Tip #3: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help all students have better learning experiences

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 Universal Design for Learning (or UDL) is a set of instructional design principles that create equal opportunities for all learners. As Interim Dean Maria Bevacqua said, UDL is like the curb cuts you see at crosswalks: they were built to help people with mobility issues, but everyone else benefits from them, too.

Julie Snow (Accessibility Resources), Beth Claussen (Accessibility Resources), and Virginia Bessler (IT Solutions Accessible Technologies) visited the Build Your Online Course Boot Camp last week to help us understand how to incorporate UDL into our course design. Here’s what we learned:

About 775 students are registered with the Office of Accessibility Services, but not all students who need help register with the office. Of those who do, not all of them need accommodations all the time. Encourage your students to contact Accessibility Services if they need accommodations, and if the time comes that they cannot accomplish a task in your course (e.g. hear a video, manipulate a keyboard, see a graphic), Julie or Beth will help you find a solution. There are also resources in IT that can help you convert documents and audio/video files into accessible formats, but that’s always easier to do when you plan your course with accessibility in mind. And since the transcription services take about 4 business days, starting early means neither you nor the students will be stress out about falling behind. (You should also know that there is no cost to the department or the student, but the university pays $2.50 per minute for a routine transcription; add another $1.50 per minute for a rush job. Planning ahead saves money and allows them to help more students in the long run.)

Here are the 3 biggest lessons from their talk:

  1. Following the principles of Universal Design for Learning creates a better experience for ALL of our students, not just those who have a documented disability. For example, many of the strategies create better learning experiences for non-native English speakers. And while building those principles into the design of the course can a lot of work, (1) most of them are pretty logical elements and (2) you don’t have to do it all at once. You can do a little now, and a little more the next time you teach. It is still much easier (and far less stressful) than trying to retrofit your course later when you have very little notice.

  1. Course outcomes and standards remain the same for all students in the course. Students needing accommodations are getting help with the learning activities—notetaking, extra time on exams, and alternate formats are the most common—but ultimately, they still must perform at the same standard as other students in the course.

  1. Accessibility is the law. We must ensure that communication for students with documented disabilities must be as effective as communication with others. So if you are thinking about using open educational resources or free materials that you find online, think about accessibility there, too. Websites that are search engine optimized (SEO) are usually built to be accessible, but Ginny in IT has the tech that can tell you for sure. PDFs that are photos of a page are not accessible, but others might be. (Quick and dirty check: Can you highlight words on the page? If you can, it might be accessible.)  Some video services (e.g. YouTube, MediaSpace) can create captions for uploaded videos and podcasts, but it’s not perfect so you should always review them and edit for accuracy. Speaking of podcasts and video, writing a script to work from not only helps you be organized and thorough, it can also become a transcript for students who need one. Finally, using style sheets in word processors and slide presentation software (rather than formatting text manually) improves accessibility.  

The overall message: Planning your course with universal design in mind can help you avoid accidentally discriminating against students.

How do you get started with UDL? Try the Universal Instructional Design Curriculum Checklist from the Office of Accessibility Resources. 

Accessibility Contact Information
For Questions or referral related to a student’s disability or accommodation plan please contact:
Accessibility Resources, 132 Memorial Library
juile.snow@mnsu.edu or beth.claussen@mnsu.edu
Phone:   507-389-2825

For questions related to online accessibility including D2L, captioning, software programs, websites, document accessibility please contact:
Virginia Bessler
Academic Technology Services/IT
virginia.bessler@mnsu.edu
Phone: 507-389-1055

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