Why Universal Design?
There is an entire field devoted to solving design problems to make resources easy to use and accessible to all. We call it Universal Design and it encompasses all sorts of content, including text, video, audio, documents, web page design, writing styles, and much more.
So why go through all this effort?
There are over two million students that have a disability on college campuses throughout the United States. Closer to home, nearly 10% of Emory students (both graduate and undergraduate) are registered with some form of disability with the Department of Accessibility Services. From this information alone, it is obvious that there is a strong need to make online content accessible for all of the students that we serve.
Furthermore, mobile is changing the story of how content is delivered. Mobile has erased the digital divide. If your course content is not available on a small screen, it’s not available at all to people who rely on their mobile phones for access (like students.)
The impact of Universal Design
Implementing the principles of Universal Design in online learning means anticipating the diversity of students that may enroll in your course and planning accordingly. Designing a course with principles of Universal Design in mind is an ongoing and creative process.
If you create your content using UDL principles, the content is not only accessible to students who may have a disability, but will also support English Language Learners, students who may be struggling with depression and anxiety, and students accessing your course Canvas content using a mobile device, laptop, tablet, etc., among many others.
Even for students who may otherwise have no problem accessing your Canvas course, UDL makes things easier for them to find and use content and improves the overall learning experience.
Is UDL really necessary at the college level?
When students start college, we expect a certain degree of autonomy and academic ability that is different from what is expected in a K-12 environment. Implementing UDL principles in your course does not do away with these expectations. The social model of disability looks at disability from the perspective that environments are disabling, rather than viewing the individual as being inherently disabled. The disabling environments that affected students before college follow them throughout their lives. In higher education, UDL works to remove the disabling conditions while still upholding the standards of a prestigious academic institution.
UDL strategies in higher ed will certainly look different than in K-12, but they are still important. Teachers in K-12 are employing these strategies more, so following the same best practices when they reach college will help them be more successful.
But it sounds like a lot of work!
Yes, it does take more time and planning up front. But you'll likely see that in the long-run it saves you time, as you create templates based on good design practices that you can reuse in your courses. Also, don't feel like you have to implement all of these strategies at once! Go at a reasonable pace, gradually adopting more strategies and features, and it's easier to manage. At the very least, it's good to at least have an idea of how you might find a solution in case there is a student with accessibility needs in your course so that you aren't scrambling to figure it out at the last minute. The Department of Accessibility Services can always help, but the more knowledge you have, the more efficient and effective you can be and it will result in less stress.
As we continue through this Universal Design course, you will learn ways to make your content accessible, mobile-friendly, and designed with all learners in mind by using eight simple strategies in Canvas. First, let's take a deeper dive into the principles of UDL and see what it really means to apply them in higher ed.
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