• Before meeting a group of students for the first time, check any reasonable adjustments to which they may be entitled.
• Ensure sensitivity to the different needs of students in your class – review how initial sessions go and explore any emerging issues.
• Facilitate lectures and seminars so that all students are able to participate fully in a way that is appropriate to them (as you get to know your students, this will become easier)
• Provide advance notice of lecture topics and activities. This should include a clear structure and purpose. This helps students in a number of ways. They can: understand if there are any subject areas they may wish to avoid; prepare themselves for group activities; do some background reading to give them more confidence they understand the topic (this is particularly helpful for seminars where a student may be expected to contribute).
• Always provide presentation materials* and other lecture structure and learning materials in advance. This enables students to read through and prepare any study strategies they may need (e.g. pre-loading onto a laptop for a student with a visual impairment or providing a note-taking framework for a student with dyslexia). *clearly a tutor may wish to keep some content (e.g. answers) to themselves until the day of the lecture. That is fine, but is not a reason to keep all other resources back as well
• Ensure the learning environment is appropriate for all students and no student is disadvantaged by the environment: ensure the room accessible to wheelchairs and is accessible to people with mobility difficulties; you need to ensure that everyone has room to sit comfortably. This might include support workers in some cases; minimise distractions and potential sensory challenges – noise, overly bright lighting, interruptions etc; can everyone see and hear you at all times?
• Students with hearing impairments will not be able to lipread if you turn your back and continue speaking while writing on the board. Check in with students regularly. Ensure everyone can see any presentations. Use available technology such as whiteboards and microphones.
• Provide all information in accessible formats, whether pre-lecture materials or ones that you will use in class. Ensure all materials are accessible. For example, videos should have closed captions and accessible font sizes should be used.
• Allow for recording of lectures (following University guidelines on use of information).
• Where a support worker is present, ensure you are aware of their role. However, always ensure that you address the student not them.
• Pace your teaching delivery to allow notetaking and highlight key points.
• Allow short intermissions so students can catch up, or review of material or ask questions.
• If there are notetakers or sign-language interpreters in class ensure there are breaks to enable them to catch up. They (and the students) will also benefit from short breaks.
• Aim to finish within your time slot, so students can get to their next class.

Many of the principles above apply equally in an online environment but just need to be delivered differently. These might include for example, consideration of clarity of instructions and clear and unambiguous communication and materials accompanying asynchronous (recorded) lectures etc. For live (synchronous) teaching, additional considerations might be:

• Clear advance notice of timings, what to expect and how this fits with assignment tasks etc. Reminders may be required here – with texts working better than emails.
• Advance notice of any activities or tasks with clear explanations of how they will work.
• Proactive check-ins with students afterwards to gauge understanding of key instructions.
• Recording the session and circulating this to students.

As with face to face teaching, it is important not to assume that students are disengaged because they not fully participate all the time or play a proactive part in discussions and activities. At the same time, it is good to check afterwards.