Universal Instructional Design

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Universal Instructional Design Kemptville
College

• Presented by Jaellayna Palmer
• with Assistance from Bré Wick
• May 13, 2003

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Before Universal Instructional Design
there was Universal Design.

• Physical spaces
• Architecture
• Ergonomics

• City planning
• Interior design
• Engineering

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Formalized Study
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Some examples of Universal Design
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And NowUniversal Instructional Design
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Universal
Students, regardless of disabilities, personal
learning style, age or background should have
access to education. The premise within UID is
that a course designed to accommodate diverse
learners will lead to greater success for all
students, including those with disabilities.
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Instructional
While serving the needs of individual students, a
UID course maintains academic rigour even while
offering options and alternatives for delivery of
the curriculum.
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Design
A methodical approach to course design and
delivery, UID integrates all parts of the
curriculum. As the very word design implies,
is a planned, purposeful, deliberate approach to
optimizing all of the resources to serve the
students and instructors alike.
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Why Universal Instructional Design?

• Reducing barriers to receiving an education

• Anticipating and encouraging diversity

• Varied needs and capabilities as the basis for
  inclusion rather than exclusion

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And if those are not enough reasons

• Legalities in Canada
• Compliance issues

Remember Designing for accessibility usually
means better design overall for everyone
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UID Seven Principles

• Instructional materials and activities should
• be accessible and fair.
• provide flexibility in use, participation and
  presentation.
• be straightforward and consistent.
• be explicitly presented and readily perceived.
• provide a supportive learning environment.
• minimize unnecessary physical effort or
  requirements.
• ensure a learning space that accommodates both
  students and instructional methods.

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People in Our UID Project
Linda Yuval Research Assistant
Adrienne DeSchutterUniversity of Guelph-Humber
UID Advisory Group Including Students
Centre for Students With Disabilities Learning
Commons
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Our Funded Projects

• First Year Chemistry
• French Tutorials
• Diploma in Agriculture, Applied Mathematics
• Foodservice Operations Management

• Biomedicine
• Extended Media
• Diploma in Agriculture, Agricultural
  Mechanization
• Advanced Nutrition

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Wide Range of Course Elements

• Group activities
• Electronic conferencing
• Graphics and animations
• Presentation techniques

• Lectures
• Quizzes
• Audio / Video
• Course and lab manuals

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DAGR 1350, Agricultural MechanicsDr. Ben Hawkins
et al.

• This course is part of a 2-year Diploma in
  Agriculture currently offered at 4 campuses
  (University of Guelph, Kemptville College,
  Ridgetown College, and College D'Alfred).
• Many students enter this program with
  substantial, related life-experiences, while this
  is entirely new material to others.
• Currently there are many variations in course
  content, delivery and equipment across the 4
  campuses.
• After identifying core content and skills,
  this UID project will design and create practical
  activities-based labs and support materials in
  paper and electronic format.

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Issue/Problem/Opportunity, DAGR 1350
course is taught in the Ag diploma programs at
the regional colleges and at Guelph. Laboratory
facilities vary across the locations as do the
learning objectives and outcomesthe Provincial
Diploma Committee has requested a laboratory
manual of about 25 possible laboratory classes be
complied. WebCTto provide an interactive and
independent learning component to each session.
The project would strengthen the delivery of the
hands-on learning in the course and address the
University objective of learner-centredness. 1)   
  an interactive pre-lab on Web CT complimented
by a lab manual (text), 2)     followed by in
class practical lab sessions using either
demonstration or practical hands-on assignments,
3)      followed by on-line laboratory reports
using Web CT, with opportunities to create a
portfolio of lab assignments in the lab
manual. (Extracted from the Original Proposal)
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What We Are Working on, DAGR 1350

• Reaching consensus among the campuses as to the
  overall course objectives and priorities
• Creating activities (demonstrations and
  hands-on) with on-line resource materials
• Course website offering links to readings and
  resources
• Re-formatting of written materials per UID
  guidelines
• All course notes in html and pdf (for viewing)
  and .rtf and .txt for editing
• Template for Lab Manuals
• Word
• HTML
• PDF

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DAGR 1600, Applied MathematicsTheo Hunter, M.Sc.
et al.

• This course is part of a 2-year Diploma in
  Agriculture currently offered at 4 campuses
  (University of Guelph, Kemptville College,
  Ridgetown College, and College D'Alfred).
• Mastery of math fundamentals is essential to
  many courses within the diploma program.
• Many students have a difficult time
  transitioning from high school math to this
  course.
• This UID project offers an opportunity to
  boost problem-solving skills through various
  learning and instructional media.

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Issue/Problem/Opportunity, DAGR 1600
a core course for all diploma students in
Agriculture, Equine, Food and Nutrition
Management and Horticulture at Alfred, Guelph,
Kemptville and Ridgetown Colleges. Huge
variation in math and problem-solving skill
levels poses challenges to the instructors of
this course at all four sites. Another challenge
is the diverse demographics of the students in
the class related to age, agricultural,
horticultural and foods background as well as
English second language and learning
disabilities. The math skills level of the
students also impacts upon their self-confidence
and desire to learn math. Many teaching
strategies are used at the four sites by Math
Instructors to address the learning issues
mentioned. This course redesign would give staff
and students the opportunity to try different or
combinations of the successful teaching methods
to address the different skill levels, different
learning styles (creative vs. logical), and Adult
vs. High School Learner (desire to learn) now
present and probably continuing into the
future. (Extracted from the Original Proposal)
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What We Are Working on, DAGR 1600
What We Are Working on

• Reaching consensus as to the overall course
  objectives and priorities
• Documenting Best Practices among the various
  instructors
• Course website offering links to readings and
  resources
• Active learning such as problem-solving, small
  group discussion, games, demonstrations as well
  as varying the teaching/learning approach
  throughout the class time
• Use of electronic conferencing
• Web-based practice/study questions designed to
  enhance problem-solving skills
• Enhanced feedback from assignments, problems
  and tests
• All course notes in html and pdf (for viewing)
  and .rtf and .txt (for editing)
• Re-formatting of written materials per UID
  guidelines
• More description of the background to know
  before sections

• Reconsidering sequence of major topics within the
  curriculum
• Building of syllabus for maximum flexibility and
  self-directed learning

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Accessible and Fair

• Putting essential materials on-line for use with
  screen reading software such as Jaws.

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Straightforward and Consistent

• Consistency guides learning by providing visual
  and cognitive clues, i.e. predicting meaning and
  actions. Are the orange arrows (exaggerated in
  this screen snap) bullets or hyperlinks?

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Provide Flexibility in Use,Participation and
Presentation

• Jeff maintains in fact that Inflexibility
  impedes innovation.

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Be Explicitly Presentedand Readily Perceived

• It is one thing to offer students alternative
  file formats and quite another to tell them WHY
  and HOW to use them.

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Provide a SupportiveLearning Environment

• Being supportive includes encouragement to try
  and making it ok not to succeed at first.

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Ensure a Learning Space that Accommodates Both
Students and Instructional Methods

• A large lecture and small group work just two
  of the many learning environments.

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Minimize Unnecessary PhysicalEffort or
Requirements

• Students appreciated the information but found
  this particular layout requires too much vertical
  scrolling.

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Supporting Faculty Development

• Instructional planning
• Course delivery
• Assessment
• Learning technologies

all from a UID perspective
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Assessment and Research

• Creating exemplar courses
• Application to future courses
• Faculty that understand UID and relate it to
  other faculty

• Research about what works or doesnt work
• General guides and information
• Reducing the need for special accommodation

Increased success for all students
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What Theyre Telling UsTeaching Assistants
they do seem so obvious and you say Well, of
course the material should be explicit and of
course it should be flexible! but the point is
that the courses are not designed that way and
thats why were here I think it will probably
always be in my mind a little bit more so than
before, just in whatever Im doing, trying to
meet the principlesjust thinking about
flexibility and the best way to do it - are there
other ways? I think just being aware of it is
what really makes a difference.
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What Theyre Telling Us
Ben Hawkins, Agricultural Mechanization
I would say probably in the past we never gave
too much thought to different methods of
presentation or alternate methods...it UID
opened up our eyes and we started looking more
towards the students' perspective ... definitely
I'll be talking to the other instructors and
trying to promote some of this.
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What Theyre Telling Us
Theo Hunter, Applied Mathematics
We have had a number of disabled students over
the years, certainly with learning disabilities
as opposed to physicalWe know about open
learning, we know about courses on the Web, but
it seemed like a far-away thing that this is
something you have to have money to do and
certainly you have to have time to do and maybe
some help to do...And so this has opened up the
doors.
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Resources

• http//www.tss.uoguelph.ca/uid
• Jaellayna Palmer palmerj_at_uoguelph.ca
• Interested in our listserv UID-forum ???