A short presentation developed for The Open University's H818 Networked Practitioner online conference 2017.
In this presentation I provide an overview and demonstration of an open education course I have been developing for higher education practitioners, which utilises both Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and open education resources (OERs).
Designing accessible courses - a reflection on the use of UDL and OERs to create an open education course
1. Designing accessible
courses –
A reflection on the use of UDL
and OERs to create an open
education course
This presentation and accompanying
notes can be downloaded from:
bit.ly/designaccessible
Danny Ball
iball89
17. SOME FEEDBACK
“First glance, it looks great. Look
forward to seeing more.”
Rayya Ghul, Head of Academic
Development, CCCU
“As a university lecturer I would
definitely use this resource.”
Heather Bloodworth, Senior
Lecturer & H818 Student
18. RESPONDING TO FEEDBACK
“The term understanding in
itself can be weak for an
objective so instead consider
something like ‘discuss’...”
Rosie Greenslade,
Senior Academic Developer,
CCCU
“…I think I would have
benefitted from practical
examples of how others have
applied it in their context”
Allison Bell, H818 Student
Presentation title: Designing accessible courses - a reflection on the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Open Education Resources (OERs) to create an open education course.
Thank you for joining me for this session. My name is Danny Ball and during this presentation I am going to provide an overview and demonstration of an open education course I have been developing for higher education practitioners, which utilises both Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and open education resources (OERs). You can download the slides and notes for this presentation via the link shown on screen.
For those of you who are not familiar with the UDL framework, you can learn more about this framework by completing Module 2 of my online course.
Slide 2: Background
Within my professional context, I work for a local University supporting academics’ use of technology to enhance learning and teaching. This project has originated from a larger piece of work undertaken by my University, in response to the recent changes to the Disabled Students’ Allowances.
Whilst some support has been provided for staff on how to create accessible teaching materials and highlighting the support available for students, this does not address the underlying issues.
Slide 3: Background continued…
As McNaught (2016) summarises ‘[t]eaching and learning pedagogies, practices and technologies can inadvertently create barriers for students with disabilities’, to overcome these a different approach is required…
Slide 4: My approach
Rather than focusing on the ‘medical model of disability’ which assumes that impairments or differences can be ‘fixed’ or changed (Scope UK, n.d.) via specialist provisions such as screen readers and other adaptive technologies...
Slide 5: My approach continued…
I have adopted the ‘social model of disability’ within my project. This model draws on the idea that society disables people by ‘designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled’ (University of Leicester, n.d.).
Slide 6: My approach continued…
Based on my research and discussions with higher education professionals, it became evident that academic staff require professional development initiatives which go beyond the offering of generic advice. Instead, they need support on how to translate the principles of inclusive learning and teaching into practice, as well as opportunities for discussion with peers to help overcome specific challenges.
Slide 7: My approach continued…
In response to this, over the last four weeks I have been developing an online course which not only introduces participants to the basics of inclusive learning and teaching, but also provides a specific focus on how to make content accessible, by taking a proactive (rather than reactive) stance. The course has been designed to demonstrate the accessibility principles described in the learning materials, by using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as an underpinning framework.
Slide 8: Course overview and demonstration
Whilst there are many resources available online providing guidance on inclusive learning and teaching practices, as Marquis et al. (2016) note these are often generic and do not actively support the translation of theory into practice, nor do they provide opportunities for networking and discussion.
Slide 9: Course overview and demonstration continued…
To differentiate from these existing resources, I have designed my course using a flipped learning pedagogy.
Participants will be required to work through a series of learning materials and activities online, before attending the scheduled face-to-face workshops. During the facilitated workshops, participants will be presented with opportunities to further explore the topics and issues raised in the online materials, as well as working with peers to translate the principles and theories of inclusive learning and teaching into practice.
Slide 10: Course overview and demonstration continued…
The online course has been developed using the Canvas open education platform, which allows both open access to the course content, as well as opportunities for re-use.
Slide 11: Course overview and demonstration continued…
The course has been licensed under Creative Commons, and once completed will be submitted to the ‘Canvas Commons’, which is an online OER repository allowing others to discover and download the course for modification and re-use should they wish.
Slide 12: Course overview and demonstration continued…
In addition to using an open education platform to present my work, I have also made extensive use of OERs which has allowed me to learn from the experiences of other practitioners, whilst also reducing the development time needed for the course. One such resource was an Accessibility 101 course, which has helped me to understand how UDL can be used within VLE courses.
I am now going to do a very quick web tour of some of the pages within my online course to give you a flavour of what I am referring to.
Web tour: modules overview (https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1112741/modules)
The online course actually consists of a number of smaller modules and this has been done intentionally to help structure and guide the learning process. Some of the modules are mandatory and will form a key part of the facilitated sessions, whereas others are provided for reference.
All of the modules are easily accessed via the Modules page, which is currently displayed on screen. This also provides a useful overview of the course. If you scroll down, you will see the different sections of each of the modules.
Web tour: module 2 overview (https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1112741/pages/2-dot-1-module-2-overview?module_item_id=11531083)
Within each module an overview is provided, which outlines the objectives of the module and the activities the participants will be asked to complete. To aid navigation, Canvas automatically inserts previous and next buttons, to allow participants to work through the materials sequentially.
As you will have seen from the modules page, participants can also jump to specific pages from there.
Web tour: example of a content page (https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1112741/pages/2-dot-5-principle-2-multiple-means-of-representation?module_item_id=11560449)
Here is an example of one of the content pages within module 2, which focuses on UDL. Throughout the course I have incorporated the UDL principle of ‘multiple means of representation’. So rather than just simply providing text explanations, a variety of different mediums have been used such as: graphics, videos, as well as links to relevant reading and alternative explanations.
Web tour: example of an activity (https://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1112741/pages/2-dot-9-workshop-preparation-applying-udl-to-your-teaching?module_item_id=11663226)
In addition to providing multiple means of representation, the course also offers ‘multiple means of action & expression’. This allows participants to demonstrate their learning and knowledge in different ways.
For example, in the UDL module - module 2, a short multiple choice quiz is provided to test the participant’s understanding of the UDL principles. This is then followed by a further activity, shown on screen, which comprises of two parts and forms a section of the flipped learning activities.
In the first part, participants are asked to critically reflect on their current teaching practices and to engage in conversations with peers via the online discussion board. For the second part, which will be completed during the facilitated sessions, participants will be required to draw upon their reflections from part 1 and to work with other colleagues to design a lesson or activity that incorporates the UDL principles. So this is really taking the theory and actually applying it to practice.
I am now going to return back to my slides.
Slide 17: Feedback
During the production stage of my project, I have been regularly sharing drafts of my work both within the H818 community via OpenStudio, as well as via Twitter. Displayed on the slide are a couple of the positive comments I have received during this process.
Slide 18: Feedback continued…
By regularly engaging with my networks, this has usefully provided me with different perspectives and has highlighted areas for improvement (two examples are included on screen), thus strengthening the overall design and usability of the course. In response to these comments, the module 2 objectives were re-written to make these more specific and measurable, as well as the creation of a new evidence and research page to provide practical examples of how UDL is used in different contexts.
As a result of my work on this project, I am currently in discussion with the Head of Academic Development at my University on how this could be developed further for inclusion within the Enhancing Academic Practice module of the University Certificate in Academic Practice.
Slide 19: Conclusion
In conclusion, although there is still much work to be done to finalise my online course, this project has helped me to develop new skills and knowledge in the areas of course design and accessibility. Over the last four weeks, I have successfully produced an online course which has been developed from the re-use and remixing of open education resources, licenced under Creative Commons.
Although the use of open education resources helped reduce the development time of the course, I did find it quite difficult at times to locate high-quality resources, which met my specific requirements, such as being suitable for professionals working within the UK higher education sector. I found that the vast majority of UDL resources freely available online were aimed at educators working in the American postsecondary sector, which can sometimes limit their re-use due to the differences between the two contexts. In addition, I also found in some cases that it actually took longer to modify and re-mix existing OERs, compared to producing a new version from scratch.
Whilst I recognise that there are many frameworks and principles concerning accessible course design, I believe that the combination of this framework with the social model of disability could have a positive impact on the student experience within the UK higher education sector. Unlike other frameworks, UDL is not prescriptive and can be applied in different ways to meet specific learning and teaching challenges.
As highlighted on the slide, as educational professionals we must think outside of the box and design learning and teaching experiences which meet the needs of all students, rather than trying to retrofit learners to fit inaccessible pedagogies and approaches!
Thank you for your time, please feel free to ask any questions you may have.
