Accessibility of Interpretive Signs in Environmental Education: Comparative Perspectives from Taiwan and Washington State

COIL Module Overview: 

This COIL module will be an interdisciplinary cross-cultural collaboration. Students will explore communication practices that aim to enhance accessibility of interpretive signs in environmental education. Students from both the UW and NKNU will form cross-campus teams (about 6 students/team). Students will find interpretive signs in public nature areas in places where they live, take photos of these signs, and share with the cross-campus team.

Through shared lectures, students will learn basic concepts about “interpretive signs in nature parks” and “communication & individuals with disabilities”. Students will apply these concepts to evaluate the interpretive signs they identified in their areas for accessibility in terms of communicating basic natural science concepts to the general public and park users with special needs. These signs will be evaluated for both (1) the physical features for accessibility (e.g. font size, color contrast, height, and location of the signs) and (2) the readability of the content (e.g. use of language, terminology, explanation of concepts, and intended audiences).

Cross-campus teams will present their analysis of the interpretive signs as an online portfolio. Students will be able to view other group's work and compare and contrast the accessibility of interpretive signs.

Through this cross-cultural exploration, we aim to foster our students’ reflection on what accessibility means in different cultural contexts, using the example of interpretive signs in environmental education. Our students will identify positive aspects of and existing barriers to accessible interpretive signs based on the chosen case study sites and propose solutions to address these barriers. Through this COIL experience, we hope to compare the experiences between Taiwan and Washington State to deepen students’ awareness of accessibility as a culturally contextualized concept and lived experience. The COIL model of pedagogy will be essential to achieving these learning objectives in our courses.

COIL Learning Objectives:

1. Critically reflect on one's cultural origins, practices, and habits of thought

2. Co-create mutually beneficial, cross-cultural relationships and communities

3. Practice cross-cultural communication and gain proficiency in virtual collaboration technologies