Creating Inclusive University Curriculum:
Implementing Universal Design for
Learning in an Enabling Program
Dr Stuart Dinmore
Learning and Teaching Unit
&
Jennifer Stokes
UniSA College
Australian Context
Equity policy in Australia focuses on improving proportional representation (Gale & Parker 2013)
Australian higher education equity groups:
• ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders)
· Disability
• Low-socio economic status (Low-SES)
· Rural
• Non-English Speaking Background (NESB)
· Isolated
• Women in non-traditional areas
(NBEET, cited in Klinger & Murray 2011; DEEWR 2011)
Australian higher education targets:
• By 2020, 20 % of enrolments from low SES backgrounds
• By 2025, 40% of 25-34 year olds hold a bachelor degree
(Bradley et al. 2008, p. xiv)
UniSA College
Foundation Studies
1 year, Commonwealth Supported,
Competitive GPA-based entry to UG
Diploma
2 years, for students who have completed
secondary school with a mid-range ATAR,
guaranteed entry into second year of specified
UG degrees
Universal Design Learning
UDL is a ‘set of principles for curriculum
development that give all individuals equal
opportunities to learn. UDL provides a
blueprint for creating instructional goals,
methods, materials, and assessments that
work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fitsall solution, but rather flexible approaches
that can be customized and adjusted for
individual needs’ (CAST 2011).
From Architecture to Education
source
The Pilot Project: The Course
Cohort
• 300 students per year (210 on campus, 50 regional, 40 online)
• Second semester course with pre-requisite
• Designed to support development of information literacy skills
through technology-enhanced learning (TEL)
Issues:
• Offering accessible content for diverse student groups
• Improving information literacy for students at varied levels
• Providing engaging and relevant content across multiple
delivery modes
• Course to become a core in 2014
Identified as a good candidate for the pilot project due to TEL
focus and diverse cohort
Information Skills
Course objectives
To develop effective information retrieval and
evaluation skills in order to build academic reading,
writing and research skills for future university
study.
Course content
• Identification, use and evaluation of the full
range of information sources relevant to
university study with a focus on issues of
accuracy, authority, objectivity, currency, and
coverage.
• Introduction to new forms of technology,
networking and communication and
identification of the challenges and
opportunities in applying these to everyday
situations and tertiary study.
• Understanding of issues related to privacy,
ethics and liability of information use.
The Pilot Project: The Approach
Communication strategy
An essential part of the implementation of both blended learning and UDL is to create an effective
communication strategy targeted at staff and students orienting them to the changed learning environment
It is important that teaching staff are given the opportunity for professional development and consider how
to guide appropriate expectations and goal setting. Teaching staff need to set clear expectations and ensure
that students are fully aware of the changed approach taken to teaching and learning in the course . This
process will need to continue throughout the duration of the course and be presented to students in multiple
ways.
It is important that the communication is two-way and that students have a chance to express themselves
through formative feedback to educators.
For some students it is important to guide goal setting and attempt to scaffold their achievements as they
progress through the course. We are currently developing a checklist block for MOODLE that will
automatically update when students complete tasks within the course. For example, making their first post to
a forum, completing a quiz or creating a profile will all complete a section of the checklist.
The Pilot Project: The Approach
UDL pedagogies are an acknowledgement that students, regardless of their background, bring a
diversity of approaches, backgrounds and expectations to higher education. UDL offers a method
to teach effectively, not just equity groups but ALL students based on three central principles of
curriculum design (CAST 2011).
1. Providing multiple means of Representation
Recognition Networks, the ‘what’ of learning
– how we gather facts and categorize what we see, hear, and read.
Identifying letters, words, or an author's style are recognition tasks
– present information and content in different ways (CAST 2011).
1. Providing multiple means of Representation
The Pilot Project:
The Approach
2. Providing multiple means of Action and Expression
Strategic Networks, the ‘how ‘of learning - planning and performing tasks.
How we organise and express our ideas.
Writing an essay or solving a maths problem are strategic tasks.
Differentiate the ways that students can express what they know (CAST 2011).
• Learning experiences designed to provide multiple means of action and
expression
• Interactive clickers in lectures
• Tutorials are collaborative and discursive, using TEL to support an active
student experience.
• Students reflect on own experience and use online tools to inform offline
discussion.
• Movement between classroom and online discussion allows students to seek
clarity and express themselves in different ways.
The Pilot Project: The Approach
3. Providing multiple means of Engagement
Affective Networks, the ‘why’ of learning - how learners get engaged and stay motivated.
How they are challenged, excited, or interested.
These are affective dimensions – they stimulate interest and motivation for learning (CAST 2011).
Early engagement is critical in enabling programs (Hodges et al. 2013)
Information Skills is designed to engage through student-centred learning and assessment
Opportunities to conduct research relevant to lived experience and degree aspirations.
–
How is social media affecting socialisation in Generation Y?
–
Explore how online fan fiction helps build communities and identity.
–
Has Julian Assange breached the United States Espionage Act 1917 as a result of WikiLeaks?
–
Explore the use of social media in health promotion.
–
Examine the effects of digital distribution on the video game industry.
–
Is there a Dark side to Google?
–
How have the roles of experts changed in an information society?
Tutorial experiences designed to engage students through exciting contemporary topics and diverse media:
–
Big data: Can Google cure death? (McCracken & Grossman 2013)
–
Epistemology: Using ‘Exit through the gift shop’ (Banksy 2010) to explore complex nature of truth.
Increased likelihood of deep learning.
The Pilot Project: The Outcomes
•
Course numbers have tripled since 2009 with over 300 students taking the
course in semester 2 2013.
• Highest pass rate of College courses for Semester 2 2013 with 66% passing.
• Of those that failed, most failed to engage in the course at all and earned F2s
(31% of cohort).
• Very few students with F1s (1.3% ) or P2s (1.7% ).
• Overall, student satisfaction and engagement very high. Student responses
focus on interest, fun and value of the course.
The layout of the tutorials that Jenny had set up were interesting and very
interactive and kept me on my toes and interested in the topic being discussed.
Kept the content varied and interesting, I learnt so much more than just
information, due to variety of materials used.
Some of the topics were very interesting, like piracy and 3d printing.
‘learn about the media and what not to do when on social media.
The content is very interesting and the teacher is very knowledgeable. The way
in which the content is delivered is very interactive and fun. Very good course.
The Pilot Project: The Outcomes
I felt that the technology
focused interactive approach
to delivering this course served
to embed the fundamentals of
research strategy whilst tying
together and giving context to
many of the other courses in
the Foundation Studies
program.
This course helps to gain
more understanding with how
to research and the different
skills that will help with my
future undergraduate degrees.
It has help me to find the truth
about different concerns of the
world and research well.
The Pilot Project: The Outcomes
This course was fulfilling
in all areas, it was set up
in a way that was easy to
learn and complete
necessary requirements
and really assisted me
with my own learning
online and further
research.
Jenny was engaging and
interesting, she also
showed she was
passionate with the content
which help me to be
interested. The feedback
from my assignments were
great and help me to
improve my assignments.
The Pilot Project: The Outcomes
This course was extremely
insightful. I found the content
not only interesting but quite
relevant to a person my age
living in a modern society.
Also the lectures used the
clickers to poll statistics with
students, although I viewed
the majority of lectures online
I found the polling helpful as I
could attempt to answer the
questions at home giving me
a better understanding of the
content.
I enjoyed the interactive "clickers" in the
lecture - I think this helped a lot.
I believe any other form of interaction
like that would be beneficial.
The Pilot Project: The Outcomes
External
Mt Gambier
Whyalla
Moving Forward:
The Principles and Other Lessons
Universal Blended Learning is a part of our Blended Learning strategy.
UDL pedagogies are most effective in a technology-rich environment, due to the relatively easy process of
building in the accessibility and portability afforded by multimedia and the Internet. Indeed, blended learning
and UDL share many similarities. They both;
1.Have the concept of flexibility at their core.
2.Rely on a technology rich environment with groups of networked learners.
3.Encourage self-paced learning through the provision of Internet based materials.
4.Rely on a high level of explicit communication with students facilitated by ICT.
5.Both are focussed on the creation of lifelong or expert learners.
Conclusion
• UDL needs to become part of the mainstream of curriculum
design and development.
• As part of a Blended learning strategy is a great way to achieve
this.
• This kind of design is a process not a destination, to be effective
practitioners need to be reflective.
• Consideration needs to be given to diversity in assessment types.
References
Banksy (dir.) 2010, Exit through the gift shop, Paranoid Pictures./Madman Entertainment, Australia.
Bradley, D., Noonan, P., Nugent, H. and Scales, B. (2008) Review of Australian Higher Education: Final Report, Commonwealth of Australia, Australia.
Hodges, B, Bedford, T, Hartley, J, Klinger, C, Murray, N, O’Rourke, J & Schofield, N 2013 Enabling retention: processes and strategies for improving student retention in university-based enabling
programs, Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, Australia.
Burgstahler, SE 2008, 'Universal Design of Technological Environments: From Principles to Practice', in Burgstahler, SE & Cory, RC (eds), Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice
Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.
CAST 2011, Universal Design for Learning Guidelines Version 2.0, Wakefield MA.
Edyburn, DL 2010, 'Would you recognize universal design for learning if you saw it? Ten propositions for new directions for the second decade of UDL', Learning Disability Quarterly, no. 33, pp. 33-43.
Gale, T & Parker, S 2013 Widening Participation in Australian Higher Education. Report to the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) and the Office of Fair Access (OFFA), CFE (Research
and consulting) Ltd, Leicester UK and Edge Hill University, Lancashire, UK.
Hodges, B, Bedford, T, Hartley, J, Klinger, C, Murray, N, O’Rourke, J & Schofield, N 2013 Enabling retention: processes and strategies for improving student retention in university-based enabling
programs, Commonwealth of Australia, Australia.
Klinger, C 2010, 'Firm Foundations for the Future in a Knowledge-Based Global Economy: an Australian Perspective on Access Education', Access to Success: Closing the Knowledge Divide, 19th Annual
Conference of the European Access Network Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 75 - 84.
Klinger, C & Murray, N 2011, ‘Access, aspiration and attainment: Foundation Studies at the University of South Australia’, International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, vol. 6, pp. 137-146.
McCracken, H & Grossman, L 2013, 'Google vs. Death', Time Magazine, Time, USA.
UniSA 2013, MyCourseExperience, Australia.
Willison, J, Lievre, KL & Lee, I 2010, Making research skill development explicit in coursework: Five universities’ adaptation of a model to numerous disciplines, Australian Learning and Teaching Council,
Australia.
Questions?