1. Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) and marks the tenth year of a campaign to raise awareness of the need to ensure digital content is accessible to disabled people and those with additional access needs https://globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/ My colleague Andrew Skinner has produced a really useful set of guidelines for accessibility based around the mnemonic SCULPT:

S: Structure (heading styles): Use heading styles in your document 

C: Colour contrast: Use a strong colour contrast between any text and background colour

U: Use of images: Use alternative (alt) text on images

L: Links: hyperlinks should be embedded in text which in isolation would describe what the link was to. Avoid nondescriptive text for links, such as “click here”

P: Plain English: Use clear uncomplicated language, keeping jargon to a minimum

T: Table structure: Use simple tables without merged or split cells.

I’ve attached a copy of Andrew’s presentation below and clearly need to read it carefully myself!

2. Here’s a bit more on reflective practice from the two Steves, Walsh and Mann, this time their open-access article from ELTJ on Doing reflective practice: a data-led way forward. We all wholeheartedly agree that reflective practice is the only possible practice – but on what evidence base? PDF below. Here’s a link to their webinar last November, in case you missed it first time round https://youtu.be/M94bjcoMlNA

3. IH World – the International House World organisation – brings together all the IH schools around the world, 136 of them last time I looked https://ihworld.com/ Here’s a link to the most recent issue of their journal https://ihworld.com/ih-journal/issues/issue-48/ and there’s plenty of other issues to explore.

Here’s a piece from Issue 47 on Teaching people to tie their laces https://ihworld.com/ih-journal/issues/issue-47/teaching-people-to-tie-their-laces/

and here’s a piece on Getting Teacher Educators to Practice what we Preach from Issue 40 https://ihworld.com/ih-journal/issues/issue-40/customisation-in-teacher-training-programmes-getting-teacher-educators-to-practice-what-we-preach/

4. And, finally, a reminder that this year’s Hay Festival starts on 26^th May. All the live events are free, and nearly all events are then available for free replay for 24 hours after the start time of the event – but you need to sign up in advance for the event to be able to watch the recording free https://www.hayfestival.com/m-163-hay-festival-2021.aspx?skinid=1&currencysetting=GBP&localesetting=en-GB&resetfilters=true

Click the ‘Quick View’ radio button for a quick (obviously!) and convenient way to view the programme; hover your mouse over or tap on individual events for more detail. I’ve booked for several events, including number 75 and number 77!