Reframing Accommodations With Universal Design For Learning (UDL)
Universal design (UD) principles, which call for barrier-free design and architectural accessibility, are the result of changing demographics in America and the Civil Rights Movement of the last half of the twentieth century. With a greater population of people with disabilities and federal disability rights legislation, architecture, and product design that could be universally used and accessed became increasingly important. The concept of universal access and use has now spread in the area of education and is known as Universal Design for Learning. In 2008, the Higher Education Opportunity Act stated that post-secondary institutions should design curricula with universal design principles for learning in mind. UD for learning principles is intended to reach the widest audience possible. While UD may not eliminate every request for accommodation, it should reduce the number of requests.
It is important to remember that subtle changes to course organization lessen the barriers faced by many students with disabilities. Students with visual impairments who once had to wait a day or more to receive their syllabus now have the opportunity to gain instant access to an electronic version. Hard-of-hearing or deaf students that either received minimal information or none at all now have immediate access to captioned videos. Students with learning disabilities, who may find it difficult to listen to lectures and take relevant notes at the same time, will now benefit from lecture notes being stored on Blackboard or through some other accessible means.
The promise of UD development in the classroom will replace much of the need to retrofit barriers that may limit a student’s access to information. In 1997, the Center for Universal Design developed seven principles to consider when developing any product or environment.
These principles are:
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Equitable use
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Flexibility in use
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Simple and intuitive use
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Perceptible information
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Tolerance for error
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Low physical effort
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Size and space for approach and use
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Community of Learners
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Instructional Environment
Copyright © 1997 NC State University, The Center for Universal Design.
For more information about the principles, please visit the North Carolina State University website. The Principles of Universal Design were conceived and developed by The Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University. Use or application of the principles in any form by an individual or organization is separate and distinct from the principles and does not constitute or imply acceptance or endorsement by The Center for Universal Design of the use or application.
UDL: Benefits of Captioning
Captioning has long been a tool to give deaf or hard-of-hearing students access to video and class lecture content. Even though historically, we have treated captioning as a benefit only to students with disabilities, studies have shown that captioning can be a valuable tool for many people, not just those with hearing loss. Students who sit in the back of classrooms, whose second language is English, and who struggle to understand the different accents of instructors can all benefit from reading captioning. Captioning can also improve access to online videos where audio quality fades, or something unintelligible is recorded. Below are steps to consider if videos are purchased or produced by you.
Purchasing Videos
Only purchase videos that have captioning available. Captioning can be closed or open. Closed captioning can be controlled by you, whereas open captions will always be displayed. If you need help activating the closed captioning on a video, please contact your IT support in your college. If further assistance is needed, do not hesitate to contact our office.
Using Online Videos
If you need assistance with captioning videos, you create or videos that you use from other sites, please contact our office. We have full-time staff and students who can help transcribe and produce captions needed for your course or courses.
