College of Remote and Offshore Medicine

Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy

All College courses are governed by this policy. Faculty and students are advised to read and understand this document.

1. Introduction 1

Purpose 1

Digital Accessibility 2

Accessible and inclusive learning policy 3

Responsibilities 7

Appendix 1 8

Application form: accessibility arrangements 8

1. Introduction

Purpose

The Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy exists to support the College’s commitment to providing all people equal opportunity to participate in every aspect of our teaching and learning. The aim is to develop a learning environment that is as inclusive as possible. Although flexible adjustments may sometimes be needed to support individual needs, the core principle is that of “universal design”, aiming to design inclusive and accessible processes so that all people can participate and reach their full potential.

The Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy applies to all teaching and learning opportunities including online and face-to-face teaching, research, placements and visits for all members of the College community.

Digital Accessibility

Digital materials must be designed to be accessible. 

A useful guideline was developed by the Centre for Educational Development at Queen’s University Belfast. The hyperlink directs readers to their excellent Digital Accessibility toolkit, which includes audio and video content to help educators develop inclusive and accessible content. Their guideline includes the acronym THRIVES for key points in creating accessible digital material:

Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of measures faculty should take to ensure they develop accessible digital materials:

1. Provide titles and headings to organise material
2. Use a minimum of font size 12
3. Use clearly contrasting text and background colours, avoiding overlaying text on textured backgrounds
4. Use plain fonts, preferable san serif
5. Do not use colour alone to communicate information
6. Tables should be used to organise data not for document layout, as they can be difficult to navigate using assistive technologies. Bear in mind that with assistive technologies, tables will be read left to right, from top to bottom. Include a repeating header row and avoid blank cells.
7. Provide alternative text for non-decorative images or diagrams
8. Provide descriptive names for files, folders and hyperlinks
9. Make audio and video resources more accessible to blind and d/Deaf students by using audio description when appropriate and providing captions or a transcript
   1. Auto-generated transcripts can be generated by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Echo360, and other software
   2. It is recommended to review transcripts to ensure readability and adequate accuracy

Accessible and inclusive learning policy

1. The college will, wherever possible, ensure that all teaching materials are made available to students in advance.
2. The college will, wherever possible, ensure that all learning, teaching and assessment material is accessible to all students.
3. It is recognised that some barriers cannot be anticipated before students are accepted onto a course. Reasonable adjustments will be made where universal design cannot remove a barrier to participation for a student with disability.
4. When reasonable adjustments are made, it will usually be appropriate to consider whether the adjustment can and should be incorporated into the universal design of the course. It should be recognised that individual adjustment may lead to perceived or actual stigma.
5. Individuals requiring adjustments or additional support:
   1. Requests for individual adjustments should be made using the relevant form in Appendix 1.
   2. Where individual adjustments are required for a student or member of staff, appropriate certification and information related to the functional implications of the disability/medical condition/learning difficulty must be provided in a timely manner and with enough detail for arrangements to be made.
   3. It is the responsibility of the individual to ensure that any request for individual adjustment is based on evidence and the request for accommodation should be made by the start of the academic year or as soon as the need arises.
   4. There are a number of external agencies based in Malta that can provide support for faculty and students with disabilities, including:
      1. Aġenzija Sapport: the Malta state-funded service provider, offers support, guidance and services for individuals with disabilities including assistance with mobility and sign language interpretation for Deaf people or people with hearing impairment (between spoken English or Maltese and Maltese Sign Language/Lingwa tas-Sinjali Maltija)
      2. FITA: the Foundation for IT Accessibility provides support for access to information technology for people with disabilities
      3. Malta Guide Dogs Foundation: provides training for people with visual impairment in use of the long white cane, and advice and training around use of a guide dog
      4. MFOPD: Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability: represents the voices of people with disability in government and organisational for a, open to individual memberships
      5. STILC: Sonia Tanti Independent Living Centre provides advice on assistive equipment
      6. Richmond Foundation: a non-governmental organisation offering support for people experiencing mental health problems
6. Programme information documents such as handbooks will include method of teaching and assessment information, including format of assessment, indicative marking criteria and a timeline for key dates, and will be available in digital format.
7. Deviation from 1-6 will only be for justifiable pedagogic reasons such as to comply with accreditation or national competency standards, made clear in advance through course or programme information material.
   1. It will not always be possible to facilitate access for students whose disability affects a skill, acquisition of knowledge, understanding or competency whose testing is a requirement for specific accreditation or national competency standards. Students should consider whether there are mandatory course or programme components they anticipate they would not be able to satisfy and, wherever possible, discuss this in detail prior to joining a course or programme. If it is not possible to exempt students from a component which they cannot complete, despite consideration of alternative arrangements or reasonable adjustment, this may prevent successful completion of the course.
8. With respect to physical accessibility of face-to-face teaching, the College will seek to ensure teaching spaces are accessible to all students throughout courses. This may involve individual liaison for students with different needs ahead of courses to ensure appropriate use of venues.
9. Where microphones are available, teaching staff must use them; portable/lapel microphones are preferred over tabletop microphones when possible. Use of microphones is an aspect of universal design that supports all learners, and also avoids forcing people with hearing impairments to identify publicly as such.
10. Recorded lectures will provide closed captions or written transcripts.
11. Student recording of lectures
    1. Video recording and photography is not permitted without the explicit permission of the faculty (and any students) involved.
    2. The College, lecturer and any student recorded will retain their intellectual property rights in the recording.
    3. Students may make audio recordings of lectures or other teaching sessions for the sole purpose of their own learning; where the College records a session and provides students with a recording that meets the student’s learning needs, the student must delete their own recording.
    4. It will be a disciplinary offence to use a recording for any purpose other than a student’s personal study, including sharing or distributing it.
    5. A recording must be destroyed once its purpose has been met, which will usually be by the end of the assessment of the course to which it applies and will always be before the student leaves the College.
    6. Faculty may insist on recordings stopping in certain circumstances, for example to protect confidential or sensitive personal information.
12. Where relevant, course information of an indicative nature such as key themes or core reading lists will be available to students four weeks in advance of the start of the course, provided in an electronic format in line with the Digital Accessiblity Guidance.
13. Outlines of teaching content for courses will be available at least one day in advance.
14. Lecture outlines or presentation slides will be available to students during or following teaching for student reference as required.
    1. It is not expected that presentation slides will be produced specifically for this purpose; if the teaching is not usually delivered via slides, an outline may instead of provided in the form of a list of key content. Provision of detailed notes is not required.
    2. Confidential information contained within materials may not be shared if further distribution is beyond the licensing or appropriate use of material, in which case only a partial set of slides may be provided to students.
15. Faculty will, whenever possible, notify students in writing about alterations to timetables, venues, or accommodation
16. Students are encouraged to raise any issues or concerns with respect to accessibility with their course or module co-ordinators in the first instance. Programme leads or the College administrator may also be approached if concerns extend across multiple courses.

Responsibilities

Responsibility for applying the Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy lies with

Faculty developing or amending courses

Course facilitators

Lecturers

Students

College administrators

The Accessible and Inclusive Learning Policy must be applied at all stages of course design and development. It is recommended that the Policy be considered at least annually by all course co-ordinators as part of their routine monitoring. 

The College is committed to providing equal access for all. Feedback and review of this Policy is encouraged from all students and faculty and will be collated by College administration to inform annual review of this Policy. If you experience any difficulties in accessing College materials, please inform us by sending an email to: info@corom.edu.mt

Next review date: 1^st September 2025

Appendix 1

Application form: accessibility arrangements

Students must complete and submit this form at least four weeks prior to assessments, or by the deadlines published in the relevant course handbook. Any information you provide will be treated with sensitivity and confidentially.

Student details

First name
Surname
Email address			Phone number
Course of study
Year of commencement			Part-time/full-time
Condition / diagnosis / disability
Have you applied for Access Arrangements (AAs) before?
If yes, what AAs did you qualify for:

Evidence/reports Please indicate the evidence attached with this form, ensuring adequate detail is provided to facilitate appropriate access arrangements.
Access arrangement letter (previous)
Audiologist’s report
Audiogram
Neurologist’s report
Occupational therapist’s report
Ophthalmologist’s/optometrist’s report
Speech language therapist’s report
Relevant consultant’s report
Other (please specify)

Access arrangement	Required (please tick and provide specific detail if appropriate)	Previously given (please tick)	Approved? (for committee use)
Alternative formats (e.g. large print, Braille, screen-reader accessible digital format)
Assistive technology
Alternative venue arrangement: fewer students
Alternative venue arrangement: no other students
Extra time
Extra time which may be used as supervised rest periods
Permission to eat/drink during assessment
Permission to use toilet frequently/extended use
Practical assistant
Scribe
Use of word processor

Do you consent to College employees and third parties responsible for and facilitating Access Arrangements being informed about your condition/diagnosis?

Yes ______ No _______

Data protection statement

Please sign to confirm that you have read and agree that College employees and third parties responsible for and facilitating Access Arrangements will be informed about your access arrangements. This is necessary for the provision of the service.

Signature: __________________________ Date: ______________

Please print your full name: __________________________