Inclusion comes in many forms, from technologies to practices. My main focus will be what we can do as teachers without relying on the budget, but I will also delve into technologies. I’ll be talking primarily about the arts for this post, as that is my area of expertise, but some of these technologies and strategies can apply to multiple areas.
One of the key strategies I have found for inclusivity/accessibility within the arts is low skill floor activities. I had the opportunity to speak with a number of teachers during link to practice and this was a concept they kept bringing up with regards to engagement. However, it works as an engagement tool due to being inherently inclusive. The first example of a low skill floor activity I’ll bring to the table is blind contour. Blind contour is performed via attempting to draw something without being able to see your paper. My favourite form of this exercise has you drawing a classmate over a short period of time (around 60 seconds). Students of any skill can take part in this and won’t be expected to create anything that’s even intelligible. It’s a study of how broad strokes can help define. Some examples shown below.
Image credits: Liv and Connor (blind contour)
The way we interact with assessment also highly shapes inclusivity in the art room. The way we look at how a student is doing can’t be from how technically good at art they are. Otherwise, anyone without art experience will have a much more difficult time and those who are already experienced will have no reason to grow. The amount a student can progress within their practice is one of the main deciding factors to me.
In terms of technology, there are many useful examples. Two core ones that were spoken on were Zoom for distance learning and generative captions. Both of which apply in broad strokes to many areas of study. Some other worthy examples would be the ever-useful doc cam and digital art tools that allow for mistakes to be easily undone. I think the ability for art to be created using any physical method also adds to the level of accessibility. I personally didn’t use brushes for a large portion of one of my classes in university, working with my hands and broad-stroke textures instead.
Overall, art has many opportunities for inclusion and accessibility, it just takes the teacher incorporating it in the right way