Easy as 1, 2, 3... Effective UDL Applications for Virtually Connecting with Your Students

Deeper Dive  – 25 min presentation

This session will provide participants with action-based strategies intended to operationalise UDL in the online environment. Direct application and examples will promote consideration for how to create virtual connections through deliberate design and instruction which increases consideration for 3) choice, 2) flexibility, and 1) technology. The impact of COVID-19 has accelerated our demand for virtual connections and students equally have required additional support. This session will highlight how connections can be created not only through technology but through a collective's need to feel engaged with one another in the virtual world. Using Google Jamboard, participants will have the opportunity to share UDL activities, which will become a resource for participants to use post-conference. 

Here are a few ideas that will be covered: 

Choice: Provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate understanding. 

Choice Idea 1: Assignment Menu. Provide a menu of various assignments that students can choose from. Each assignment can have a different point value and students need to add up to a given total number.  

Choice Idea 2: Reading Checks. Rather than having students take a quiz to show they have read the required readings, use a shared Google Slides presentation. Students can each add a slide and add text, icons, photos, audio, etc. to show what they took away from the readings. 

Flexibility: Provide asynchronous options for all synchronous expectations. 

Flexibility Idea 1: Presentations. Final presentation sign-up can have an asynchronous option such as posting a pre-recorded presentation to a discussion forum where peers can watch the presentation and provide critique and praise.  

Flexibility Idea 2: Live Lectures. Record live lectures for students to watch when their schedule, technology device, and bandwidth access allows them to. 

Technology: Using technology tools to get your learners actively participating. 

Technology Idea 1: Peardeck. 

Technology Idea 2: Lightboard. 

Universal Design for Learning at UCC: Where We've Been and Where We're Going

Snapshot Session – 10 min presentation

As long-standing UDL enthusiasts, we at UCC have a rich history of promoting UDL and utilising it as a frame for our professional development opportunities for staff. The opportunity to roll out the Digital Badge in UDL (AHEAD, UCD Access & Lifelong Learning) in 2018 was an opportunity for us to further expand our professional development offerings, and we have continued to facilitate the Digital Badge since. The experience of delivering the Digital Badge has been overwhelmingly positive, and we have seen first-hand the shifts that have occurred in the mind-set and practices of participants. We are seeing an ever-increasing appetite for the course, attracting participants who work in different ways across the university to support student learning. The Covid-19 induced shift to online and blended learning brings a particular opportunity for us to reflect on the ways in which UDL may support both teachers and students in successfully navigating this pivot. To date, our participants have been open in sharing their experiences, successes, and challenges in beginning to understand and implement UDL in their day-to-day work. We hope to share these insights, and to highlight the value of such endeavours for our colleagues in the HE and FET sectors. Our experience as facilitators of this course have been critical to a current initiative we are undertaking, where we are creating a comprehensive bank of UDL and UD resources for staff across the university. This work supports a whole-institution approach to inclusion, and contributes towards our long-term goal of making inclusion everyone’s business.

Workshop activities supporting Universal Design for eLearning (UDeL) in Higher Education Institutions

Snapshot Session – 10 minute presentation

The TINEL Project aims to support the development of Universal Design for eLearning (UDeL) in higher education institutions (HEIs). By "universal design" we refer to access and equal opportunities to all students, regardless of their capabilities and backgrounds. As we move into a world in which more education is eLearning, that is either online or "blended," that is a mixture of face-to-face (f2f) and online education, it is vital to create pedagogical models to meet the needs of the full range of students.
 
The TINEL project is undertaking a range of activities to support staff in all roles at HEIs in understanding and implementing UDeL. This includes conducting a call for examples of best practice in UDeL, creating a training model for UDeL, and running a series of "camps" (3 day workshops for approximately 12 staff from a number of different HEIs) about UDeL. The camps were originally designed to be conducted f2f, and one f2f camp did go ahead. However, the coronavirus pandemic meant that the next camp was conducted remotely. The camps include a number of activities, including presentations about UDeL and creating accessible learning materials, practical exercises and discussions with students with different needs. Most importantly, participants bring a UDeL issue they are working on in their HEI and the whole group work to help solve the problem. After the camp, there are follow up meetings to continue the discussions and provide an ongoing support network for the participants.
 
This presentation will discuss the different activities of the camps, how they have supported staff and how we adapted the format from f2f to online, which is of course a case study in UDeL itself. We will also discuss the applicability of the UDeL model for wider use in HEIs.