Creating a more accessible future: Stallkamp named Teach Access Fellow

For Dr. Rebecca Stallkamp, incorporating accessibility into her teaching and research was standard practice. Being named one of 20 Teach Access Fellows in the nation will grant her more support to further advocate for accessibility at East Carolina University and beyond.

“I am already certified through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) as a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), so I had a lot of the accessible mindset and digital accessibility basics figured out,” she said. “However, Teach Access provides new support and training through the lens of my current role as an assistant professor of instructional technology in the College of Education where I teach students technology integration in K-12 and the fundamental skills in becoming an instructional designer or technologist.”

Stallkamp is certified through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) as a certified professional in accessibility core competencies (CPACC) and has worked with adults with disabilities for over a decade supporting general and digital literacy. Teach Access’ “born accessible” approach of incorporating accessibility and accessible practices in all degree courses is a perfect fit for Stallkamp.

“In my area, an instructional technology student should enter a job with a basic understanding and application of accessible practices,” she said. “As accessibility is taught more regularly in core degree disciplines, accessibility becomes a natural part of the system and world, meaning less and less retrofitting because we are thinking about how to make products, services, and the world around us accessible from the planning and design stages.”

Integrating Teach Access Teachings

The Teach Access Fellowship is a 12-month program where Fellows will learn more about disability and accessibility during the spring and spend the summer planning how to teach their students. Then, in the fall, Fellows begin teaching accessibility and strategize on how to incorporate these principles into curriculums.

Currently Stallkamp already teaches a unit on accessibility concepts in her courses where she also tries to introduce several simple accessibility practices such as alt text, color contrast, captions and more.

“I focus on small, manageable changes students can start integrating into their own instructional designs and teaching as they continue on in the instructional technology program,” she said. “However, I do lack a really engaging exercise or assessment to determine my students’ ability to apply what they have learned, and not just test the knowledge or concepts learned. Now with Teach Access, I have the support and time to build out an engaging hands-on assessment that has my students actually apply accessibility practices.”

For her graduate students, this will look like an accessibility checking exercise where they will look at a PDF or lesson design and determine what doesn’t meet WCAG standards and offer solutions to fix the issues based on what they have learned in her course. For undergraduate students, she wants to integrate technology to support digital accessibility in the students’ classrooms.

‘Normally, we look at how to integrate use of apps and programs into lesson plans and creation to support content and pedagogy. But, I want them to also learn how these technologies can be used and integrated into lesson plans to support students with disabilities,” she said.

Stallkamp noted that the spring’s discussions about disability and identity had a profound personal and professional impact on her. Although she has been an accessibility advocate for a decade, she didn’t identify as a part of the disability community. However, she recently developed a temporary or flaring disability that impacts her upper extremities.

“I soon realized, and experienced, that society has this imperative to label and define things as fixed dichotomies (disabled or not), when in reality disability can be permanent, temporary, flaring, acquired at any time in the lifespan and more,” she said. “Teach Access helped me understand that disability is first and foremost a human experience and that ‘one person with a disability is one person with a disability (one experience).’”

This fueled her passion for accessibility even more and led her to the idea that embracing and advocating for accessibility means creating a better world for everyone.

“This change in perspective has allowed me to teach and design my courses, understanding that flexibility and choice for my students allows me to meet everyone’s needs,” she said.

For now, Stallkamp is preparing for the fall where she will implement everything she has learned through the Teach Access Fellowship so far and work on building institutional networks and collaborations to support accessibility.

“I am most excited about how Teach Access supports developing a professional development hub around fellows at their respective institutions,” she said. “I hope to start developing professional development opportunities within the College of Education and other colleges at ECU with the support of Teach Access’ training.”