Tip of the Day

Include captions when using audio or video clips and materials.

Printer Friendly |  -A  A  A+ 

Learn About
Universal
Design in
Education

Other Discussions of UDE

No need to reinvent the wheel here. Rather than the ACCESS-ed Project covering this topic, any of these web links will take you to basic information on UDE. (Most of these sites have much more than just the basics and you will find links to other pertinent aspects of their work as they relate to specific UDE topics thoughout our website.)

General UDE Resources
External link

[Research-based] Disabled web users rank their usability priorities

Results of a survey of a cross section of 208 internet users throughout the UK with disabilities which affect the way they use the internet, comprising the visually impaired/blind, hearing impaired/deaf, physically disabled, and those with dyslexia/learning difficulties. Top 5 ANNOYANCES for users and top 5 most useful features are reported in this one-page article from OUT-LAW News.

OUT-LAW.com, a newsletter of the internatonal law firm of Pinsent Masons

External link

[Research-based] Focus Groups: Faculty Awareness of Disability Rights

 "Postsecondary faculty are often unaware of disability issues in general, and about the needs of students with learning disabilities and other hidden disabilities." This 2-page research brief offers key findings and implications for students, faculty and service providers.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF Postsecondary education Supports, University of Hawaii at Manoa

External link

"Building the Team: Faculty, Staff, and Students Working Together"

Video presentation - "shows how to create an inclusive postsecondary learning environment." 13 minutes.

University of Washington, DO-IT

External link

"Introduction to Universal Design for Learning"

Short (1.5 min) introductory video. Presenter is a graduate student and former teacher with a disability. Good example of captioning.

FAME, the Ohio State University

External link

About Universal Design for Learning

Includes a 13 minute video, "Best Practices through Universal Design for Learning". In addition to background, history and philosophy of UDL, it has a nice checklist, "How Do You Teach?"

The ACCESS Project - Colorado State University

External link

Accessible Design/Universal Design Resources

Many links on UD collected by the author "who is a C2 quadriplegic, completely paralyzed from the neck down and dependent on a ventilator to breathe, using an keyboard/mouse emulator with a sip and puff switch to type morse codes. This site has been online since 1994. Information will be updated when I have time." Includes links to resources, companies, recommended books, politics, and more.

Lubin, J

External link

AHEAD Publications

Association on Higher Education and Disability

External link

Conceptual White Paper on Universal Design in Education on UW-System Campuses

The University of Wisconsin Systems formal statement regarding UD.

University of Wisconsin Board of Regents

External link

Creating Inclusive College Classrooms

Extensive document. In addition to basic UDE principles, the authors include 11 negative assumptions not uncommonly made in teaching with detailed explanations.

Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan - Saunders, S & Kardia, D

External link

Curriculum Transformation and Disability

 Book on UDE available for free on the internet.

"The purpose of this book is to introduce readers to the concepts of Universal Design (UD) and Universal Instructional Design (UID). This collection of essays addresses learning both within and outside the classroom, recognizing the role higher education plays in developing the “whole” person (American Council on Education, 1937, 1949; National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, 1989)."

edited by Jeanne L. Higbee, University of Minnesota

External link

Equity in the Education of Students with Disabilities

Extensive tips across multiple aspects of student experiences.

Keller, E. - West Virginia University

External link

Four Ways to Incorporate Universal Design for Learning into Your Assignment Instructions

Basic strategies for UDE teaching

Zeff, R.

External link

Implementing Universal Design by Training Professionals to Train Others

"This bibliography is intended to serve as a general resource on disability for higher education professionals."

Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation (PASS IT) -University of Minnesota

External link

Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation: Implementing Universal Design in Higher Education

"The Center for Research on Developmental Education and Urban Literacy (CRDEUL) and the Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation (PASS IT) project are pleased to announce the publication of Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation: Implementing Universal Design in Higher Education." Fully accessible pdf. 

Jeanne L. Higbee and Emily Goff, Editors

External link

Professional Development Training: Getting Started

An on-line professional training program. The purpose of this program is to support postsecondary faculty and staff by providing information on ways to improve postsecondary education outcomes for students with disabilities." Includes a pre-test and 20 question mastery test for a Completion Certificate."

University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Center on Disability Studies (CDS)

External link

Teaching Every Student

"The Teaching Every Student (TES) section of the CAST Web site supports educators in learning about and practicing Universal Design for Learning (UDL)." K-12 emphasis.

CAST

External link

Teaching for Inclusion

Very thorough discussion of UDE principles. A few examples include: getting to know your students, the problem of assumptions, the classroom as community, extensive guidelines for classroom discussion, and teaching resources, e.g. anecdotes, humor visual aids and role plays.

Center for Teaching and Learning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

External link

Teaching Students with Disabilities: Universal Instructional Design

Outlines 8 principles of UDE and gives brief examples.

University of Minnesota

External link

Tips that Facilitate Student Learning

Fairly comprehensive list of accessibility concerns when teaching plus Top 10 Checklist for "Tomorrow's College Classrooms". Added here because of it's "Tips for disability awareness".

Longwood University

External link

UDI Resource Publications

General UDE Resources

It took me several years of struggling with the heavy door to my building, sometimes having to wait until a person stronger came along, to realize that the door was an accessibility problem, not only for me, but for others as well. And I did not notice, until one of my students pointed it out, that the lack of signs that could be read from a distance at my university forced people with mobility impairments to expend a lot of energy unnecessarily, searching for rooms and offices. Although I have encountered this difficulty myself on days when walking was exhausting to me, I interpreted it, automatically, as a problem arising from my illness (as I did with the door), rather than as a problem arising from the built environment having been created for too narrow a range of people and situations.

Susan Wendell, author of
The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability