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Significant Career Lesson From An Accessibility Specialist At Salesforce

Haley, an Accessibility Specialist at Salesforce, discovered that "learning is coupled" to context, meaning the setting, timing, and even one's mood significantly impact learning effectiveness. This insight led Haley to create diverse learning content—podcasts, videos, and more—allowing audiences to choose formats best suited to their individual needs and learning styles, ultimately improving accessibility and inclusivity.

Accessibility, Inclusive Learning, Contextual Learning, Instructional Design, Universal Design for Learning

Advizer Information

Name

Job Title

Company

Undergrad

Grad Programs

Majors

Industries

Job Functions

Traits

Haley Shust

Accessibility Specialist

Salesforce

Elon University, 2015

Masters of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (focus: Digital learning); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Biology & Related Sciences

Technology

Education

Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member

Video Highlights

1. Learning is coupled with context: The environment, timing, and even mood affect how well someone learns. This is why offering diverse learning materials (podcasts, videos, written documents) is crucial for accessibility.

2. Successful learning is about matching content to individual needs: People learn in different ways. Providing options like audiobooks for visually impaired learners caters to various learning styles and creates a more inclusive learning ecosystem.

3. Accessibility is key to inclusive learning: Creating accessible content isn't just about compliance; it's about ensuring everyone can learn effectively. Offering diverse formats allows people to choose the context that best suits their needs and learning style.

Transcript

What is one lesson that you have learned that has proven significant in your career?

This is a weird theory that I've kind of put together, but I hope it makes sense as I explain it. I've learned that learning is coupled, and that means it's linked to a specific context. So, if we're trying to learn something new, things like the timing, how you feel that day, and where you're sitting all matter. The setting really matters.

We know from research that simply sitting down at a desk and listening to a teacher read from a book isn't always going to result in learning. Inversely, we tend to perform better on assessments when we take them in the same room where we did the learning. So, ultimately, that sounds like a lot of moving pieces, but the whole idea is that learning can only happen if the context is correct.

As I began to understand this idea and explore it, applying it to how I understand learning and accessibility, I was able to create more successful learning because I offer content in a variety of different styles. That's where I cite things like podcasts, videos, job aids, and e-learning. So, you have things in both a verbal and visual, a simply verbal or auditory, and written contextual way.

When an audience can choose from a variety of different options, they tend to find the one that matches the context that they require. That also just creates a more learning ecosystem because you choose the option that aligns best with your ability. For example, if you are blind, you might choose an audiobook format of something so you can simply listen to the content. That's a more accessible option than only being able to choose from any learning and then having to use your screen reader, or the same with a PDF.

So, that whole idea of learning being specific to a context and a specific person has been really meaningful in driving how I view learning and how to make it more accessible and inclusive.

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