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In an instructional setting, it is often inappropriate to provide choice of the learning objective itself, but it is often appropriate to offer choices in how that objective can be reached, in the context for achieving the objective, in the tools or supports available, and so forth. Offering learners choices can develop self-determination, pride in accomplishment, and increase the degree to which they feel connected to their learning. However, it is important to note that individuals differ in how much and what kind of choices they prefer to have. It is therefore not enough to simply provide choice. The right kind of choice and level of independence must be optimized to ensure engagement.

Provide learners with as much discretion and autonomy as possible by providing choices in such things as:

The level of perceived challenge

The type of rewards or recognition available

The context or content used for practicing and assessing skills

The tools used for information gathering or production

The color, design, or graphics of layouts, etc.

The sequence or timing for completion of subcomponents of tasks

Allow learners to participate in the design of classroom activities and academic tasks

Involve learners, where and whenever possible, in setting their own personal academic and behavioral goals

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UDL: Optimize individual choice and autonomy

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In an instructional setting, it is often inappropriate to provide choice of the learning objective itself, but it is often appropriate to offer choices in how that objective can be reached, in the context for achieving the objective, in the tools or supports available, and so forth.

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Please direct questions regarding this process to Instructional Technologist, Erica Reynolds reynoldse@smccd.edu.

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Faculty Resources

SMCCCD and College Faculty Resources

Additional Faculty Resources

Online Pedagogy and Course Design

For more resources on course design and to schedule an appointment with the CSM Instructional Designer, please visit the CSM Course Design Corner.

Instructional Tools

iTunes University

Educational Technology

Pronto

Pronto connects people via chat and video, so they can learn faster, work smarter, and communicate seamlessly.

Webinars (Archived)

Zoom

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Distance Education at College of San Mateo - Faculty Resources

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Faculty Resources For more resources on course design and to schedule an appointment with the CSM Instructional Designer, please visit the CSM Course Design Corner. Pronto connects people via chat and video, so they can learn faster, work smarter, and communicate seamlessly.

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What

What is this resource about? This resource discusses the ways in which audio can be used as an engaging instructional tool and addresses guidelines for making audio accessible. The Example provides an idea for incorporating audio in an educational setting. Resources provides external links for sources of educational podcasts.

Why

Why is this important for higher education? Audio files are becoming more widely used in higher education, particularly for online courses. Whether selecting or creating audio files, there are a number of things to take into consideration.

UDL Connection

Example

Mr. Carreno is a lecturer in the department of business administration at a local community college. He is teaching an upcoming course that focuses on the impact of social, cultural, technological forces on business organization. He has compiled a number of interesting podcasts that he plans on using to introduce topics and prompt classroom discussion. For example, he chooses this podcast from Marketplace where host Kai Ryssdal interviews Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and co-founder of Twitter. In advance of the semester, he ensures that all podcasts have accompanying transcripts, and he creates transcripts for the few that do not have one available. Although there are lots of options for creating transcripts, both in-house and through outside services, he decides to make them himself using a free web application called oTranscribe. He uploads the audio files to his course website and makes sure that the transcripts are posted alongside them. Mr. Carreno outlines the learning goals and prompts for discussion to give context to each podcast link.

More Examples

Visit the website of Steven D. Krause from Eastern Michigan University to see how he uses podcasts and other audio files in his online writing course.

Creating and Selecting Audio

Research suggests that students tend to value the opportunity to listen to material they may have missed or need to review multiple times. For this reason, instructors may choose to use audio for in a variety of ways:

Record a lecture and pair it with slides

Record an explanation of a complex diagram or relationship in your own words for students to review

Create a series of short audio pieces to introduce or connect topics throughout the course

Share hints, tips, or step-by-step instructions

Provide feedback on assignments

Explain the relevance and application of learning objectives more deeply

Curate existing podcasts that connect course material to current issues

Select podcasts that examine a single topic in depth to use as a case example or prompt discussions

Student-Generated Audio

Offering audio production as a way for students to demonstrate knowledge can lead to creative and insightful outcomes. It's possible that many students feel capable of producing audio. However, there might also be a variety of learners for whom this form of media would not be the best demonstration of their knowledge. As the UDL principles suggest, consider using multimedia as an option for students to demonstrate knowledge, but offer other means to avoid inadvertently privileging, excluding, or disengaging learners. When possible, teach principles of good audio production, including how considerations of content and target audience shape the structure and delivery of the content.

As an assignment, instructions may ask students to:

Conduct an interview with a classmate about a particular topic

Explain the process and findings from a science experiment

Make an argument for or against a particular stance

Record journal entries about their personal reflections on particular topics

React and respond to various forms of media using tools such as VoiceThread

Record their personal goals for the class and verbalize a plan to obtain those goals

Conduct an interview with someone in the field

Optimizing Audio for Learning

Audio should be of high quality sound and allow for volume adjustment, playback speed variation, and pausing. When recording audio, ensure a moderate, consistent pace and include pauses that make the audio more understandable.

Audio clips should be relatively short in duration or divided into short chapters or sections.

Provide alternate ways to convey audio content, such as offering a transcript, image or graphic with description.

If the goal of instruction is music-related, provide alternatives through tactile and/or visual means if possible. You may also consider adding access to the musical notation or sheet music as an alternative.

If providing a download link for the audio file, make sure it is in a format that is compatible across devices (e.g. MP3 or MP4).

When appropriate, provide background information for audio clips to help students understand their significance and situate audio clips in a meaningful context.

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What is this resource about? This resource discusses the ways in which audio can be used as an engaging instructional tool and addresses guidelines for making audio accessible. The Example provides an idea for incorporating audio in an educational setting. Resources provides external links for sources of educational podcasts.

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What

What is this resource about? This resource describes how images can be used effectively to communicate information and addresses how to make images fully accessible. The Examples provide ideas about how and why to use images to support comprehension. The Resources provide external links to sources of educational images.

Why

Why is this important for higher education? Images can successfully convey complex information, enhance understanding,and improve retention. Images can also engage students more effectively than text.

UDL Connection

Examples

Images, like "Migrant Mother", can help students make contextual and powerful emotional connections to course content that might otherwise seem irrelevant. Historical events gain a human face that help students make connections to current situations. This photograph is freely available from the Library of Congress.

This diagram of a plant cell can convey information more efficiently and effectively than text. Images like charts, diagrams, illustrations and graphs can support understanding of large complex systems and data more clearly and easily than text.

The infographic above is complex and contains a great deal of text. The long description for the image conveys the main parts of the infographic because the details are not necessary to understanding the infographic in this context. If the purpose of the infographic was to convey the details, a full description and reconstruction of the embedded text would be necessary.

The example image above demonstrates the use of alt text and one model of how to include long description for a complex image.

Optimizing Images for Learning

Our brain decodes visual information much faster than text. Images can support narrative and expository content, as well as show dynamic processes, relationships, computations, and procedures. Photographs, illustrations, charts, graphs, geographic and concept maps, data visualizations, infographics, animated images, SVGs and visual math manipulatives are examples of images types.

Many concepts are communicated more effectively with the addition of illustrations, maps, charts, and other types of visual objects. Images can provide alternate representations of concepts that may be challenging or difficult to convey in text only (e.g., anatomy without illustrations or history without maps).

Research has shown that when graphics and images are used, it can dramatically improve retention; however, the relationship between the image and subject must be relevant and congruent, otherwise the image can be distracting to the learner. Research also suggests that people learn abstract, new, and novel concepts more easily when they are presented in both verbal and visual form. When working with images, it is important to have an understanding of the complexity, flexibility and accessibility requirements of the images you use and support the learners' ability to fully perceive the information.

There is no medium of expression that is equally suited for all learners or for all kinds of communication. Providing alternatives to demonstrate understanding removes barriers for some and providing choices in means of communication engages many.

Considerations when choosing or creating images:

Make sure all images are accessible. See the Accessibility at a Glance resources at the top of this page.

It is critical to follow copyright and attribution guidelines.

Put critical information in the text rather than in image. If you must have text in an image, make sure it is also represented in an accessible way.

If images are used to represent mathematical equations, make sure those images have long descriptions that describe the mathematical notation explicitly. You may also choose to represent complex math equations in MathML, a specialized mark-up language that describes mathematical notations.

Student-generated Images

Offering the choice for students to use images as a way to demonstrate knowledge can lead to creative and inspired outcomes. Many students may be motivated when given the opportunity to produce images. However, others may be intimidated by creating media, which can have negative impacts on their demonstration of knowledge. As the UDL principles suggest, consider using multimedia as an option for students to demonstrate knowledge, but offer other means to avoid inadvertently privileging, excluding, or disengaging learners. Provide information about attribution best practices and clear criteria for your evaluation of student-generated images, diagrams, photographs, infographics and other image types.

Notes

¹Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed). New York: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511811678

³Clark, R.C., Mayer, R.E. (20011) e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning (3rd ed.) John Wiley & Sons. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118255971

⁴Interaction of Media, Cognition, and Learning by Gavriel Salomon Review by: John A. Hortin Journal of Instructional Development Vol. 4, No. 1 (Fall, 1980) , pp. 36-38, Published by: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203052945

⁵Universal Design for Learning Guidelines 2.0: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

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What is this resource about? This resource describes how images can be used effectively to communicate information and addresses how to make images fully accessible. The Examples provide ideas about how and why to use images to support comprehension. The Resources provide external links to sources of educational images.

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What is this resource about? This resource discusses considerations when using digital text in educational settings and addresses how to ensure accessibility. The Example provides insight for using accessible digital text in educational settings. The Optimizing Text for Learning section offers suggestions for best practices with text.

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What

What is this resource about? This resource highlights the ways in which the use of web conferencing, live streaming and webinar platforms to broadcast content can enhance the learning experience when designed using the UDL framework. The Example provides an idea for incorporating web conferencing in an educational setting. Learn how to Optimize the Learning Environment using common interactive features found on instructional platforms.

Why
Why is this important for higher education?

Web conferencing can be a powerful tool for students both in blended classroom and the online learning environment.

Both students and faculty can benefit from real-time interactions outside of the classroom as a way to include interactive media, hold review sessions, and support learning communities.

UDL Connection

Example

Professor Higgins teaches a nursing course online that focuses on critical care of children. Rather than posting slides or a pre-recorded lecture, she would like to use web conferencing to broadcast interactive lectures with her students to promote dialogue between her students and answer their questions in real time. She designs the web conference using an online meeting platform that includes video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing capabilities. She knows the accessibility features of the platform (e.g., support for real-time captioning, color contrast control, support for assistive technology) and has provided this information to her students well in advance of the meeting and has arranged for a real-time captioner. Before the meeting, Professor Higgins shares any materials she will be using as part of the web conference session. During the session, she is explicit about the learning goals, uses multiple forms of media to represent the content, offers multiple opportunities for students to engage with each other, and provides immediate feedback. She records the session and posts it on the course website so that students can access it on their own afterwards.

Optimize the Learning Environment

Useful Interactive Features

Screen sharing (e.g., slides, web pages)

Whiteboard capabilities

Play live or pre-recorded video

Annotate images and documents

Text chat

Webcam capabilities

Real-time audio communication

Real-time captioning for presentations

User polling and surveys

Break-out rooms for smaller group discussions

Instructional Uses of Features

Encourage students to use a communication method of their choice (e.g., chat, video) to help students feel comfortable to participate through a medium that is best for them.

Introduce a concept through a short video followed by a chat between students using guided prompts related to the video.

Ask students to read an article in advance and use the web conference to video chat about the takeaways from the reading.

Use an interactive whiteboard to have students demonstrate how to solve a problem set and give them immediate feedback.

Have students share their screens to present on a topic or teach their peers as part as an assessment.

Invite students to present a video they created as part of a project.

Ask students to take a poll to better understand their learning of a particular topic and readjust your teaching strategies in real-time.

Record the session and post it to the course website so that students can access it on their own when they would like to review it.

Communicate Online Effectively

adapted from DeafTec

Be proactive and send out a statement asking if students require any accommodations to participate remotely such asCommunication Access Realtime Translation (CART) Captioning should always have its own chat window.

Speakers should use her/his webcam and have good lighting so users can see them speaking.

Introduce yourself before you speak and have students do the same.

Pace the delivery so that students have time to digest what you are saying especially if they are looking at something while you are talking.

Provide Options for Communication

Give students choice in how to participate (chat, emailing afterwards, raising their hands).

Provide students with a structure for the web conference and info about other methods of communication for your course (For example, we will also have an asynchronous discussion board and I expect you to respond 2x during the week).

See if there are ways you can break up a large group into a smaller ones. Break out rooms, asynchronous discussions with students sub-divided by alphabetical order or "birds of a feather" interests.

Enhance "Live" Delivery with other Methods

Where possible provide materials such as PowerPoints or handouts ahead of the web conference and check accessibility first.

Record the web conference so students can go back and review.

Create a multimedia glossary of terms you use in your course and keep it on the course site.

Elect a few students each class to take notes and post those to the course site.

Create a backchannel or use slack so students can help one another.

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What is this resource about? This resource highlights the ways in which the use of web conferencing, live streaming and webinar platforms to broadcast content can enhance the learning experience when designed using the UDL framework. The Example provides an idea for incorporating web conferencing in an educational setting. Learn how to Optimize the Learning Environment using common interactive features found on instructional platforms.

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Creating Accessible Publications with EPUB - AEM Center

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Start with a basic definition of EPUB and why you should choose this format for your content creation. You'll then learn how to create your very own EPUB publication without the need to know any code.

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Best Practice - Creating Open Access Materials

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Best Practice - Creating Open Access Materials

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What

What is this resource about? Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

There is no single checklist to guide the creation of Open Education Resources (OERs) designed with learner variability in mind; but Section 508 , WCAG 2.1 AA, EPUB3, and the Accessible Publishing Best Practice Guidelines for Publishers are good baselines to ensure accessibility. This page provides information about Best Practices and Resources for creating accessible OERs.

Why

Why is this important for higher education? By adhering to accessibility guidelines, designers can be assured that their OER content can be rendered in the appropriate formats individual users require, and retain compatibility with a variety of assistive technologies employed by individuals with physical, sensory, or learning disabilities.

UDL Connection

Just as cutting-edge architectural and engineering developments take baseline standards to a higher level and foster progress, the creators of ambitious open educational resources have the potential to generate innovative approaches to universally designing OERs that will support learning for all.

Accessible OER Creation Requires Collaboration and Innovation

With the goal of designing accessible OERs, programmers and designers are often in search of a checklist that can easily guide the creation of such materials. Unfortunately, a checklist is a one-size-fits-all approach, and may be too simplistic for the creation of resources that are designed with learner variability in mind.

Rather than aiming to meet basic Section 508 guidelines, collaborative efforts should be fostered as much as possible between instructional designers and programmers to ensure that pedagogically rich content development is bolstered by decisions made at the programming level, and vice versa. For example, Section 508 not only requires that videos be captioned but that any additional visual information essential to the understanding of the content be auditorily described. Further, both of these alternate formats must be synchronized with video. Although content creation often ends where programming begins, there is an opportunity to bring program developers into the fold when creating OERs to design content in ways that take advantage of the unique affordances associated with various media types. The creation of alternate-format versions of materials, while generally viewed as an accessibility task, is, in fact, equally an editorial one since content needs to be effectively conveyed and contextualized across all media used. While the goals of jointly created open resources are clear, the mechanisms that can foster purposeful and productive collaboration need to be more fully explored as OERs begin to take a more prominent role in higher education.

Essential and Optimal Best Practices

As more and more postsecondary institutions incorporate OERs into courses and programs, identifying and following some key guiding principles can help assure-to the greatest extent possible-that a degree of due diligence regarding accessibility is routinely addressed. One way of approaching this process is to identify a list of best practice performance measures that can be used by those creating and by those reviewing OERs. The DIAGRAM Center at Benetech has created a list of performance measures for creating accessible EPUB (digital book) documents and the majority of those indicators, along with edits to make references generic and applicable, can be applied to the creation and review of OERs.

The DIAGRAM Center at Benetech has created a list of performance measures for creating accessible EPUB (digital book) documents and the majority of those indicators, along with edits to make references generic and applicable, can be applied to the creation and review of OERs. The Media and Materials section of this website provides additional guidance for the use of various accessible media within OERs.

OER Creation Resources

In March 2013, a publication of the Open Education Database listed 80 OER resource tools for publishing and development initiatives. The resources listed below are a sampling of those available.

Handbooks & Guides

The FLOE (Flexible Learning for Open Education) Project at OCAD University in Toronto has made available a free resource for OER creators, the Inclusive Learning Design Handbook. This resource is designed to guide the accessible creation of OERs across a wide variety of media: text, audio, images, and video.

BC Campus Open Ed, an initiative of the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, has created a collection of OER-related tools for searching, adopting and modifying OERs with an emphasis on inclusive, accessible content.

IDPF (International Digital Publishing Forum) offers the EPUB 3 Accessibility Guidelines in a well-structured website, as well.

Development Tools

CAST Figuration is a front-end framework for developing responsive, mobile-first and accessible web content. It includes a selection of reusable components, interactive widgets, and customization options that can speed up development time.

Associated with the FLOE Project is the FLUID Project and their open-source OER creation tool, Infusion, designed for creating accessible web-based resources suitable for instruction.

The UK-based Higher Education Academy/JISC Open Educational Resources Programme offers XERTE Online Toolkit (XOT) -an open-source tool for OER creation with explicit emphasis on attending to accessibility features.

Learn More

Learn more about creating accessible OERs.

The CAST AEM Center's Designing for Accessibility with POUR provides practical tips for implementing the four principles of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in the creation of accessible OERs.

The Teach Access initiative has launched a tutorial that provides basic training for developers and designers interested in building inclusive experiences.

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Creating Accessible Open Educational Resources

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What is this resource about? Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning and research materials in any medium - digital or otherwise - that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions.

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The Backwards Podcast: #16 - Katie Novak: How To Remove Barriers To Learning For Everyone

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UDL Now! Author Katie Novak dives deep into the best practices with Universal Design For Learning, and how we can start removing barriers for all learners (kids and adults). If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about UDL, this episode is for you! And if you ever had a feeling that one size fits all l…

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Katie Novak Lesson Plan Review Template (1).docx

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The Myth of Average:  Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty

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CSM and DRC's Course Syllabus Language Suggestion

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CSM and DRC's Course Syllabus Language Suggestion

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What is this resource about? This resource contains information about developing a syllabus and an Example of a syllabus highlighting UDL considerations.

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Ensure that all media is accessible. Providing captioning is a legal mandate that allows students who are Deaf to participate fully in your class. TED talk videos have excellent captions when accessed through the TED talk website (https://www.ted.com/talks). YouTube videos are not adequately captioned and will need to be interpreted to be fully accessible.

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Faculty’s Role with the Process of Alternate Media

• Adopt textbooks by the bookstore deadline.

• Provide uploaded material in Canvas to the DRC if requested.

• Request a desk copy from the publisher when adopting an online book. At times, the PDF or material is not readable, and the DRC will need to scan a new copy. This is especially true when using Universal Access materials.

• Provide the DRC the ISBN, title, publisher and copyright or edition of your adopted book when requested in a timely manner.

• Consider taking advantage of the creating accessible documents trainings that CSM provides

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DRC at CSM: Faculty Guidelines - Equal Access to Education

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DRC at CSM: Faculty Guidelines - Equal Access to Education

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CSM's Disability Resource Center (DRC) guidelines for faculty to ensure students with disabilities have equal access and accommodations to support them. The DRC provides academic accommodations such as note taking, test proctoring, textbooks in alternate formats (Braille, e-text, audio, or large print), reader/scribe for tests, interpreting services, and assistive technology services based on individual need. Please review!

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Director of DRC, Carol Newkirk, has created this UDL syllabus outline and guideline for supporting all learners at CSM.

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Haben Girma: Disability Rights Advocate/Lawyer

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Haben Girma: Disability Rights Advocate/Lawyer

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Haben discusses why she works to remove barriers for students with disabilities.

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Public service lawyers as pioneering advocates: Haben Girma at TEDxBaltimore 2014

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Haben Girma is the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. She applies her unique perspective as a Skadden Fellowship Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates to remove access barriers for students with disabilities. The White House has recognized Haben as a Champion of Change.

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Technology Solutions That Drive Education

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What Is Universal Design for Learning?

Accommodations are already made for individual college students in certain situations, like those who need note takers or translators in class. But UDL provides options for accessing, engaging with and understanding material for a much broader range of individuals. CAST based its UDL framework on the specific ways that people learn.

"We use UDL to reach the majority of our learners," says Thomas J. Tobin, a founding member of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We want to give students choices. We want to give them agency in how they take a path through the learning experiences that they have with us."

Janet Ferone, an education lecturer at Curry College, says that she infuses UDL principles into every aspect of her teaching. Each week, rather than consulting a textbook, students engage with the content through outside reading, watching a video or listening to a podcast.

"I vary the way I communicate information to students while also offering students choice in both the content and ways of accessing information," Ferone says.

At the beginning of her courses, Ferone walks students through how to use their learning management software, highlighting the tools the platform offers, such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text options. During Zoom collaboration sessions, students can chat, react, use polls or speak up verbally.
Here's how instructional technology is impacting higher education.
At the University of West Georgia, audiovisual equipment exists in every classroom, so all in-person courses can be recorded and captioned for students' future use. Students can easily rewatch a particularly tricky lesson or spend class time engaging with the discussion, then take notes at home using the recording.

"UDL is about access for all and guides the development of flexible learning environments and learning spaces that can accommodate individual learning differences," says Jon Preston, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of West Georgia.

Why Use UDL in Higher Education?

Tobin says that 1 in 3 students face some kind of barrier that could benefit from disability accommodations, but far fewer go through the process to get that documentation, primarily because of the time and cost required to do so. Given the structure of higher education, disability support services are overburdened with individual requests that mostly could be resolved by restructuring how courses are taught, how information is shared and how assignments are completed.

For example, UDL reduces barriers for anyone who struggles with finding the time to read in preparation for class. By turning a textbook reading into a downloadable PDF, commuting students can use a read-aloud app to complete their homework.

"UDL is a way to address variability before anybody even comes into the classroom," says Tobin. "Having choices is what makes UDL powerful."

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What Is UDL, and How Can It Be Used in Higher Education?

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Universal design for learning gives students options for how to learn, and its implementation can lead to better engagement, retention and outcomes.