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Universal Design for Instruction

Universal Design for Instruction (not Universal Instructional Design or Universal Design for Learning) is an approach to teaching that involves the proactive design of instructional materials, strategies, and assessments to meet the diverse learning needs of students with and without disabilities in postsecondary education. Nine principles derived in part from Universal Design principles in architecture are used in planning and delivering course content and assessing learning outcomes. By planning in advance for the various learning needs of students, Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) makes course content more accessible to all students and lessens the need for accommodations for specific learners.

Universal Design

Universal Design is a framework first developed by Ronald Mace and his colleagues at North Carolina State University. This concept involves anticipating the physical needs of diverse consumers and designing buildings and other items to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible. By proactively anticipating diversity in users and designing environments and products to be accessible, there is less need to retrofit accommodations since usability by the public has been broadened by removing barriers.

Making a product or environment accessible to people with disabilities often benefits others. For example, sidewalk curb cuts, designed to make sidewalks and streets accessible to those using wheelchairs, are today often used by people on skateboards, parents with baby strollers, and delivery staff with rolling carts. When television displays in noisy areas of airports and restaurants are captioned, they are more accessible to people who are deaf as well as everyone else.http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/about_ud/about_ud.htm

The principles of Universal Design are:

1. 1. Equitable Use
2. 2. Flexibility in Use
3. 3. Simple and Intuitive Use
4. 4. Perceptible Information
5. 5. Tolerance for Error
6. 6. Low Physical Effort
7. 7. Size and Space for Approach and Use

Examples of products or spaces that reflect the principles of Universal Design are:

File:Http://www.toyamadesign.jp/english/img/univer/01.jpg

File:Http://www.brixdesign.com/files/images/media coverage brix & oxo universal design idz german exhibiton-5 small.jpg File:Http://data.greatbuildings.com/gbc/images/cid 1820069.jpg

Universal Design for Instruction

Universal Design for Instruction is based on the application of the principles of UD to the design and delivery of course material and the process of assessment. UDI is an approach to teaching that consists of the proactive design and use of inclusive instructional strategies that benefit a broad range of learners including students with disabilities. This framework can minimize the need for “special” accommodations and retrofitted changes to the learning environment. Universal Design for Instruction operates on the premise that the planning and delivery of instruction, as well as the evaluation of learning, can incorporate inclusive attributes that embrace diversity in learners without compromising academic standards. UDI changes “the focus on how to meet the needs of students with disabilities from a focus on compliance, accommodations, and nondiscrimination to an emphasis on teaching and learning.”

Principles of Universal Design for Instruction©

In addition to the seven principles that are adapted from the UD principles of the Center on Universal Design (CUD) at North Carolina State University, two additional principles are included: a community of learners and instructional climate. These additions were based on an extensive literature review on postsecondary instruction and reflect the social nature of learning environments that are critical to address during the course design process. The Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability at the University of Connecticut has provided a definition for each principle as it relates to the instructional environment.

Principle	Definition
Equitable use	Instruction is designed to be useful to and accessible by people with diverse abilities. Provide the same means of use for all students; identical whenever possible, equivalent when not.
Flexibility in use	Instruction is designed to accommodate a wide range of individual abilities. Provide choice in methods of use.
Simple and intuitive	Instruction is designed in a straightforward and predictable manner, regardless of the student's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. Eliminate unnecessary complexity
Perceptible information	Instruction is designed so that necessary information is communicated effectively to the student, regardless of ambient conditions or the student's sensory abilities.
Tolerance for error	Instruction anticipates variation in individual student learning pace and prerequisite skills.
Low physical effort	Instruction is designed to minimize nonessential physical effort in order to allow maximum attention to learning. Note: This principle does not apply when physical effort is integral to essential requirements of a course.
Size and space for approach and use	Instruction is designed with consideration for appropriate size and space for approach, reach, manipulations, and use regardless of a student's body size, posture, mobility, and communication needs.
A community of learners	The instructional environment promotes interaction and communication among students and between students and faculty.
Instructional climate	Instruction is designed to be welcoming and inclusive. High expectations are espoused for all students.

Applying the Principles of UDI to Online and Blended Courses

The UDI Online Project team at the University of Connecticut has developed examples of ways the Principles of UDI© can be applied to the design of instructional material for online and/or blended courses:

Principle	Definition	Examples
Equitable use	Instruction is designed to be useful to and accessible by people with diverse abilities. Provide the same means of use for all students; identical whenever possible, equivalent when not.	Providing students with multiple options to demonstrate mastery of the subject (web design, oral presentations, research papers); using alternate sources to explain complex concepts.
Flexibility in use	Instruction is designed to accommodate a wide range of individual abilities. Provide choice in methods of use.	Using varied instructional methods (mind/concept maps, group activities, outlines) to provide different ways of learning and experiencing knowledge.
Simple and intuitive	Instruction is designed in a straightforward and predictable manner, regardless of the student's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. Eliminate unnecessary complexity	Providing grading rubrics that clearly lay out expectations for exam performance, papers, or projects; including a syllabus with links to reading materials; adding animated icons to the course website that pop up to remind students of deadlines.
Perceptible information	Instruction is designed so that necessary information is communicated effectively to the student, regardless of ambient conditions or the student's sensory abilities.	Selecting reading material and other instructional supports, including websites that are accessible via screen readers, text formatting, zoom text.
Tolerance for error	Instruction anticipates variation in individual student learning pace and prerequisite skills.	Capturing logs of threaded discussions for students to reference over the course of the semester; providing the option of turning in multiple drafts of an assignment in order for the student to demonstrate his/her learning progress; provisioning of “practice” exercises or tests.
Low physical effort	Instruction is designed to minimize nonessential physical effort in order to allow maximum attention to learning. Note: This principle does not apply when physical effort is integral to essential requirements of a course. || Fostering maximum attention to learning by being aware of screen structure and layout of website features (breaking down a construct into multiple pages with headings).
Size and space for approach and use	Instruction is designed with consideration for appropriate size and space for approach, reach, manipulations, and use regardless of a student's body size, posture, mobility, and communication needs.	Being aware of diverse communication needs in deciding to incorporate examples and graphics (moderately combine visuals with text).
A community of learners	The instructional environment promotes interaction and communication among students and between students and faculty.	Fostering communication among students in and out of class by structuring study groups, discussion groups, project groups, chat rooms; making a personal connection with students through video or phone (Skype, Adobe Connect).
Instructional climate	Instruction is designed to be welcoming and inclusive. High expectations are espoused for all students.	Including a statement in the class syllabus affirming the need for class members to respect diversity in order to establish the expectation of tolerance as well as encourage students to discuss any special learning needs; highlighting diverse thinkers who have made significant contributions to the field; providing direct feedback on and share innovative approaches developed by students in the class.

Other Applications of Universal Design

In addition to the field of architecture, the concept of anticipating diversity among users and designing features to make environments and products accessible by a broad range of people has relevance to other fields, most notably, education. Additional initiatives to extend the concept of universal design to education have emerged, and they are described in order to delineate other approaches to accessible instructional environments. Beginning in the 1980’s, the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), a not-for-profit organization, has engaged in efforts “to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through the research and development of innovative, technology-based educational resources and strategies”. CAST’s approach is based upon Universal Design for Learning (UDL) with a particular focus on students in the K-12 system and the use of technology to support the goal of differentiated instruction. Another initiative funded at the University of Guelph in Canada was a two year project to study universal instructional design (UID), a model used by faculty who applied the seven principles from North Carolina State University’s Center for Universal Design (CUD). Although this study’s funding ended in 2003, preliminary results showed a significant relationship between the level of UID in a course and students’ sense of self-efficacy. A third approach is Universal Design of Instruction, the model proposed by the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT) Center at the University of Washington. Checklists based on the seven principles of universal design (UD) are available for the application of UD not only to instruction but also to technology, student services, higher education facilities, and computing labs. Finally, Universal Design in Education (UDE) is the phrase proposed by Bowe in 2000 meaning “the preparation of curricula, materials, and environments so that they can be used, appropriately and with ease, by a wide variety of people.” He suggested ways that UDE could be applied across the educational continuum including continuing and adult education. While each of these approaches is grounded in the work of the CUD at North Carolina State University, implementation initiatives as well as guiding principles are not uniform.

External Links

Universal Design

http://www.universaldesign.org/

http://www.adaptiveenvironments.org/index.php?option=Content&Itemid=3

http://www.makoa.org/accessable-design.htm

Principles of Universal Design for Instruction:

http://www.udi.uconn.edu/index.php?q=content/introduction-universal-design-instruction

http://www.udi.uconn.edu/index.php?q=content/universal-design-instruction-module

http://ualr.edu/pace/index.php/home/hot-topics/ud/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY6PhtCLrTg

http://www.cuyamaca.edu/instsupport/pdf/universal_design_of_instruction.pdf

Application of the Principles of Universal Design for Instruction

http://www.facultyware.uconn.edu/files/UDI_principles.pdf

http://udi.uconn.edu/index.php?q=node/16

http://www.portals.emory.edu/udi_pdf/instruction.pdf

UDI Online Project. (2010). Universal Design for Instruction Module. Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability, University of Connecticut, Storrs. http://www.udi.uconn.edu/index.php?q=content/universal-design-instructio... .

Universal Design for Learning

http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html

Universal Design of Instruction

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/instruction.html