Social inclusion and respect for diversity are some of the most important democratic values that inform learning design. The educational research literature offers methods for how to design teaching and learning for people in all (many of?) their complex dimensions: demographics; cultures [including worldviews, beliefs, values, practices, and others]; languages; learning preferences; differing perceptions and information processing, and others, … so that all are included and supported and welcomed. Widely known approaches include accessibility mitigations, universal design practices, multi-cultural adaptations, and others. This presentation provides a light overview of suggested practices and how these are applied to practical instructional designs of online learning with modern technological enablements.

1. ONLINE LEARNING DESIGN FOR
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
2017 Kansas CUPA-HR
Conference
Nov. 8 – 9, 2017
Kansas State University Alumni
Center
(long version)

2. PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
Social inclusion and respect for diversity are some of the most important democratic
values that inform learning design. The educational research literature offers
methods for how to design teaching and learning for people in all (many of?) their
complex dimensions:
 demographics;
 cultures [including worldviews, beliefs, values, practices, social needs, and others];
 languages;
 learning preferences;
 differing perceptions and information processing, and others,
2

3. PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION(CONT.)
… so that all are included and supported and welcomed. Widely known
approaches include accessibility mitigations, universal design practices, multi-cultural
adaptations, and others. This presentation provides a light overview of suggested
practices and how these are applied to practical instructional designs of online
learning with modern technological enablements.
3

4. THE APPROACH FOR THIS PRESENTATION
1. A review of the academic literature
2. Extraction of insights and practices for diversity and inclusion
3. Integration with current instructional design practices
4. Summarization of the main points
4

5. PRESENTATION SEQUENCE
1. Two “Stories” of Diversity and Inclusion
2. Basic Considerations for Instructional Design
3. About Diversity, About Inclusion
4. Inclusion for Demographics
5. Inclusion for Culture
6. Inclusion for Language
5

6. PRESENTATION SEQUENCE (CONT.)
7. Inclusion for Learning Preferences
8. Inclusion for Accessibility
 Universal Design
 Accessibility Design
9. Real-World Cost-Benefit Considerations
10. Proper Implementation of the Designed Learning
11. Real-World Examples
6

7. PRESENTATION SEQUENCE (CONT.)
12. A Practice Walk-through of Building Inclusivity into an Online Learning Context
13. Some Takeaways
14. References
7

8. TWO “STORIES”
OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION 1.
8

9. STORY 1: ABOUT DIVERSITIES IN ONE LEARNER
As an online learner, I am… ___ age, ___ race, ___ ethnicity, ___ gender, from ___
(location), with life experiences in these ___ locations…and I speak ___ languages
and have ___ worldviews and ___ values ___ and beliefs. My learning preferences
are ___ in a F2F context but ___ in an online context and ___ in a blended learning
context. My perceptual capabilities are ___.
Some of the features above are “fixed,” and other aspects are evolving and
changing.
This shows something of the complex diversities of learners. With so many factors at
play, there is “combinatorial complexity.”
9

10. STORY 1: ABOUT DIVERSITIES IN ONE LEARNER
(CONT.)
To understand design requirements for learners, it is important to have empathy with
user groups and to elicit user backgrounds through various means (such as theatrical
ones, and with wider ranges of technologies) (Newell, Gregor, Morgan, Pullin, &
Macaulay, 2010, p. 235).
10

11. STORY 2: ABOUT OUTLIERS ON A NORMAL CURVE
It is suggested that optimal learning opportunities—for a learner—are those that are
a little farther out than where their current knowledge is but not too far out that it will
frustrate them. Being too conservative means that a learner will maybe not exercise
his / her full potential, but being too liberal means that a learner may get
discouraged and stop pursuing a certain learning track.
Inclusive learning “does not discriminate against anybody in terms of educational
strategies” (Bel & Bradburn, 2008, p. 25).
In general, instructional designs are built for “average” learners and maybe one or
two standard deviations from “average.” Inclusiveness, though, suggests not only
building for the most likely learners in terms of base rates but also outliers, those on
the two far ends of the normal curve (next slide).
11

12. 12
This visual depiction is
an open-source one
by Dan Kemler and
made available on
Wikipedia.

13. STORY 2: ABOUT OUTLIERS ON A NORMAL CURVE
(CONT.)
Some of those who are more “needy” are learners with insufficient backgrounds to
the topic, and their needs are met with cognitive “scaffolds.” Also, amateurs (those
who are interested in learning an issue but do not intend to formalize their interest in
the topic) and novices (those with little to no experience in the issue but may be on a
track to learn more about the topic formally) tend to be on the left side of a normal
curve in terms of targeted learners. Those at the far right of a normal curve
(experts, advanced learners on the topic) are also outliers, and these are
knowledgeable about the topic. Their more advanced needs also should be
addressed, with independent learning and other adaptations. Differentiated
instruction, though, is costly (in instructor attention and effort).
Inclusive design includes both left-lying and right-lying outliers. Risks of learner
dropout are high for those on both ends of the normal curve. (Of course, some argue
that there is no actual “average” learner per se, but statistically, there is.)
13

14. BASIC CONSIDERATIONS
FOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN 2.
14

15. WHAT IS “INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN”?
Instruction design (ID) refers to the purposeful and systematic design and
development of instructional materials and learning experiences to make “the
acquisition of knowledge and skill more efficient, effective, and appealing” (Merrill,
Drake, Lacy, Pratt, & the ID2 Research Group, 1966, p. 2).
Instructional design work requires knowledge of human learning, learning research,
learning theories, instructional design methodologies, technologies, legal
considerations, and others.
This work includes a wide range of work: (1) instructional design (including needs
assessment / gaps analysis, research, design, storyboarding, work documentation,
prototyping, and others) and (2) instructional development (including digital content
creation, assign development, alpha testing, beta testing, work documentation, and
others).
15

16. WHAT IS “INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN”?(CONT.)
Generally, there are two types of contents created by the instructional designer (with
or without a team).
 Deliverables: The first type is anything that goes live and is seen and experienced by learners. These
are the primary deliverables.
 Raw Backup Files: The second type of contents involves raw files: work files, stylebooks, templates,
draft logos, documentation, legal contracts, raw and unedited video, and any of the back matter
required for creating the learning. These files are maintained into perpetuity as backup for the public
files. If any questions arise about legality, these are consulted. If redesign is needed, the raw files
are often the least-lossy and most informative of the digital files. The proprietary authored learning
object files are editable and may be revised and re-exported with changes to the original contents.
16

17. WHAT IS “INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGN”?(CONT.)
In higher education, ID may also include support for
instructor adoption of the digital learning objects,
educational technologies, short and long courses,
with the preferred implementation and teaching
strategies.
The ID work may also include designing and
building to automated learning spaces, such as
simulations, virtual immersive world spaces (with AI
avatars), websites, knowledge spaces, and others.
17

18. GENERAL KNOWN INFORMATION AT THE
PROJECT’S START
Usually, a basic instructional design begins with the following details:
 learning purpose
 informational contents
 proprietary and / or open-source informational resources
 available technologies
 target learners (and typical profiles)
 soft and hard deadlines
 budget
…based on authorizing documents (grant award information) and principal
investigators, subject matter experts (SMEs), and / or faculty members.
18

19. WHAT IS DESIGNED?
The following are typical parts of the instructional design:
 an overall design strategy
 a full and complete design plan (tactics)
 the seating of a team of SMEs for the design (if required)
 the seating of developers for the design (if required)
 learning objectives
 observable and measurable learning outcomes
 design of learning contents
 design of learning assessments
 design of learner sociality
 design of assignments
19

20. WHAT IS DESIGNED?(CONT.)
 definition of legal requirements (intellectual property, accessibility, privacy rights, and others)
 definition of research sources for the learning contents
 a draft learning sequence (storyboarding, look-and-feel)
 “paper” prototyping and / or digital prototyping
 decision-making standards
 a work schedule with soft and hard deadlines
 defined deliverables at the end of the project
A stylebook may have to be created if there are multiple developers at multiple
institutions of higher education, to ensure all team members are on the same page.
20

21. CURRENT INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN TRENDS FOR
ONLINE LEARNING
Some current trends in online learning include the following:
 “Flipped classroom” with lectures pre-recorded and available online and classroom time used for
applied learning and communities of practice interactions
 “Chunking” with learning sequences and objects broken down into smaller pieces for easier learning
and sequencing
 The lecture itself is quite unpopular and seen as too instructor-centered (preference for instructors is
“guide on the side”)
 Learning materials may be cobbled from multiple open sources
 Social media platforms are harnessed for crowd- and tech-enriched learning
21

22. HOW ARE DESIGNS VETTED?
Instructional designs are constrained by time, talent, and treasure (deadlines, human
resources, and budgets). The designs have to be signed off by the client on the
project.
Approvals occur at multiple points in a project life span, with approvals needed for
the interview subjects, the draft storyboards, the assessments, and so on.
Designs—as prototypes—are also improved through alpha testing and beta testing.
 Alpha testing usually involves testing in-house for functionality, content accuracy, legality, and other
features.
 Beta testing involves pilot-testing the designed digital learning objects with learners from the target
population of potential learners.
22

23. ABOUT DIVERSITY,
ABOUT INCLUSION 3.
23

24. BASIC CONCEPTS
Concepts
Writ large, “diversity” refers to humanity
in all its complex manifestations:
demographics, cultures, languages,
learning preferences, and capabilities.
“Inclusion” refers to a design value that
is the most broadly accommodating and
welcoming of learners in all their real-
world complexity.
Practice
In application, there are many
considerations to actualize inclusion of
the many dimensions of diversity in the
broad population of learners.
This slideshow addresses some of these
approaches of both what to do and
what not to do in the design of online
learning for diversity and inclusion.
24

25. WHY DIVERSITY? WHY INCLUSIVITY?
Why “diversity” and “inclusivity”? “Diversity” is a reality of a majority of
populations of learners—on a number of dimensions. “Diversity training” originated
in the 1980s to address “racism, sexism, and intergroup conflict” to increase work
efficiencies (Paige & Martin, 1996, p. 42).
“Inclusivity” is an approach that considers the varied needs of diverse learners and
strives to address their needs in order to enable the most effective learning. [By
contrast, design exclusion refers to when a designed object “places demands on the
end user that the user does not have the capability to meet” (Clarkson, Dong, &
Keates, 2003, p. 422).]
“Inclusive design,” though, does not accept the concept of the “average user” as
mythical and misleading. The idea of proper design is to set the design goals at the
beginning and to build appropriately to those goals instead of applying poor
designs and then having to add accommodations and retrofits.
25

26. WHY DIVERSITY? WHY
INCLUSIVITY?(CONT.)
The backdrop to this involves democratic societies
with democratic values. Such societies cannot
afford the costs of social exclusion, in which the
contributions of portions of a population are
lessened or even rejected…and in which such
tensions can lead to social strife.
26
This open-source map
was created by Wapcaplet
in Inkscape, and this was
released through Wikipedia.

27. STARTING WITH THE LEARNER
Inclusive design in learning places learners—as individuals and as groups—at the
center.
In one illustration, learners are at the center of concentric circles. The individual is
defined by the following: “abilities, aspirations, beliefs, dispositions, etc.” In the
microsystem (the next circle out) are the individual’s classroom, family, teachers, and
social circle. Then there is a meso system, an exo system, and the macro system
(defined as “beliefs and ideologies of the culture”). These levels interact in order to
support the learners’ learning (Smith, Hayes, & Lyons, 2016, p. 4).
Inclusivity here is seen as social. A learner’s larger social circle and context are
important in the design.
27

28. 28

29. WHAT INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNS AFFECT…
Learning objectives, learning outcomes
Learning contents: digital learning objects, cases, learning problems, examples,
downloadables, and others
Assignments: types of assignments, how these are handled, and others
Assessments: types of assessments, contents of assessments, the evaluation and
grading of assessments, and others
Online learning community building: discussions, groupwork, and others
Digital modalities: photos, drawings, audio, video, simulations, games, virtual
immersive worlds, and others
29

30. INTENDED AND UNINTENDED MESSAGING
Designs suggest that every element of the instruction has been thought-through…
 the visual depictions of learners
 the plotlines of cases and scenarios
 the dialogues between characters in an interaction sequence
 the locations in videos
 the contexts in story problems
 the colors of “skins” for web pages and apps
 and so on…
This means that those who design and develop trainings and learning objects and
courses need to ensure that messaging is intended and clear (and that unintended
messaging is avoided). This requires attention to detail. This requires discipline.
Control.
30

31. INCLUSION FOR DEMOGRAPHICS 4.
31

32. DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics refers to statistical data of populations and sub-populations.
These include descriptors including age, gender, class, racial identity, ethnicity, sexual
identity, geography, and others.
32

33. DESIGNING FOR INCLUSION AROUND
DEMOGRAPHICS
Inclusive design for demographics means…
 not using stereotypes to show various sub-populations in derogatory light or in laudatory light (“model
minorities”)
 remember that stereotypes may be of various dimensions of people: age, gender, class, racial identity, ethnicity, sexual identity,
geography, and others
 cast against type
 not using depictions of individuals from minority groups as stand-ins for anyone not in the majority
group (no tokenism)
 not using exclusionary and excluding language; not using “hate speech”
 not triggering “stereotype threat” in learners (which has been shown to lower learning performance)
 not fomenting antagonisms in the learning population
33

34. DESIGNING FOR INCLUSION AROUND
DEMOGRAPHICS (CONT.)
 not designing learning that privileges one group and harms others (learning opportunities should be
equal to all)
 not creating a social context of in-groups and out-groups, have’s and have-not’s
 not providing special privilege(s) to the majority group at the expense of a minority group or vice
versa
Some of this can be quite nuanced, and examining learning outcomes for signs of
disparities and unequal treatments will be important. In other words, researchers
should not just look for signs of fairness but purposefully look for signs of
unfairness…in order to design, develop, and provide the optimal learning
opportunities.
34

35. DESIGNING FOR INCLUSION AROUND
DEMOGRAPHICS (CONT.)
Inclusive design for demographics means…
 depicting people in real-world complexity and without stereotypes (not one monolithic type)
 using inclusionary and welcoming language
 highlighting the capabilities of all learners
 encouraging constructive socializing for learning in learning contexts
 treating all learners equally
 including all learners and groups of learners, and heading off the creation of “in-groups” and “out-
groups” (discouraging cliques)
 providing learning privileges to all learners equally
35

36. INCLUSION FOR CULTURE 5.
36

37. WHAT IS “CULTURE”?
“Culture” refers to various forms of common human thinking and practices, which have
evolved over time and been transmitted between people. Culture is shared among
groups of people through communications, education, modeling, and other methods,
and this is embodied in societal institutions. Most people within a culture may not see
it unless they have lived outside of that culture or trained to see their own culture or
are an “outsider” to that culture. Cultural traditions may be protected over time, but
they also evolve (with varying speeds of change). Cultures inform how people should
interact with each other in the world.
One dominant framework for understanding cultural differences is Geert Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions theory.
37

38. SOCIALITY AND CULTURES
Culture informs people’s senses of sociality along a number of dimensions:
Individualism vs. collectivism
 How independent and self-sufficient should individuals be?
 What should people’s relationships be with others around them? How should they engage with family
and community?
 If there are tensions between individual wants and those of family and community, which wants
predominate?
Social sharing
 In participatory cultures, people produce information and opinions, and they share these with others.
 Often, there is co-development of information as well, created interactively among people.
38

39. CULTURE AND LEARNING
At heart, “culture pervades learning” (McLoughlin & Oliver, 2000, p. 59). If people
are “programmed” by their culture to perceive and engage the world in certain
ways, they may expect others to be like them and to take offense when others do not
(because they are informed by their own and different programming). The designed
learning is a product of a particular local culture—which may involve pros and cons.
Too much cultural infusion may make the learning more difficult to acquire and
transfer for those outside of that culture. What may be culturally appropriate in one
context may not be so in another.
39

40. CULTURE AND LEARNING(CONT.)
Mixed design and development teams. One way to be more culturally sensitive in
the creation of online learning is to design the learning with a mixed-culture team,
with various members bringing different insights and observations to the work and
respecting each other’s differences.
40

41. CULTURE AND LEARNING(CONT.)
Respect for varied cultures. The point to cultural awareness is to be as inclusive and
welcoming of those from various cultures as possible. One strategy is to bring cultural
influences and effects to the fore and to communicate an appreciation of respective
differences.
To achieve this, it is important to generally not contravene core values at the center of
cultural identity while still achieving the target learning objectives. Cultural values
may include ideas of “good vs. evil, safe vs. dangerous, permitted vs. forbidden,
logical vs. paradoxical, rational vs. irrational,” and others (Hofstede et al., 2005, as
cited in Tapanes, Smith, & White, 2009, p. 26).
Another approach is to infuse various cultural influences and differences into the
learning sequence, without necessarily specifically calling attention to cultural
differences.
41

42. CULTURE AND LEARNING(CONT.)
Respect for learners and their differences. Essentially, learners need to be
acknowledged, heard, engaged, respected, and empowered. Further, an important
learning outcome for 21st century learners is to work effectively on a culturally
diverse team.
 One approach involves “culturally pluralistic instruction” and involves acknowledgment and
incorporation of (learners’) different cultural backgrounds in the learning (McLoughlin & Oliver, 2000,
p. 62).
Addressing or avoiding points of tension. Instructionally, there are various ways to
handle the learning contents that may be controversial. Topics that are challenging
include politics, religion, lifestyles, values, historical interpretations, male-female
relationships, and others.
 Friction (or “desirable difficulty”) in learning can be positive for learning. This can only work well in a
context of trust, though.
42

43. CULTURE, LEARNING, AND OUTCOMES
The multiple cultural model takes more of an outcomes approach, and it “promotes
equity of outcomes for learners, particularly learners from disadvantaged minority
groups” (Henderson, 1996, p. 94). This approach was evolved from work by multiple
researchers: Reeves, 1992; Henderson, 1994, and Henderson, 1996 (p. 96).
 In other words, the value of the learning should be equally and fairly distributed in a population.
43

44. CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
1. “Adopt an epistemology that is consistent with, and supportive of constructivist
learning and multiple perspectives.
2. Design authentic learning activities.
3. Create flexible tasks and tools for knowledge sharing.
4. Ensure different forms of support, within and outside the community.
5. Establish flexible and responsive student roles and responsibilities.
6. Provide communication tools and social interaction for learners to co-construct
knowledge.
44

45. CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
(CONT.)
7. Create tasks for self direction, ownership and collaboration.
8. Ensure flexible tutoring and mentoring roles that are responsive to learner
needs.
9. Create access to varied resources to ensure multiple perspectives.
10. Provide flexibility in learning goals, outcomes and modes of assessment.”
(McLoughlin & Oliver, 2000, pp. 65 - 68)
45

46. INCLUSION FOR LANGUAGE 6.
46

47. COGNITIVE LOAD IN LEARNING…IN A NON-
NATIVE LANGUAGE
Learners often experience difficulty in understanding initially unfamiliar concepts.
Trying to learn in a non-native language can add to that difficulty.
 L1 or the first language may interfere with the learning of additional languages.
Many learners come at English as a second (or third or fourth)…language. For many,
English is not a first language.
Some learners are monolingual, and others are multilingual.
47

48. LANGUAGE IN INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
The basic rule for design is to use clear and simple language as much as possible.
This means editing out anything beyond the basic required information. This means
using precise terminology. This means avoiding humor. (Or use humor with proper
setup and proper caution and proper respect.) This means cutting back on chattiness
and faux interactions.
With current online tools that enable translation between languages, transliteration,
dictionary tools, thesaurus tools, and other language tools, it is even more important
to write with control and precision to avoid mis-communicating information,
miscommunicating tone, miscommunicating intent, and ultimately offending learners.
(Commitment to learning can be fragile, and the learning design should not get in the
way.)
48

49. INCLUSION
FOR LEARNING PREFERENCES 7.
49

50. LEARNER PREFERENCES IN LEARNING
 Some learners may prefer to theorize and “reflect” while others prefer to “learn by doing.”
 Some learners may prefer to record an audio analysis than to write one.
 Some learners may prefer a once-through of the topic of learning, and they’re good while others may
prefer to replay the lecture and then follow up with plenty of hands-on practice.
There are as many different learning preferences as there are learners. People have
complex mixes of learning preferences that may stem from life experiences, genetics,
perceptual capabilities, and others.
Learning preferences thought to be fairly stable over time but are not set in stone but
can change based on positive new learning experiences. For many learners, they
may not be fully aware of what their learning preferences are. Their preferences
may be domain specific, dependent on the particular topics.
50

51. GENERAL LEARNING PREFERENCES
 For example, people may prefer different digital modalities for different types of learning. These
modalities may include articles, slideshows, audio, imagery, video, and virtual simulations.
They may have different preferred learning activities (reading cases, watching
videos, listening to interviews, taking on a role in a roleplay, watching problems being
worked on-screen, participating in stories, creating data visualizations and analyzing
datasets, going on field trips, and others).
Use a wider variety of assessments. This way, learners who perform better in
different ways will have their knowledge and skills acknowledged and credited.
51

52. LEARNING PREFERENCES BASED ON REQUIRED
LEARNER ACTIVITY
Learning preferences may also vary
depending on what the learner is asked to
do. Based on the new Bloom’s Taxonomy,
from base-to-top, these may activities
include the following: remember,
understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, or
create. The thinking is that the higher up a
person goes in this triangular taxonomy,
the more dependent he or she is on the
skills that came before. For example, a
learner may prefer to engage in freeform
drawing to “create” but not prefer that
learning activity when trying to
“understand” a particular phenomenon.
In other words, for tasks with high intrinsic
cognitive load (difficult tasks), there may
be different learning preferences than for
those with low intrinsic cognitive load.
52
Andrea Hernandez created this New Bloom’s Pyramid
and released this through Creative Commons licensure
on June 21, 2011, on Flickr.

53. INCLUSION FOR ACCESSIBILITY 8.
53

54. “ACCESSIBILITY” IN AN ONLINE LEARNING
CONTEXT
In an online learning context, accessibility refers to the wide availability of the
learning regardless of varying perceptual and information processing abilities.
Two main approaches are described here: (1) universal design and (2) accessibility
design.
54

55. ACCESSIBILITY: UNIVERSAL DESIGN 8a.
55

56. WHAT IS “UNIVERSAL DESIGN”?
Universal design refers to the design of “products, environments, programmes and
services to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without the need
for adaptation or specialized design” (National Disability Authority).
56

57. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN
Principle 1: Equitable use – provision of the same “means of use for all students;
identical whenever possible, equivalent when not”
Principle 2: Flexibility in use – instruction for “a wide range of individual abilities”;
learner choices
Principle 3: Simple and intuitive – “straightforward and predictable” instruction
regardless of learner “experience, knowledge, language skills, or current
concentration level”; removal of unnecessary complexity
Principle 4: Perceptible information – information access regardless of learner
perceptual abilities
Principle 5: Tolerance for error – and adjusting for learner pacing and prerequisite
skills (cognitive scaffolding)
57

58. BASIC PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN(CONT.)
Principle 6: Low physical effort – minimizing nonessential physical effort
Principle 7: Size and space for approach and use – room to maneuver
Principle 8: A community of learners – interacting and communicating
Principle 9: Instructional climate – to be welcoming and inclusive
58

59. SOME BENEFITS OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN
Inclusive of people in their respective diversities
Provides supports and alternate methods for various learning needs
Enables usability across wider contexts
Extend value of the learning objects and sequences into the future
59

60. WHAT IS “UNIVERSAL DESIGN” FOR LEARNING?
In education, there are three universal design models, with overlapping and also
unique focuses:
1. Universal Instructional Design (UID) (Goff & Higbee, 2008)
2. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (National Center on Universal Design for
Learning, 2010)
3. Universal Design of Instruction (UDI) (Burgstahler, 2009)
60

61. MAIN PRINCIPLES: UNIVERSAL INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGN (UID)
“Welcoming classrooms”
“Determining essential components of a
course”
Communicating “clear expectations”
“Timely and constructive feedback”
Uses of “natural supports for learning,
including technology”
Teaching methods that “consider diverse
learning styles, abilities, ways of
knowing, and previous experience and
background knowledge”
“multiple ways for students to
demonstrate their knowledge”
“interactions among and between faculty
and students” (Goff & Higbee, 2008, as
cited in Rao & Tanners, 2011, p. 212)
61

62. MAIN PRINCIPLES: UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR
LEARNING (UDL)
“Principle I. Provide Multiple Means of
Representation
Principle II. Provide Multiple Means of
Action and Expression
Principle III. Provide Multiple Means of
Engagement”
(National Center on Universal Design for
Learning, 2010, as cited in Rao &
Tanners, 2011, p. 212)
62

63. MAIN PRINCIPLES: UNIVERSAL DESIGN OF
INSTRUCTION (UDI)
“Class climate
Interaction
Physical environments and products
Delivery methods
Information resources and technology
Feedback
Assessment
Accommodations”
(Burgstahler, 2009, as cited in Rao &
Tanners, 2011, p. 212)
63

64. UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR EDUCATION-RELATED
TECHNOLOGIES
Universal design is also applied to the design of websites, user interfaces, software
programs, and so on. UD is even applied to mobile devices (Elias, Feb. 2011).
64

65. ACCESSIBILITY:
ACCESSIBILITY DESIGN 8b.
65

66. ACCESSIBILITY DESIGN BASICS
Accessibility designs focus on various methods to (1) properly design for accessibility
(from the beginning), and to (2) enable alternate modalities of accessing digital
contents.
The focus in accessibility design is on the following types of human perception: visual,
auditory, and tactual; human mobility; affect; cognition, and information processing.
 Human perceptions vary between people, and these change over time. For lifelong learning to be
effective, designed online learning needs to address a wide range of changing perception needs.
The work of proper design is fairly nuanced based on understandings of human
perception and information processing on both visual and verbal channels.
66

67. BASIC APPROACHES IN ACCESSIBILITY DESIGN
(CONT.)
1. All images, figures, visuals, and maps require alternate text (alt texting) that is
informationally equivalent to the visual depiction.
2. All audio files require accurate (97 – 99%) verbatim transcription.
3. All video files require verbatim closed captioning (timed text). Optimally, the
captions should be enriched with relevant descriptive details in addition to spoken
speech. (Auto-captioning, currently, is only about 60 – 80% accurate, so these should
be manually corrected before they go live. Google’s YouTube and IBM’s Watson
both have auto-captioning capabilities based on machine learning from online audio
and video files.)
4. All live events require live transcription (optimally). If lead-up and lead-away
resources can be offered to enrich the event, that should be done.
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68. BASIC APPROACHES IN ACCESSIBILITY DESIGN
5. Animations, games, videos, and other action objects require user controls to moderate the
experience.
6. All interactive objects and online experiences should have keyboard shortcut capabilities to
enable user access and navigation based on assistive devices (including devices, tools,
hardware, software, or combinations of the prior). (Actions requiring mouse inputs would be
considered inaccessible, for example.)
7. Texts should be style-tagged / marked up with data structure, to understand the relative
interrelationships between the words, such as the headers, subheaders, body text, captions,
and so on. Such text interrelationships are noted by screen readers. Also, the names of
documents should be properly and informatively labeled for easier navigation.
8. Data tables should be clearly understandable, cell by cell, when read by a screen reader.
This requires labeling in HTML. Summarize the contents of data tables in text format.
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69. BASIC APPROACHES IN ACCESSIBILITY DESIGN
(CONT.)
9. Color should not be used alone to convey information. There should be labels,
captions, textual descriptions, and other methods to share information. When color is
used, it should be sufficiently contrastive for visual discernment. To enable those with
color blindness challenges, certain hues of color should not be used. (The grayscale
versions of the imagery should be sufficiently informative and contrastive.)
10. Digital files should be created in universal product formats for access, usability,
and digital preservation.
11. Ideally, digital files should be machine-readable for Web 3.0 or the Semantic
Web.
12. Use clear and simple English, for accuracy and translatability.
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70. ACCESSIBILITY TESTING
Human-Based
Human-based accessibility testing
involves using various individuals with
varying perceptual and informational
processing needs, varying abilities,
assistive devices, and such…test learning
sequences and report out on what they
find.
This human testing may also be done on
various web browsers, learning
management systems (LMSes), and
mobile devices.
Computer-Based
For years now [since 1996, with the
Centre for Applied Special Technology’s
(CAST’s) Bobby], there have been a
range of computational tools to test the
accessibility of websites and other online
objects.
Some tools are built into platforms for
accessibility testing there.
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71. AND WEB ACCESSIBILITY
“Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand,
navigate and interact with the Web.”
--- Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of W3C
71

72. MANAGING LEARNERS’ COGNITIVE LOAD
The basic concept is to use proper design to lighten the cognitive load on learners.
While intrinsic cognitive load depends on the inherent difficulty of the learning
contents, other types of cognitive load may be affected by proper design. Germane
cognitive load is handled by the creation of schemas or organizing principles (and
worked problems) related to the topic, and extraneous cognitive load is handled by
proper instructional design to information presentation.
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73. REAL-WORLD COST-BENEFIT
CONSIDERATIONS 9.
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74. IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF LIMITED RESOURCES
All the prior insights about diversity and inclusivity are relevant, but in the real world,
those who design online learning have limits—limits of time, talent, and treasure.
They have limits in terms of client visions for the teaching and learning.
They have limits in terms of the funding organizations for the learning.
They will have to prioritize what they see as important and accept trade-offs in the
design and development of learning objects.
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75. INTENDED AND UNINTENDED OUTCOMES
When done right, the designed learning may be more effective and more effectively
adapted to the future.
 Properly designed online learning may be effectively used longer into the future and not require
expensive extensive retrofitting.
When done wrong, the designed learning may have unintended harms.
 There may be lost learning opportunities, learners who are shunted off course, bad publicity (with
reputational harms), social harms (of stereotypes and biased treatment), and other outcomes.
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76. WHAT SHOULD THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY
PRIORITIES BE?
Be mindful of conveying respect and care for learners foremost. This is a socio-cultural issue.
This is a human issue.
Build a channel for testing with real-world learners and being responsive to the feedback
even after the online learning has been deployed.
 Listen. Respond.
Address legal issues of accessibility. Focus not only on the letter of the law but the spirit.
(Address all legal issues because going illegal is non-negotiable and a non-starter.)
 Address policy issues.
Be accurate. Learners can understand that facts may be inconvenient and difficult, but the
point of learning is to engage facts. Support learner resilience.
Design with “neutrality” (such as it is) in mind in most cases. Avoid both obvious and non-
obvious biases.
Communicate with finesse, clarity, precision, and control.
76

77. PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
DESIGNED LEARNING 10.
77

78. PROPER IMPLEMENTATION
Learning designs are only as effective as the implementation—how the training or
short course or long course…is taught.
A basic requirement in terms of implementation is a full understanding of the
necessary technologies for the online teaching and learning to work.
Another basic requirement requires a pro-learner orientation of the instructor /
trainer.
There should be a comfortable fit between the instructor and the online learning
materials.
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79. EMBODIMENT AND MODELING
Teaching for diversity and inclusion requires an open stance to learners to actively
reach out and to learn from them.
Instructors / trainers can model understandings of others and empathy with others
and their approach of non-offense.
Instructors may take care not to use language or gestures that may be offensive.
They may explain their actions before they make them.
Instructors should avoid embarrassing learners in the learning; the online learning
space should be a safe environment for everyone’s learning.
If critique is necessary, that should be done privately. No learner should be talked
down to.
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80. EMBODIMENT AND MODELING (CONT.)
An instructor needs to communicate self-respect, too, in a way that learners
understand and perceive. Instructor surrogates like graduate teaching assistants, in
large-scale classes, need to model and maintain such communications.
A common form of respect for learners includes “power-sharing,” by encouraging
learners to create some of their own assignments and to have input on some of their
own assessments.
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81. VOICES
The idea of a trainer / instructor / educator persona is present even in automated
learning contexts because voice is a part of the design.
 An omniscient narrator is a non-gendered voice of objective truth, used in some designs.
 An embodied trainer may be another voice.
 Some trainings or educational learning materials use digital avatars or agents.
 The interactions with an artificial intelligence (AI) agent creates a sense of parasocial interactivity, which is simulated.
There is harnessing now of “third voice” presences in online classes Stroupe, 2003),
which emerge with the blended voices and interactions of people in the learning
context (and which would not exist otherwise).
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82. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES 11.
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83. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES FROM INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGN
a One Health course design with broad cross-disciplinary sourcing of subject matter
experts from various fields and backgrounds (with signed releases for all video
captures, with custom interview questions for the SMEs, with manual captioning of the
videos)
a series of original and newly-created case studies for teaching and learning for
Native American learners in the Pacific Northwest, with contents including gray
literature and non-traditional informational sources
a biosecurity training for early warning of potential select agent effects on U.S.
crops, with a custom-created learning system with built-in translation to multiple
languages, with real-world photos and scenarios and step-by-step directions for
handling potential high-risk samples
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84. REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES FROM INSTRUCTIONAL
DESIGN (CONT.)
an annual online training for non-discrimination in the workplace with closed-
captioned video scenarios demonstrating people in various interactions (and non-
stereotyped roles) as well as versioning in multiple languages and interspersed test
questions with feedback
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85. A PRACTICE WALK-THROUGH
OF BUILDING INCLUSIVITY
INTO AN ONLINE LEARNING CONTEXT
12.
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86. A GLOBAL HEALTH SCENARIO
This section offers an instructional design problem-solving scenario. You are creating
an on-the-fly training about a burgeoning contagious disease outbreak starting in a
particular region of the world. The objective is to stop the spread of the mosquito-
borne viral disease. The learners are global because the identified outbreak is only
likely an initial indicator of a much larger syndrome. The information in the training is
not fully known as-yet, and what seems to be known is tentative. However, the need
to take some basic population health measures is clear.
You need to design various versions of the training to the different regions of the
world—to encourage population health promoting actions—like the recognition of
risk, the recognition of likely symptoms, the need for disease surveillance, and so on.
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87. PROJECT NEEDS
Then, there are direct actions that may be taken at the local level: removal of
standing water where mosquitos breed, preferred clothing to prevent mosquito bites,
the uses of anti-mosquito netting, the uses of anti-mosquito sprays, and other actions.
The idea is to be clear in the messaging and to avoid mis-comprehensions.
What are the diversity and inclusion design aspects to this instructional design
challenge, and how would you integrate diversity and inclusion in your work?
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88. PRIORITIZING
Given the limits of time, talent, and treasure, rank the following as priorities. Explain
why you’ve selected a particular set of priorities.
 demographics
 cultures [including worldviews, beliefs, values, practices, and others]
 languages
 learning preferences
 differing perceptions and information processing
 technologies
 others
Does theory play a role in your decision-making? Why? Why not?
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89. LEARNER TARGETING
Define the context and target learners for whom you are designing the training.
Then, please draft some initial answers to the following:
What sorts of learning activities might be most effective? Why?
What parts of a population would you especially target?
What sorts of technologies would you use?
Would you create one general training and then version that, or would you create
different trainings for different target learners? How would you define the various
populations of learners demographically?
How will you know that the training has been (in)effective in the near-term? In the
mid-term? The distant term?
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90. SOME TAKEAWAYS 13.
90

91. SOME TAKEAWAYS
Rich Diversities: Online learning, in all its forms, should be designed for inclusiveness
based on various types of diversities. “Student diversity” is defined as including
“complex configurations that can include race, ethnicity, culture, religion, spirituality,
age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, social class, language, citizenship, and so
on—any of which can be more or less salient at any given moment depending on
context” (Higbee, Schultz, & Goff, 2010, pp. 49 – 50). In addition, there are factors
like learning preferences and perceptual diversity features.
Designing for All: Inclusion involves more common learners as well as those who are
outliers. Those without sufficient knowledge to take on a learning sequence may
benefit from review modules prior to the formal learning. More expert learners may
benefit with some independent learning. Learners of all kinds can benefit from
having additional opt-in practices, downloadables, and other learning resources to
augment the learning.
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92. SOME TAKEAWAYS(CONT.)
Paper Prototyping for Inclusivity: Proper design, early on, will benefit learners and
raise the quality of the learning objects and sequences. In the design of content
delivery as well as assignments and assessments, variety is beneficial to reach a
broad range of learners with differing learning backgrounds and learning
preferences. Inclusive learning, for adult learners, should be as authentic and
applied as possible. Designing on paper and testing out prototypes are much easier
than doing full developmental builds early on.
Quality Learning Contents: The facts of online learning should not ever change to
adapt to inclusivity.
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93. SOME TAKEAWAYS(CONT.)
Technologies that Support Diversity and Inclusion Enablements in Online Learning
Design:
 WWW and Internet with access to broad arrays of information
 Digital authoring tools with
 enablements for downloadables and resource access
 pop-up windows for word definitions
 character depictions of various gender / age / race / ability… diversities; and other learning capabilities
 Virtual immersive worlds with complex avatar creation
 Machine translation between languages, with wide UTF-8 char set language enablements (online)
 Machine transliteration (online)
 Auto-captioning for videos (with enriched captioning and human correction capabilities)
 Alt-texting windows on word processing software tools, slideshow tools, and others
 Ability to add alt-text in image editing tools and diagram design tools
93

94. SOME TAKEAWAYS(CONT.)
Technologies that Support Diversity and Inclusion Enablements in Online Learning
Design (cont.):
 Accessibility testing built into online systems (LMSes, online research systems, and others); automatic
accessibility testing of websites through online apps
 Built-in color palettes (monochromatic and polychromatic) with accommodations for color blindness and
color contrast
 Online research suites (survey tools) with access to crowd-sourcing feedback for tool testing
 Various data visualization capabilities to represent data
 Rich varieties of screen capture, videography, audio recording, video recording, and authoring
capabilities to create different methods for learning
 Multitudinous ways to assess learning
94

95. SOME TAKEAWAYS (CONT.)
Including Learners in Assessing the Online Learning: Learners should be an
important part of assessing the learning objects and online learning sequences and
environments. This feedback information should be used to inform revisions.
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96. SOME TAKEAWAYS(CONT.)
Inclusiveness: Inclusivity deals with ensuring accessibility. Inclusivity is also about not
making others feel unwelcome or as if they do not belong. It is important that online
learning not cause offense (while remaining accurate and pedagogically sound).
Prioritizing Design Features: In prioritizing design features of the online learning,
(1) user acceptability (culturally) and (2) legality are fairly critical. Using simple
English enhances learner comprehension and benefits automated language translators
(like Google Translate).
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97. REFERENCES 14.
97

98. REFERENCES
Bel, E. & Bradburn, E. (2008). Pedagogical perspective on inclusive design of online learning.
Proceedings of the Advanced Learning Technologies for Disabled and Non-Disabled People:
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aachen.de/Publications/CEUR-WS/Vol-345/paper5.pdf.
Clarkson, J., Dong, H., & Keates, S. (2003). Quantifying design exclusion. Ch. 25. In J.
Clarkson, S. Keates, R. Coleman, and C. Lebbon, Eds. Inclusive Design: Design for the Whole
Population. Springer. 422 – 436.
Elias, T. (2011, Feb.) Universal instructional design principles for mobile learning. The
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning: 12(2).
Henderson, L. (1996). Instructional design of interactive multimedia: A cultural critique.
Educational Technology Research and Development: 44(4), 85 – 104. Springer.
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99. REFERENCES(CONT.)
Higbee, J.L., Schultz, J.L. & Goff, E. (2010). Pedagogy of inclusion: Integrated multicultural
instructional design. Journal of College Reading and Learning: 41(1), 49 – 66.
McLoughlin, C. & Oliver, R. (2000). Designing learning environments for cultural inclusivity: A
case study of indigenous online learning at a tertiary level. Australian Journal of Educational
Technology: 16(1), 58 – 72.
Merrill, M.D., Drake, L., Lacy, M.J., Pratt, J., & the ID2 Research Group. (1966). Reclaiming
Instructional Design. Educational Technology: 36(5), 5 – 7. Retrieved May 30, 2017, from
http://mdavidmerrill.com/Papers/Reclaiming.PDF.
Newell, A.F., Gregor, P., Morgan, M., Pullin, G., & Macaulay, C. (2010/2011). User-sensitive
inclusive design. Universal Access in the Information Society. Springer. Long paper. 235 –
241. DOI 10.1007/s10209-010-0203-y.
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100. REFERENCES(CONT.)
Rao, K. & Tanners, A. (2011). Curb cuts in cyberspace: Universal instructional design for online
courses. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability: 24(3), 211 – 229.
Smith, P.S., Hayes, M.L., & Lyons, K.M. (2016). The ecology of instructional teacher leadership.
The Journal of Mathematical Behavior. Pre-publication draft. 1 – 22. Elsevier.
Stroupe, C. (2003). Making distance presence: The compositional voice in online learning.
Computers and Composition: 20(2003), 255 – 275.
Tapanes, M.A., Smith, G.G., & White, J.A. (2009). Cultural diversity in online learning: A study
of the perceived effects of dissonance in levels of individualism / collectivism and tolerance of
ambiguity. Internet and Higher Education: 12(2009), 26 – 34.
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101. CONCLUSION AND CONTACT
Dr. Shalin Hai-Jew, Instructional Designer
 iTAC
 Kansas State University
 212 Hale Library
 shalin@k-state.edu
 785-532-5262
The presentation version of this is on Adobe Spark and may be viewed here:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/CqbcwMcPYz8H7/.
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