Curriculum design often stigmatizes students with disabilities. Students are forced to request new formats for course materials, to repeatedly ask for clarity of expectations, and to try to mask or ignore their own learning needs in order to suit the existing design of a course or a book. In contrast, Universal Design for Learning, which we introduced in the matrix in Unit 1, embraces students with disabilities not as exceptions, but as welcome and integral members of the learning community. Embracing learner variability will help you draft a chapter that is engaging, relevant, and inclusive of diverse learning needs. This is one of our Learner Focus criteria for success: Chapter anticipates learner variability (reading level: grades 8-12).

As we discussed in Unit 4, Universal Design for Learning validates the diverse ways that students with disabilities learn. This includes students who may use screen reader software to access digital content, students who may use speech-to-text software to write or take notes, and students who process information at different speeds and may require additional time to express what they know. However, as the name suggests, Universal Design for Learning benefits all learners – this is why it’s “universal.” Watch the video below (figure Y1 6.4) for first-hand accounts from students who are power-users of assistive technology.

https://youtu.be/t6_DMOloEoE

By focusing on the three principles of Universal Design for Learning – multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement – authors and instructors create curriculum pathways that validate multiple ways of learning and building knowledge. These principles are central to creating content that directly supports students in achieving learning objectives.

While Universal Design for Learning embraces learner variability as the norm, it does not always recognize how learners with intersecting social identities experience social problems differently. Anti-racism and Universal Design for Learning expert Andratesha Fritzgerald challenges educators to couple Universal Design for Learning with anti-racism, “a protective action” for those on the fringes of traditional academic spaces, specifically focusing on students of color. In the keynote address Power and Empowerment: Honoring By Decision and Design [Streaming Video], Andratesha offers a series of commitments for educators to make to their students:

• You are more important than systems, instructor preferences, or course packaging.
• I want to learn about you to help you reach your life goals.
• I will honor you with instruction that includes you and respects the power you bring.

The following three examples of Universal Design for Learning in action show a commitment to learner variability and respect for student agency. These examples come from textbooks created by authors in previous cohorts and explore three different strategies to support Universal Design for Learning. If the background scan content that you pasted into your chapter draft contains images or media, student engagement strategies, or links to external resources, use this opportunity to practice universal design moves by revising the open content using the strategies described here. Then update your attribution statement to briefly state the changes you made to the openly licensed content.

Universal Design for Learning Example 1: Integrating Images and Media into the Surrounding Text and Using Effective Figure Captions

In the first chapter of Mental Disorders and the Law, author Anne Nichol deliberately incorporates both images and media to support the Universal Design for Learning principle of multiple means of representation. In a chapter on the history of deinstitutionalization in the United States, Anne incorporates a short video on the concept of dignity of risk rather than providing a text description alone. We’ve reproduced how she did this in the box below; to see what the video looks like in Anne’s book, visit Section 1.5 Deinstitutionalization and Disability Rights [Website].

Note that Anne introduces “dignity of risk” in text in the preceding paragraph. She uses the figure caption to reinforce the concept and to challenge students to attend to their own thinking while watching the video. She asks students to consider how this concept applies to a central theme of the chapter. She also chooses a video that features a self-advocate who is a person of color. With this choice, Anne amplifies the voices of people with disabilities and works to ensure that students of color and students with disabilities see themselves reflected in chapter content.

Together, these design choices address multiple criteria for success:

• Learner Focus: Chapter includes multiple forms of media that are relevant to the text.
• Representation of Diverse Voices: Chapter includes diverse images, voices, viewpoints, or perspectives.
• Accessibility: Videos include accurate captions, audio description, and transcripts (including when shared as optional content).
• Oregon Context: Figure captions for images, media, and tables are clearly connected to chapter learning objectives and include a statement/question inviting Oregon students to make connections with lived experience.

Try it now: if there are images or media in the content you pasted into your chapter draft, assess whether they are meaningfully working to reinforce one or more of your chapter learning objectives. Look for opportunities to strengthen the relationship between chapter text, figure caption, and the media element to multiply the ways that students may meaningfully engage with the concept. If you make this Universal Design for Learning move, update your attribution statement to briefly state the changes you made to the openly licensed content.

Universal Design for Learning Example 2: Using Journals, Self-Reflections, and Discussion Questions for Engagement

In each chapter of Human Services Practicum: An Equity Lens, author Yvonne Smith includes “Practice” sections that create opportunities to engage students in active learning with journal prompts, self-reflections, and discussion questions that align with her chapter learning objectives. This fits the universal design principle of inviting multiple means of expression, or multiple ways students can demonstrate what they are learning. Including open-ended reflection questions in a chapter gives students self-comprehension checks and the chance to apply concepts, benefiting your readers as well as future educators who may adopt this book in their own teaching. We’ve reproduced how she did this in the box below; to see what a “Practice” section looks like in Yvonne’s book visit Practice [Website].

Yvonne’s practice section first invites students to journal about their own experience of power and its influence on implicit bias. She also invites them to select and practice a self-care activity to help them to respond to challenges common in their workplaces. Finally, she invites students to watch a video on intersectionality in order to anticipate different service needs clients may present in the student’s placement site. Each of these questions provides an opportunity for student expression: private written reflection, an embodied practice using a list of suggested activity options, and a video to prepare for a fuller class discussion. This section thus allows students multiple ways to express what they are learning from chapter content, building out the Universal Design for Learning principles of multiple means of expression and engagement.

Together, these design choices address multiple criteria for success:

• Learner Focus: Student discussion and reflection questions are clearly identified in call out boxes or predictable places in the chapter.
• Representation of Diverse Voices: Chapter contains up-to-date, relevant, and diverse scholarship and examples.
• Oregon Context: Chapter examples and case scenarios are relevant and inclusive of diverse Oregon perspectives.

Try it now: if there are student engagement elements in the content you pasted into your chapter draft, assess whether they reflect the Universal Design for Learning principle of multiple means of expression. Look for opportunities to revise for compelling, open-ended questions related to each learning objective of your chapter. This way questions will align with what is most important for students to learn. If you make this Universal Design for Learning move, update your attribution statement to briefly state the changes you made to the openly licensed content.

Universal Design for Learning Example 3: Framing Outside Links with a Purpose

In each chapter of Social Change in Societies: An Equity Lens, author Aimee Krouskop designed “Going Deeper” sections to include linked resources that are interesting but not essential to understanding each chapter. Each resource is shared as a descriptive link. This means that instead of the URL alone, Aimee uses the name of the link’s destination as the link anchor. To help students make the most of these resources, Aimee annotates each link with details about its relationship to chapter content. We’ve reproduced how she did this in the box below; to see what a “Going Deeper” section looks like in Aimee’s book visit Section 1.3 The Art of Sociology [Website].

The text before the “Going Deeper” section addresses how France’s colonial history connects to present-day laws banning religious head coverings. Aimee follows this discussion with a box containing descriptive links and explains how each resource relates to elements of the chapter. By dedicating a chapter section to non-essential but related content, providing descriptive links, and adding a detailed explanation, Aimee helps students manage their time. In this example, optional resources support but don’t overshadow required content. This is an example of the Universal Design for Learning principle of offering multiple means of engagement.

These design choices address two Accessibility criteria for success: Total chapter engagement is scoped to 10,000 words, or no more than 90 minutes of total engagement (approximately 72 minutes of reading time + 18 minutes of required multimedia); and All links include descriptive text with the link destination, as well as framing that connects to the learning objectives.

Authors often find they want to link out to lots of online content, so it is very likely that there are links to external content in the background scan material that you pasted into your chapter draft. However, in an openly licensed textbook like the one we’re creating, it is best practice to pull in content rather than linking out.

• Pull in content: your chapter offers students everything they need in order to meet the learning objectives without needing to visit a different website. No need to check links before teaching to see whether content has changed or disappeared.
• Link out to content: if you ask students to turn their attention elsewhere with an external link, be explicit about what you want them to do or understand about the new point of focus. This is called framing content. Part of framing content is telling students when it is essential to visit external content, versus when it might be interesting, but optional.

Try it now: where you see links to external content, make a decision about whether to pull in or link out.

If you are pulling in, look for an open license on the linked content to determine whether you have permission to copy and paste it into your chapter, adding a new attribution statement to the end of the section you’re working in. If it’s under all-rights-reserved copyright, then follow standard academic practices to summarize, paraphrase, or quote and add an entry to the reference list section at the end of your chapter. Highlight what you find purposeful, helpful, or intriguing to model the kind of engagement you want to see from students in explaining how information from external sources fits into the chapter’s argument.

If you are linking out, determine whether it is required or optional for students to follow the link, and add an explanation for engagement so that students can get the most out of external links. Make sure students are sent away with a clear idea about the purpose of their visit to the linked content. You can signal essential content with direct instructions to students, like “Watch this [title of media] and pay attention to the [use of a chapter concept].” You can frame non-essential content with phrases like, “If your time allows, visit [name of website] for more information on [related subject].”

Being explicit about essential content is an equity consideration. Students often have limited study time due to job commitments and care responsibilities. They need to know how to prioritize the time available to them. Pulling in content instead of linking out, and clearly framing content when you point to external content, helps students focus on the information that is most important and relevant. If you make either of these Universal Design for Learning moves, update your attribution statement to briefly state the changes you made to the openly licensed content.

Unit Self-Check Questions

Licenses and Attributions for Applying Universal Design for Learning to Your Chapter Draft

Open content, original

“Applying Universal Design for Learning to Your Chapter Draft” by Open Oregon Educational Resources is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open content, shared previously

Introduction to “Applying Universal Design for Learning to Your Chapter Draft” is adapted from Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by Veronica Vold, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

“The dignity of risk” excerpt is from Mental Disorders and the Criminal Justice System by Anne Nichol, licensed under CC BY NC 4.0.

“Practice” excerpt is from Introduction to Human Services: An Equity Lens 2e by Yvonne Smith, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

“Going Deeper” excerpt is from Changing Society by Aimee Samara Krouskop, licensed under CC BY SA 4.0.