In online environments, active learning techniques can facilitate varied ways that learners engage and enact skill development, understandings, and connections across concepts. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework supports providing options and design flexibility. Using a multi-site, mixed method case study design, this exploratory study investigated how 23 instructional designers at three large, urban, US public higher education institutions view alignment between UDL and active learning approaches in online course design. Techniques, strategies, tools, enablers, and challenges of these practices are highlighted. Study data collected included survey responses and focus group sessions. Emergent themes of belongingness, social learning space, structuredness, and universality are discussed.

This paper will explore the role of collaboration to explain how a pedagogical reading group supported faculty and staff at an institution in Canada in the development of self-awareness and application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. Within this social learning framework, a community of individuals, an educational developer, and members of the pedagogical reading group, were able to articulate and disseminate a process where learning together, as an experience of small meaningful moments, led to the possibility of larger wholescale movements as institutional change.

Incorporating UDL principles allows faculty to create engaging and accessible online courses for diverse learners in higher education. This article demonstrates a systematic and iterative development and testing of a course about UDL designed with UDL principles in mind. Mixed methods data sources and analyses were used to explore (1) understanding, (2) use, and (3) perceptions of UDL by 132 graduate students across five semesters. In-service educators recognized the specific UDL guidelines and checkpoints built into the course and found first-hand experiences inspiring to implement UDL in their own teaching/service environments. Specific suggestions for universally-designed course elements are shared and discussed.

The significant increase in online learning, particularly in higher education, has raised questions about the methods instructional designers (IDs) consider to maximize learners’ cognitive functioning and abilities. The literature suggests that Universal Design for Learning (UDL) offers students enhanced opportunities for engagement, expression, and academic performance. However, there is limited research measuring student perceptions on learning following the integration of UDL practices and subsequent course delivery modifications. This article discusses the integration of specific checkpoints within the three domains identified by the UDL framework. The exploratory case study identifies supports perceived to be instrumental in building students’ capacity towards self-regulation, comprehension, and executive functions in an online learning environment.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that has been employed in K-12 environments and generally improves learning outcomes for a variety of learners; however, its use in Higher Education (HE) to date has been much more limited. Studies of HE geosciences curriculum, including human geography, physical geography, geology, and environmental geoscience, suggest that learning barriers exist for many students, highlighting the need for curricular revision and the implementation of UDL. This paper reviews this literature to argue for increased engagement of UDL principles in geoscience education to create accessible and equitable classrooms. The authors then describe two geoscience courses that employed these principles to highlight the value of implementing UDL in the geosciences to effectively educate students with different learning preferences and needs. We highlight the value of UDL in geosciences, describe barriers that hinder its adoption, and describe best practices and make recommendations for its implementation.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that can guide the development of inclusive learning environments. The UDL guidelines, used as part of an instructional design process, provide a structure to proactively design flexible pathways and provide options that can support all learners. This article describes how educators can use a step-by-step process to design lessons that incorporate UDL guidelines. When designing instruction for online delivery, it is necessary to consider additional factors to ensure that all learners can access instruction and engage in meaningful learning experiences. The article describes how UDL can be used as a framework for inclusive instructional design online and provides

In this article, we share the opportunities and the challenges in adhering to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to design higher education online courses. We highlight specific instructional design examples to discuss the opportunities and challenges that we have encountered. We conclude by reflecting on UDL as a design tool and ponder the following question: Do design tools guide or serve us? By reflecting on our combined 40 years of design practice experience, we believe we offer valuable design knowledge of the UDL framework to scholars of design, educators, and practitioners.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles suggest that providing learners multiple means for engagement, representation, and action and expression will help learners become purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed (CAST, 2018). The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges and opportunities of adopting UDL principles for online course design using the decision-making process as the theoretical framework as defined by the Diffusion of Innovation theory (Rogers, 2003). Seven online faculty were interviewed regarding the challenges and opportunities that hindered or helped their decision to adopt the UDL principles in online course design. Additionally, three faculty participants volunteered course materials as examples of how they applied UDL principles. Results highlight ways institutions of higher education can promote faculty adoption of UDL principles for online course design.

This study examined whether higher education faculty knowingly and/or unknowingly applied UDL principles prior to and during the COVID-19 rapid online teaching and learning (ROTL) transition. Researchers collected data through a survey that was disseminated nationwide and completed by higher education faculty (n = 38). Findings included a shift in instruction modality where 50 percent of synchronous in person instruction moved to asynchronous online instruction or optional synchronous remote instruction. Additionally, there was an unsurprising, considerable increase in the use of technology to support student engagement with course content. Researchers identified themes in the barriers (e.g., time, resources, training) to applying UDL principles both prior to and during the COVID-19 ROTL transition. Suggestions for overcoming those barriers are also included.