Universal design for instruction

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Universal instructional design (UID) or universal design for instruction (UDI) is an educational framework for applying universal design principles to learning environments with a goal toward greater accessibility for all students, including students with disabilities. UDI involves considering the potential needs of all learners when designing and delivering instruction by identifying and eliminating unnecessary barriers to teaching and learning while maintaining academic rigor. [1] UDI is thus proactive and benefits all students, in contrast to providing accommodations for a specific student (e.g., providing a sign language interpreter for a student who is deaf).

Contents

Background

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) applies and adapts universal design principles and the Principles of Universal Design [2] to learning environments and learning products, with a goal toward maximizing learning for all students.

Universal design (UD), a concept pioneered by architect Ronald Mace at North Carolina State University (NCSU), [3] refers to buildings, products, and environments that are inherently accessible to both people without disabilities and people with disabilities. [4] The Center for Universal Design at NCSU established a set of Principles of Universal Design [5] based on UD to guide and evaluate the design process, with a goal toward creating more accessible products and environments. Universal Design for Instruction is an educational framework and set of strategies that applies both UD and the Principles of Universal Design to academic and teaching environments, learning products, and learning materials.

Specific UDI frameworks and educational initiatives vary between academic and policy institutions. The Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) [6] at the DO-IT Center (University of Washington) combines UD, the Principles of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create UDI strategies for applying universal design to educational products and environments. [7] Each CUDE strategy is linked with relevant principles of UD and UDL. [7] Using a different approach, the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability at the University of Connecticut developed a set of UDI principles that draws on the work of Chickering and Gamson, [8] who had originally published a set of principles for more inclusive postsecondary education, as well as the Principles of Universal Design. [9]

Principles

The original seven Principles of Universal Design for products and environments established by the Center for Universal Design at NCSU [10] follow; UDI applies these principles to learning environments. [11]

The DO-IT Center's Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) combines UDI strategies and UD principles with the more specific Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. [12] Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is "a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn." [13] UDL guidelines encourage curriculum designers to provide the student with options with respect to the following:

The University of Connecticut researchers and practitioners propose nine principles that describe a successful implementation of Universal Design for Instruction. Four of them state that materials and activities should be: [14]

Three principles for universal design for instruction state that the learning environment should:

Universal design for instruction includes two more principles related to the delivery environment:

Examples of application to instruction

Ways of applying UD to instruction, developed through University of Washington Universal Design in Higher Education Initiative, include those listed below.

The process

The Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) at the DO-IT Center at the University of Washington describes Universal Design of Instruction (UDI) as "a goal, a process, and a set of practices." [7] According to CUDE, the UDI process is described as the following series of steps: [7]

  1. Identify the course. Describe the course, its learning objectives, and its overall content.
  2. Define the universe. Describe the overall population of students eligible to enroll in the course and then consider their potential diverse characteristics (e.g., with respect to gender; age; ethnicity and race; native language; learning style; and abilities to see, hear, manipulate objects, read, and communicate).
  3. Involve students. Consider perspectives of students with diverse characteristics, as identified in Step 2, in the development of the course. If they are not available directly from students, gain student perspectives through diversity programs such as the campus disability services office.
  4. Adopt instructional strategies. Adopt overall learning and teaching philosophies and methods. Integrate these practices with universal design guidelines or strategies for learning or instruction.
  5. Apply instructional strategies. Apply universal design strategies in concert with good instructional practices (both identified in Step 4) to the overall choice of course teaching methods, curricula, and assessments. Then apply universal design to all lectures, classroom discussions, group work, handouts, web-based content, labs, fieldwork, assessment instruments, and other academic activities and materials to maximize the learning of students with the wide variety of characteristics identified in Step 2.
  6. Plan for accommodations. Learn campus procedures for addressing accommodation requests (e.g., arrangement of sign language interpreters) from specific students for whom the course design does not automatically provide full access.
  7. Evaluate. Monitor the effectiveness of instruction through observation and feedback from students with the diverse set of characteristics identified in Step 2, assess learning, and modify the course as appropriate.

Related Research Articles

An instructional theory is "a theory that offers explicit guidance on how to better help people learn and develop." It provides insights about what is likely to happen and why with respect to different kinds of teaching and learning activities while helping indicate approaches for their evaluation. Instructional designers focus on how to best structure material and instructional behavior to facilitate learning.

Instructional design (ID), also known as instructional systems design (ISD), is the practice of systematically designing, developing and delivering instructional materials and experiences, both digital and physical, in a consistent and reliable fashion toward an efficient, effective, appealing, engaging and inspiring acquisition of knowledge. The process consists broadly of determining the state and needs of the learner, defining the end goal of instruction, and creating some "intervention" to assist in the transition. The outcome of this instruction may be directly observable and scientifically measured or completely hidden and assumed. There are many instructional design models but many are based on the ADDIE model with the five phases: analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation.

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

Active learning Educational technique

Active learning is "a method of learning in which students are actively or experientially involved in the learning process and where there are different levels of active learning, depending on student involvement." Bonwell & Eison (1991) states that "students participate [in active learning] when they are doing something besides passively listening." In a report from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), authors discuss a variety of methodologies for promoting active learning. They cite literature that indicates students must do more than just listen in order to learn. They must read, write, discuss, and be engaged in solving problems. This process relates to the three learning domains referred to as knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA). This taxonomy of learning behaviors can be thought of as "the goals of the learning process." In particular, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC) is a public school district located in Columbus, Indiana. Its boundaries include all but two townships in Bartholomew County, Indiana. BCSC serves 11,000+ students on 18 campuses. 11 elementary, 3 high school, 2 middle school, 1 early childhood center, and 1 adult education center. BCSC School Board officers are President Jill Shedd, Vice-President Julie Bilz, and Secretary Pat Bryant. BCSC is led by Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts.

Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to all people, regardless of age, disability or other factors.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences.

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction or "learning trajectory" for a lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class learning. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the needs of the students. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan. A lesson plan is the teacher's guide for running a particular lesson, and it includes the goal, how the goal will be reached and a way of measuring how well the goal was reached.

This glossary of education-related terms is based on how they commonly are used in Wikipedia articles. This article contains terms starting with G – L. Select a letter from the table of contents to find terms on other articles.

Inclusion (education) Where special needs students spend most of their time with non-special needs students

Inclusion in education refers to a model wherein students with special needs spend most or all of their time with non-special needs students. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life. Inclusion rejects but still provides the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities. Schools with inclusive classrooms do not believe in separate classrooms. They do not have their own separate world so they have to learn how to operate with students while being less focused on by teachers due to a higher student to teacher ratio.

Adapted physical education is the art and science of developing, implementing, and monitoring a carefully designed physical education. Instructional program for a learner with a disability, based on a comprehensive assessment, to give the learner the skills necessary for a lifetime of rich leisure, recreation, and sport experiences to enhance physical fitness and wellness. Principles and Methods of Adapted Physical Education and Recreation.Adapted physical education generally refers to school-based programs for students ages 3–21.

Formative assessment, formative evaluation, formative feedback, or assessment for learning, including diagnostic testing, is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures conducted by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. The goal of a formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. It also helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on the details of content and performance. It is commonly contrasted with summative assessment, which seeks to monitor educational outcomes, often for purposes of external accountability.

Inclusion (disability rights)

Inclusion, in relation to persons with disabilities, is defined as including individuals with disabilities in everyday activities and ensuring they have access to resources and opportunities in ways that are similar to their non-disabled peers. Disability rights advocates define true inclusion as results-oriented, rather than focused merely on encouragement. To this end, communities, businesses, and other groups and organizations are considered inclusive if people with disabilities do not face barriers to participation and have equal access to opportunities and resources.

E-learning theory describes the cognitive science principles of effective multimedia learning using electronic educational technology.

An instructional simulation, also called an educational simulation, is a simulation of some type of reality but which also includes instructional elements that help a learner explore, navigate or obtain more information about that system or environment that cannot generally be acquired from mere experimentation. Instructional simulations are typically goal oriented and focus learners on specific facts, concepts, or applications of the system or environment. Today, most universities make lifelong learning possible by offering a virtual learning environment (VLE). Not only can users access learning at different times in their lives, but they can also immerse themselves in learning without physically moving to a learning facility, or interact face to face with an instructor in real time. Such VLEs vary widely in interactivity and scope. For example, there are virtual classes, virtual labs, virtual programs, virtual library, virtual training, etc. Researchers have classified VLE in 4 types:

Differentiated instruction Framework or philosophy for effective teaching

Differentiated instruction and assessment, also known as differentiated learning or, in education, simply, differentiation, is a framework or philosophy for effective teaching that involves providing all students within their diverse classroom community of learners a range of different avenues for understanding new information in terms of: acquiring content; processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and developing teaching materials and assessment measures so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in their ability. Differentiated instruction, according to Carol Ann Tomlinson, is the process of "ensuring that what a student learns, how he or she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he or she has learned is a match for that student's readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning." According to Boelens et al. (2018), differentiation can be on two different levels: the administration level and the classroom level. The administration level takes the socioeconomic status and gender of students into consideration. At the classroom level, differentiation revolves around content, processing, product, and effects. On the content level, teachers adapt what they are teaching to meet the needs of students. This can mean making content more challenging or simplified for students based on their levels. The process of learning can be differentiated as well. Teachers may choose to teach individually at a time, assign problems to small groups, partners or the whole group depending on the needs of the students. By differentiating product, teachers decide how students will present what they have learnt. This may take the form of videos, graphic organizers, photo presentations, writing, and oral presentations. All these take place in a safe classroom environment where students feel respected and valued—effects.

Flipped classroom instructional strategy delivering instructional content outside of the classroom and other reated activities into the classroom

A flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning, which aims to increase student engagement and learning by having pupils complete readings at home and work on live problem-solving during class time. The USSR was the first country to propose and implement a flipped classroom.

The DO-IT Center People with disabilities in postsecondary education and careers

The DO-IT Center is based at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1992, DO-IT’s mission is to increase the successful participation of people with disabilities in postsecondary education and careers, in STEM fields and careers, and in computing fields and careers throughout the U.S. It directs the national AccessSTEM program, and co-directs the national AccessComputing Alliance focused on engaging people with disabilities in computing fields.

Curriculum development is a process of improving the curriculum. Various approaches have been used in developing curricula. Commonly used approaches consist of analysis, design, selectingformation and review.

  1. Analysis
  2. Design
  3. Selecting
  4. Formation
  5. Review

Shira Yalon-Chamovitz (born 8 November 1962, in Hebrew שירה ילון-חיימוביץ is an Israeli occupational therapist, Director of the Israel Institute on Cognitive Accessibility, and Dean of Students at Ono Academic College. She has made significant contributions to the field of accessibility for people with cognitive disabilities, having coined the terms "cognitive ramps" and "simultaneous simplification".

References

  1. ↑ Burgstahler, Sheryl; Burgstahler, S.; Cory, R. (2008). Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice. Harvard Education Press. ISBN   9781891792915.
  2. ↑ Principles of Universal Design, Center for Universal Design, NCSU
  3. ↑ "Center for Universal Design, NCSU". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  4. ↑ A Primer on Universal Design (UD) in Education, Dave L. Edyburn, Ph.D.
  5. ↑ Center for Universal Design, Principles of Universal Design
  6. ↑ Center for Universal Design in Education
  7. 1 2 3 4 Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction
  8. ↑ Scott, McGuire, & Shaw, 2001
  9. ↑ Universal Design and Universal Instructional Design - University og Guelph
  10. ↑ The Principles of Universal Design
  11. ↑ Burgstahler, Sheryl, Universal Design in Education: Principles and Applications
  12. ↑ Burgstahler, Sheryl, Universal Design of Instruction (UDI): Definition, Principles, Guidelines, and Examples
  13. ↑ Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST Universal Design in Learning: About UDL
  14. ↑ UID Faculty Workbook - Mohawk College
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