‘Accessibility is what makes good teaching possible’

Hello, and thank you for joining me. I’m Dewi Masyithah Darlan from Universitas Sumatera Utara. Today I want to discuss what accessibility means in principle, and what we actually see in practice at USU, in our classrooms, digital spaces and in the daily realities of our students.

At USU, we work with a very diverse population. Many students balance studies with work or family responsibilities. For them, the barrier to learning is often not ability but access – connectivity, devices and physical or sensory needs.

Digital inequality is a frequent challenge. Not everyone has a personal laptop or stable internet. In this context, high-bandwidth requirements can become a gatekeeper.

A practical response at USU is to design for constraint: make materials mobile-friendly, compress files and provide short written summaries. This isn’t lowering standards; it is removing unnecessary friction so students can keep up even when they can’t be online at the ideal time.

We also see this in labs and fieldwork. We must avoid assuming one standard body of place. A more accessible approach is to build equivalence. If a field activity is essential, we can provide alternative pathways that access the same learning outcomes, such as a guided field tour observation or structured lab simulation. The goal is to ensure participation isn’t restricted to a single physical template.

Neurodiversity is present in every cohort. Students with anxiety or attention challenges succeed best when teaching is predictable. We can help by using consistent weekly structures and breaking complex tasks into smaller sequences. These small design choices significantly improve persistence.

For students with sensory impairment, support must be core, not extra. Captions, transcripts, and screen reader-friendly formats should be standard. Whether using alt text for images or ensuring strong colour contrasts, we must ensure meaning is accessible, not just the visual. 

Assessment is where accessibility becomes decisive. If we only reward speed or endurance, we may punish students for circumstances unrelated to their learning. At USU, we can improve this through transparent rubrics and, where appropriate, offering more than one way to demonstrate competence.

When teaching is reachable, students participate more. When it feels rigid, they often disengage. This is why Universal Design for Learning is a strategy, not just a trend. It asks us to plan for learner fallibility from the start.

We do not need perfection to begin. We can start with small, consistent practices like lighter materials, predictable structures and assessment clarity. Accessibility is not an add-on to good teaching, it is what makes good teaching possible for more students. For us at Universitas Sumatera Utara, this is both a pedagogical responsibility and ethical commitment. 

Thank you for your time, warm regards from Universitas Sumatera Utara.

Dewi Masyithah Darlan is internationalisation manager at Universitas Sumatera Utara.

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