and its many asynchronous components during the spring 2020 semester, educators and students alike had the opportunity to reshape courses to accommodate disabilities. We have since had the unique opportunity to retain these lessons learned and apply new technologies, even though we may return to mostly in-person course activities. 

An inclusive OR/MS classroom relies on understanding the relationship between students’ disabilities and learning barriers. However, disabilities may not always be easy to detect. Even after identifying disabilities, appropriately addressing them may present further challenges. Using technology to build a more inclusive classroom for all should be top of mind throughout each academic year. The OR/MS field, and INFORMS as the premier institute for its advancement, has always prided itself in optimizing societal outcomes through research, education and service activities. The INFORMS tagline of “Smarter decisions for a better world” should be resonating in our OR/MS classrooms: smarter decisions (incorporating better and tested pedagogical techniques and tools) for a better world (improved learning and teaching outcomes for training the next generation of OR/MS professionals). This is exactly why we should ensure that all students with and without disabilities have the opportunity to succeed in the classroom. 

References

1. Ding, X., Sun, K., Xiao, Z., Varadhan, S., Li, J., Angrave, L., et al., 2023, “Evaluating the Low-Stakes Assessment Performance: Student-Perceived Accessibility, Belongingness, and Self-Efficacy in Connection to the Use of Digital Notes in Engineering and Computing Courses,” 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
2. Cech, E. A., 2023, “Engineering Ableism: The Exclusion and Devaluation of Engineering Students and Professionals with Physical Disabilities and Chronic and Mental Illness,” Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 112, No. 2, pp. 462-487.
3. Weatherton, Y. P., Mayes, R. D. and Villanueva-Perez, C., 2017, “Barriers to Persistence for Engineering Students with Disabilities,” 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.
4. Rice, G., 2023, “The Most Common Barriers to Learning - And How to Overcome Them,” November 17, https://www.thinkific.com/blog/barriers-to-learning/.
5. Flaherty, C., 2023, “Survey: Students Cite Barriers to Success, Seek Flexibility,” February 13, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/academic-life/2023/02/13/survey-top-five-barriers-student-success.