You are invited to join a workshop and discussion on the subject of “low-tech” teaching and accessibility. This workshop will take place on Zoom.

July 21st, 2026 | 12pm to 2pm Eastern | Register here

What

Depending on your perspective, a “no/low-tech” classroom might sound like a badly needed refuge from the digital onslaught, an accessibility nightmare, or something in between.*

There has recently been renewed interest in low- or no-tech teaching, sometimes also called to as “analog teaching”. Some potential reasons for this renewed interest include:

• Increasing recognition of the downsides of internet-connected devices in the classroom: The possibility to be distracted by social media, notifications, and other unrelated materials is significant
• Instructors are concerned that the temptation to take shortcuts on important learning tasks using AI is too great: By limiting the use of personal devices, instructors have greater certainty that students are completing learning tasks themselves
• As we are oversaturated with digital content at present and we see that fascination with AI’s capability can easily slide into disinterest in the hard parts of learning and being in community with other people, instructors want to make their classrooms into refuges from the pulls of the digital world. The easiest way to create this refuge is to require students to forego devices.

These are all compelling points. However, classroom technology also provides the basic infrastructure for accessibility in the classroom. Electronic text especially has made information available to people with a wide range of disabilities, and many laptop and handheld computers enable access to information and participation that simply wouldn’t exist otherwise. Moreover, given that some people need to use devices for accessibility reasons and others will benefit from their use, does it make sense to make normative statements about device use at all? What happens when a student needs a device to participate, but is also very distracted by that device’s other capabilities?

This workshop and discussion will ask an important emerging question: How can those instructors who wish to explore the potential benefits of low-tech pedagogy take accessibility seriously?

Our discussion will help us reconsider some of our assumptions about this topic and intentionally plan some experiments in our own work around lower-tech pedagogy. We will especially discuss ways to navigate access friction between different student and instructor needs with respect to technology.

*For some preliminary thoughts on the topic, please see my blog post on analog teaching and learning and access friction.

When

Tuesday July 21, 2026 | 12pm to 2pm Eastern | Register

This workshop will be a synchronous session on Zoom from:

12pm to 2pm Eastern time| 11am to 1pm Central time | 10am to 12pm Mountain time | 9am to 11am Pacific time.

Participants from outside North America are welcome, though these times have been selected with a North American audience in mind. A break will be provided mid-way through the two-hour block.

Where and How

This event will be remote, using Zoom, google drive, and email for the live meeting and communication. Captioning will be provided and a variety of options for participation will be offered. The program will be designed with participant access needs in mind, which can be indicated on the registration form.

Note: I do no plan to record this workshop, but will make the slides and other materials available afterwards.

Cost and Registration

I will cap registration at 100 participants for this date: If there is interest beyond this number of participants I will look to schedule a future event.

A contribution of $20 U.S. dollars or another amount from each participant helps cover the costs of the workshop, including facilitator time, but payment is not required to participate. I can provide an invoice if you would like to pay using institutional professional development funds.
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/silvermansarah
Venmo: @sarah-silverman-6

Questions? Please contact me!