Without setting out to do so deliberately, I’ve developed a strong interest in accessibility and universal design over the last year. Last June, my buddy in the ELI/Penn State ID2ID program suggested that we collaborate on an accessibility project for a faculty audience. Then, in July, I attended the annual Distance Teaching & Learning conference in Madison, which had an unofficial “accessibility track.” After returning from the conference, I started talking with my colleagues and found that several of us were on the same page, so we have formed a working group to begin exploring how we might support implementation here at DePaul. Over the next two posts, I’m going to give an overview of the work our group has been doing.
Step 1: Bringing Ourselves Up to Speed
We began by doing some research to give ourselves a good foundational understanding of Universal design and its application in higher education.
Universal design began in architecture, as an effort to ensure that built spaces could be used by virtually everyone, regardless of their ability or disability. The concept was applied to learning in the 1990s and, like many pedagogical frameworks, has moved from application in the K-12 environment to postsecondary education.
One decision point is to determine which “flavor” (or flavors) of universal design best fits our needs. There are several frameworks from which to choose:
- Universally designed teaching (UDT)
- Universal Design for Instruction (UDforI)
- Universal Instructional Design (UID)
- Universal design for learning (UDL)
- Universal design of instruction (UDI)
We narrowed ourselves down to two of these approaches (though most are substantially similar).
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning probably has the most well-built theoretical framework and accompanying material.
Universal Design of Instruction
I also strongly recommend the materials put together by Sheryl Burgstahler and the team at DO-IT at the University of Washington.
Step 2: Get Support from Leadership
Of course, a grassroots initiative needs support from leadership in order to gain traction and (I hope) influence a culture shift. Our working group drafted a proposal that we hope will help us gain that support.
Here is a summary of our rationale:
DePaul is a mission-driven institution, with students from all over the world, and from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Our students represent a diversity of ages, socioeconomic backgrounds and learning styles, including visual and auditory. Of course, we also have students with documented (and undocumented) disabilities. So how do we, as a university, meet the needs of all students and satisfy our mission?
We are currently invested in researching and incorporating principles of universal/inclusive design as part of our course development process. The universal design framework provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals and materials, teaching methods, and assessments that work for nearly everyone—not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.
We believe this commitment to train our faculty and support staff in universal/inclusive design, will continue to uphold our promise to “serve students who vary in age, ability, experience, and career interests.”
We obviously believe that there is a clear connection between the university’s mission and the principles of universal design. In the next post, I’ll share some of our implementation plan, which is still in early stages.