March Update: Are Your Courses Engaging All Students?


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Vol 1: Issue 2, Mar 2021

Universal Design for Learning = More Student Engagement

Ron Rodriguez is an instructional designer and teaches Universal Design for Learning in UM's Instructional Design and Technology Certificate program. He is a big sports fanatic and closely watches all Miami Sports. Ron shares a tip on improving student engagement through multiple means of expression.

View time: 1:58 mins

A Ramp Alongside Stairs

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a method of teaching that gives students the flexibility to engage with the course material in a way that best suits them (Morin, n.d.). Instructional designer Flower Darby describes UDL as a ramp alongside a set of stairs. Both lead up to the same entrance, but the ramp was specifically created with wheelchair users in mind. Though the ramp was created for this purpose, it also benefits people using walkers, strollers, luggage on wheels, or cargo dollies. Because this ramp was factored into the design of the building, a variety of different groups were able to benefit (2020).

UDL offers choices to support student learning. An easy way to incorporate this method into your class is to provide captioning on your videos for students who have hearing impairments or to allow students to complete an assignment in multiple ways. For example in Ron's tip for increasing student expression, you can allow students to complete an assignment by writing a paper or recording a video.

References

Darby, F. (2020, July 23). 6 quick ways to be more inclusive in a virtual classroom. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/6-quick-ways-to-be-more-inclusive-in-a-virtual-classroom?bc_nonce=lwx5tlk9bfepsifsqarvl&cid=reg_wall_signup

Morin, A. (n.d.). What is universal design for learning (UDL)? Understood. https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/treatments-approaches/educational-strategies/universal-design-for-learning-what-it-is-and-how-it-works

Learn More About UDL

Accessibility in the Making

By Brianna Basanta (she/her)

Accessibility appears to be a buzzword in education environment but should it? It is an integral part of course design and teaching practices be it online, on campus, or remote. Accessibility breaks down barriers to learning, increases student engagement and enables teachers to build strong learning communities. The challenge lies in choosing the best practices for your course and understanding why these practices are beneficial to your learners.

Here are Five Best Practices you can do immediately to make your course more accessible.

Five Best Practices

Tips for Creating a More Inclusive Virtual Class

By Ariella St. Rose (she/her)

Education tends to be taught through the lenses of groups that are not marginalized and as a result, students can often feel excluded in class due to race, language, religion, gender, poverty, or a disability, (Open Society Foundations, 2019). It is difficult for students to be in an environment where they constantly feel overlooked and unaccounted. I have met students who believed that higher education wasn’t for them because of the disadvantages they would face. How do we help to combat this? Through building inclusive class environments.

The goal of inclusive classrooms is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn and that all feel welcome during the process, regardless of circumstances or identities. The very design of the course should support learners so that no one feels left behind (Darby, 2020). We can implement inclusive environments not only through Universal Design for Learning, but Culturally Sensitive Pedagogy and Accessibility.

Teacher Toolkit

Accessibility Quick Guide

Explore this interactive content to learn about thoughtful & intentional course design

10 Ways to Tackle Linguistic Bias in Our Classrooms

Recognize and combat our prejudices when it comes to how our students speak and write

The Value of Virtual Office Hours

Staying Connected

School's In

Stanford's award-winning podcast explores current issues in education

Professional Development Series

An accessible and ADA-compliant, inclusive course is paramount to students' academic success and advancement.

Join the Division of Continuing and International Education’s Distance Learning Institute (DLI) at the virtual EdTech Café session.

Event attendees will:

Review their online course content for accessibility
Discover doable ways to accommodate students' learning needs
Work in a course using one of the best accessibility checker tools on the market, ALLY, to start improving accessibility issues

When: March 16, 2021, and March 18, 2021, at 12 p.m.
Where: Virtual
Topic: Improving Accessibility in Online Courses and Ally
Hosts: April Macadangdang and Cate Dowman

This virtual event is a part of the DLI’s series to help the University of Miami faculty create successful and engaging online courses. The EdTech Café online course development events are held every third week each month.

I want to join!

The Distance Learning Institute

Division of Continuing and International Education

Allen Hall, 5050 Brunson Drive

Coral Gables, FL 33146

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