Glossary

Accessibility focuses on ensuring that environments, services, and tools are usable by everyone, particularly students with disabilities. It involves removing barriers to participation and making sure that everyone can engage with educational materials and activities on the same basis as their peers. This includes providing resources in accessible formats, such as screen reader-compatible documents or videos with captions, to comply with legal obligations under acts like the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, COMEST (2019) defines Artificial Intelligence (AI) into two distinct aspects: theoretical or scientific AI and pragmatic or technological AI. The theoretical aspect explores AI concepts and models to answer questions about human beings and other living things, intersecting with disciplines like philosophy, logic, linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. It addresses questions about intelligence, distinguishing natural from artificial intelligence, the role of symbolic language in thought processes, and the possibility of achieving "strong AI" comparable to human intelligence. On the other hand, pragmatic or technological AI is engineering-oriented, leveraging branches of AI such as natural language processing, knowledge representation, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and robotics. It aims to create machines or programs capable of independently performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. The success of pragmatic AI is evident in its integration with information and communications technology (ICT), leading to widespread applications in areas like transport, medicine, communication, education, finance, law, military, marketing, customer services, and entertainment (COMEST, 2019).
COMEST (2019), “Preliminary study on the ethics of artificial intelligence”, Paris, SHS/COMEST/EXTWG-ETHICS-AI/2019/1.

From https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000367823

The co-design process in learning design is a collaborative approach that involves various stakeholders, including educators, students, learning designers, and sometimes industry partners, in the creation and development of learning experiences and educational materials. This process emphasises partnership and shared decision-making to ensure that the learning solutions are effective, relevant, and engaging for the learners.

Inclusivity goes beyond providing access. It requires intentional and deliberate efforts to ensure that everyone, including students with disabilities, feels a sense of belonging at the university. Inclusivity encompasses designing resources and learning experiences from the outset in a way that considers diverse needs and perspectives. It's about creating an environment where all students feel valued and included, not just accommodated.

Nancy Fraser outlines three dimensions of social justice in her work: redistribution, recognition, and representation. These dimensions are designed to address different forms of social injustices and inequities:

Redistribution: Focuses on the economic aspect of social justice, aims to address inequalities in the distribution of resources and wealth and seeks to correct economic disparities by redistributing wealth, income, and opportunities to ensure a fairer allocation.

Recognition: Concentrates on the cultural and social aspect of social justice, addresses issues of misrecognition or cultural domination where certain groups are devalued or disrespected based on their identity (e.g., race, gender, ethnicity) and calls for the affirmation and respect of diverse identities and cultural practices to combat discrimination and promote equal respect.

Representation (or Political Justice): Pertains to the political aspect of social justice, deals with issues of political voice and participation, ensuring all individuals and groups have equal opportunities to be heard and influence decision-making processes and seeks to address political marginalisation and ensure fair representation in political institutions and public life.

Fraser argues that a comprehensive approach to social justice must consider all three dimensions, as focusing on only one can lead to incomplete or even counterproductive outcomes. Redistribution without recognition, for example, may fail to address the deeper cultural injustices that perpetuate economic inequalities, and vice versa. Similarly, without proper representation, marginalised groups may lack the political power needed to achieve both economic redistribution and cultural recognition.

Open educational practices are a set of activities around instructional design and implementation of events and processes intended to support learning. They also include the creation, use and repurposing of Open Educational Resources (OER) and their adaptation to the contextual setting. They are documented in a portable format and made openly available.

Open Educational Quality Initiative. (2011). Beyond OER: Shifting the focus to open educational practices. The 2011 OPAL Report. http://duepublico.uni-duisburg-essen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-25907/OPALReport2011_Beyond_OER.pdf

Open Educational Resources (OER) are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.

Open license refers to a license that respects the intellectual property rights of the copyright owner and provides permissions granting the public the rights to access, re-use, re-purpose, adapt and redistribute educational materials.

Social justice is the fair and just treatment of all people, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other personal characteristics. It is about ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities to succeed in life.

– Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content
– Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways (e.g., in a class, in a study group, on a website, in a video)
– Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself (e.g., translate the content into another language)
– Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other open content to create something new (e.g., incorporate the content into a mashup)
– Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others (e.g., give a copy of the content to a friend)

A "Third Space Practitioner" in higher education refers to individuals who operate in the hybrid and often innovative spaces between traditional academic and administrative roles. They play a crucial role in bridging the gap between these areas to facilitate collaboration, enhance student experiences, and drive institutional change.

The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.