Accessibility and Universal Design
As the student population in higher education becomes ever more diverse, methods of instructional and visual design that support the needs of all learners have become crucially important.
Seminar
April 5, 2007
12:00-1:30 p.m.
155 Peters Hall
St. Paul, Twin Cities campus
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Panelists discuss principles of universal instructional design (UID), the benefits and challenges of using technology to address diverse learning needs, and classroom applications of UID.
Moderator:
Eric Schnell
Disability Services, Twin Cities campus
Panelists:
Betty Benson
Disability Services, Twin Cities campus
Kari Branjord
Enterprise Applications Development, Twin Cities campus
Linda Jorn
Digital Media Center, Twin Cities campus
Phil Kragnes
Academic and Distributed Computing Services, Twin Cities campus
Mari Magler
Disability Services, Twin Cities campus
Michael Olesen
Digital Technology Center, Twin Cities campus
Readings
References
Curry, Cynthia, Libby Cohen, and Nancy Lightbody. "Universal Design in Science Learning." Science Teaching 73, no. 3 (March 2006): 32–37.
Curry, Cohen, and Lightbody provide an overview of the universal design ethos and apply basic principles of universal design for learning to developing learning materials for the sciences. The authors consider various means of making media and activities accessible to the widest possible audiences and of combining complementary materials to address the needs of diverse learners (pp. 33–35), illustrated with two cases ways in which instructors planned and implemented multimodal learning activities (pp. 35–37). Although the authors devote considerable attention to evaluating one's classroom equipment and instructional media and identifying accessibility challenges/opportunities for redesign (e.g., the value of captioning video on p. 33 or the need for laboratory instruments and equipment with audible, visible, and/or tactile readouts on pp. 34–35), they don't attend to situations in which technological accommodation might prove impractical nor to the value of redesigning activities in support of, for example, collaborations that enable all students to contribute productively in the context of a small group discussion or similar exercise.
Deubel, Patricia. "An Investigation of Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Instructional Multimedia Design." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 12, no. 1 (2003): 63–90.
In a synoptic overview of behaviorist and cognitivist strands of instructional design, Deubel introduces universal design for learning in the context of Vygotsky's three conditions for learning: The recognition system (i.e., the system the enables the individual to interpret sensory information and identify meaningful structures or patterns within it), the strategic system (i.e., the system that enables an individual to identify goals and objectives and to develop a plan of action to achieve those ends based on available information), and the engagement system, which—as Deubel describes it—relates primarily to "accommodating learners' preferences" (p. 86) and needs by delivering learning content and activities using complementary modalities (e.g., screen reader software to generate audio equivalents of textual content, p. 86, or the use of multiple media to convey information about a particular topic or activity) or to support reflection and sense-making activities (e.g., glossaries of unfamiliar terms, mind-mapping and context-sensitive note-taking tools, etc., ibid.). Although Deubel focuses primarily on technology tools in her discussion of universal design, her earlier discussion of the social and activity-level dimensions of constructivism (pp. 69–71, from "Cooperative Learning" to "Active Engagement") provides useful advice on how Vygotsky's conditions for learning might help in shaping a successful learning activity from the perspective of universal design.
Lightfoot, Elizabeth, and Priscilla Gibson. "Universal Instructional Design: A New Framework for Accommodating Students in Social Work Courses." Journal of Social Work Education 41, no, 2 (Spring–Summer 2005): 269–277.
In the context of social work education, Lightfoot and Gibson describe early—expensive and insufficient—efforts at retroactive accommodation in response to the 1973 Rehabilitation and 1990 Americans with Disabilities acts, then argue that a proactive approach to instructional design that focuses on improving the learning experience of all students is the more effective approach (pp. 269–271). Based on assumptions articulated by staff members of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)—i.e., that all learners occupy various spectra of physical and cognitive abilities, needs, and preferences and that no fixed curriculum will likely address these learners' diverse needs (p. 272)—Lightfoot and Gibson advocate a social work curriculum in which instructors engage in the following activities.
- Embrace and welcome students by stating their expectations; creating multiple opportunities for students to interact with the instructor and each other; respecting students' differences, explicitly offering accommodation, and providing guidance as to how students might seek and receive such accommodation (pp. 272–273).
- Identify necessary skills and knowledge in any course or curriculum and assess whether the content and course experiences required to develop those competencies are accessible to students—those areas of the curriculum determined to be inaccessible may require redesign, either at the technical level (by the provision of some affordance or delivering materials in an alternative medium) or at the level of activity design or course administration (pp. 273–274).
- Use an array of media and/or types of learning activity to address any given topic or skill, from affordances as simple as providing lecture summaries or skeletal outlines in advance of class to aid all students in taking notes (p. 274) to mixing up the activities involved in any lesson so that students with different learning preferences have opportunities to learn and reflect on course content (ibid.).
- Stretch multi-modal learning to an array of required and optional learning activities that offer students a choice of the best means for them to learn any given skill or body of content (ibid.), as well as offer a smorgasbord of options for evaluating their competence (pp. 274–275).
Although recognizing that implementing these principles "requires an enormous amount of faculty time and instructional support" and "becomes more difficult in larger classes or for instructors with large teaching loads" (p. 275), Lightfoot and Gibson argue that the value added for all social work students offsets the costs.
Opitz, Donald, and Lydia Black. "Universal Learning Support Design: Maximizing Learning Beyond the Classroom." The Learning Assistance Review 11, no. 2 (Fall 2006): 33–45.
Opitz and Black adapt the pioneering work of the late Ron Mace (see "Universal Design Principles" linked from the North Carolina State University Center for Universal Design site, below) beyond the field of instructional design to what the authors describe as "learning support." Like course-level UID, learning support depends on a respect for students' differences, a willingness to accommodate diversity, and clear expressions of expectations and procedures for seeking and obtaining accommodation (pp. 36–37). Just as UID in the individual course requires the instructor to identify essential knowledge and experiences, learning support at the level of the whole curriculum is most accessible when "resources and services foster students' . . . learning and engagement in a developmental manner" (p. 37), as well as help students identify their own needs and learning styles; connect with appropriate supports, materials, and learning experiences as—and when—they're required; and doing so in a manner that affords students maximum control over their own learning (ibid.). As in the individual course, "opportunities to engage"—with course materials and experiences, with their fellow students, and with faculty and professional mentors—are crucial for students' development throughout their academic careers; such opportunities extend from making learning spaces like labs, lecture halls, and other facilities accessible to individuals with mobility impairments, to ensuring that computer-mediated course materials and activities incorporate complementary modalities to support learners with the widest possible range of needs and preferences (p. 37). Finally, Opitz and Black detail the holistic scope of universal design, emphasizing that (re-)designing individual courses is only part of the equation; from admissions, advising, and tutoring services to specialized disability, recreation/student life, and career services, fully implementing UID requires an array of supports for learners (pp. 37–39).
Design Resources
Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST). "Universal Design for Learning (UDL)." Cast, Inc. http://www.cast.org.
The Center for Applied Special Technology was established to evaluate the use of technology to improve student learning. Early adapters of universal design for education, CAST is probably best known for its work on "Bobby," a software tool for assessing the accessibility of Web sites and providing users guidance on how to make their sites more accessible. In addition to information on CAST's commercial projects and services, users can access a complete electronic book (Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning) via the "Publications" page and a sample learning module, "Learn About Universal Design for Learning" (available online at http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/learn.php), illustrates universal instructional design principles while describing UD best practices.
Center for Universal Design. "The Principles of Universal Design, Version 2.0." North Carolina State University. http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/about_ud/udprinciples.htm.
The North Carolina State University Center for Universal Design principles and guidelines provide the foundation on which universal instructional design (UID)/universal design for learning (UDL) practices are built. Not only does each of these architectural- and product-design recommendations find its analogue in UID/UDL guidelines, but the original principles themselves remind us of the need to consider the entire context in which learning takes place—adaptive computer hardware and software is of little use to students if they're unable to access the physical lab or learning space in which that technology is deployed.
Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT). "Applications of Universal Design." University of Washington. http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/udesign.html.
The University of Washington DO-IT "Applications of Universal Design" page provides links to a range of universal design recommendations, from advice on developing face-to-face and distance class applications and student support services; to UD as an instructional topic and focus of student coursework; to the accessible and useable design of mediated content.
Disability Services. "Applying Universal Instructional Design." University of Minnesota. http://ds.umn.edu/faculty/applyingUID.html.
Taking Chickering and Gamson's principles for instructional practice and NCSU's principles of universal design as starting points, the University of Minnesota Office of Disability Services's UID pages advice on how to design more effective and accessible learning activities and materials, illustrated with examples and brief case descriptions of how the principles might be applied in practice.
Teaching Support Services. "Universal Instructional Design." University of Guelph. http://www.tss.uoguelph.ca/uid/.
In addition to introductions to UID based on the NCSU guidelines, the University of Guelph site includes a complete "UID Implementation Guide" describing the principles in detail, illustrated with examples of how each principle has been implement in courses at Guelph; UID-based course development manuals for both face-to-face and distance courses; and "Tip Sheets for Applying UID," providing advice on how to develop more accessible and inclusive learning activities.
