Over the last 18 months, colleges and universities have created new technological infrastructures to adapt to the rapid transition to online learning generated by the onset of COVID-19.
As institutions resort back to in-person learning for the fall semester, some technology aspects are expected to remain.
Given its popularity within the deaf and hard of hearing community—due to its video control options and features to support sign language like auto captioning, spotlight and pinning—Zoom was largely used at Gallaudet University.
Dr. Christian Vogler,
Gallaudet invested resources towards training faculty members and instructors on how to effectively teach students with diverse backgrounds as well as in both online and face-to-face bilingual settings. Additionally, 50 faculty participated in training on ways to adapt their teaching to deaf and hard of hearing students who experienced trauma during COVID-19, according to Vogler.
“A lot of faculty are learning how to become better instructors,” he added. “They are better understanding how to structure a classroom, how to make the content fully accessible. They are learning what types of resources are valuable and which are less valuable.”
At the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), training was offered to faculty and staff on teaching students who need to have their cameras off, due to various equity barriers.
