This document summarizes a lecture about using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to promote inclusion across university campuses. It identifies the need for more inclusive teaching practices to support diverse students. UDL provides a framework to shift away from a medical model of support towards inclusive course design that benefits all students. The lecture highlights promising applications of UDL, such as for Indigenous, international and first-generation students. While progress has been made, challenges remain in strategically implementing UDL through documentation, specific settings, change management, and developing shared understanding across campuses.

1. Generating momentum towards inclusion
across campuses: Using Universal Design
for Learning to create a common discourse
2021 D'Arcy McGee Beacon Fellowship, hosted by Trinity College Dublin and
Trinity Inclusive Curriculum
Frederic Fovet, School of Education and Technology, Royal Roads
University

2. Royal Roads University acknowledges that the campus is
located on the traditional lands of the Xwsepsum (Esquimalt)
and Lekwungen (Songhees) ancestors and families who have
lived here for thousands
of years.
This land has been part of the fabric of the life of Indigenous
communities long before Hatley Castle was built, and it will
be long into the future. It is with gratitude that we now learn
and work here, where the past, present and future of
Indigenous and
non-Indigenous students, faculty and
staff come together.
Hay'sxw'qa si'em!
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
TRADITIONAL LANDS

3. Acknowledgement and Thanks
• The lecture forms part of the 2021 D'Arcy McGee Beacon Fellowship of which
I am a recipient.
• The Fellowship and the Lecture are funded by the Ireland Canada University
Foundation
• I am extremely grateful and honoured to have received this fellowship and to
be offering this public lecture. It represents the culmination for me of five
years of consistent work and collaboration with Irish colleagues in relation to
Universal Design for Learning.
• The Fellowship is simultaneously awarded to Dr Joanne Banks, of the School
of Education at Trinity College Dublin which is hosting this event, together
with Trinity Inclusive Curriculum. I am extremely grateful to both for their
support

4. Objectives of the Lecture
• Examine the urgent ‘need’ for change that current exists in higher
education in relation to inclusion.
• Consider the extent to which UDL addresses this need.
• Explore promising UDL practices in higher education that have
emerged over the last decade
• Examine challenges that lie ahead over the next decade in relation
to UDL implementation

5. Format of the session
• In order to model the UDL principles – to a degree – within the delivery of
this lecture, I have created a website that accompanies it.
• http://darcymcgeebeacon.com/
• This contains a mode developed text version of the main lecture themes.
• It also contains video summaries
• I will also invite all participants to put forward questions: either directly in the
Zoom Chat box, or using the #DArcyMcGeeBeacon hashtag on Twitter
• This PPT will be fairly minimalist in content, considering all material is
developed in full on the website.
• The PPT slides serve solely as a skeleton for me to introduce themes and
ideas.
• I will still post the PPT on Slideshare later in the day.

6. Identifying the ‘need’
• There is an urgent need for change in the way we address inclusion in the post-
secondary sector
• Issues at institutional level
• Structures in place relate to a world that is no longer a reality
• EDI efforts address many campus dimensions but rarely pedagogy itself
• Our vision of diverse learners is misleading because the support services that
address their needs are fragmented
• Hierarchical issues mean these services are reluctant to interfere in pedagogy
• At present all support services are grounded in a deficit model view of the non-
traditional learner
• The deficit model sees the learner as lacking/ interventions happen outside the
classroom/ there is no accompanying critical look at pedagogy

7. Identifying the ‘need’ (contd.)
• Deficit model interventions occur outside the classroom and create issues of
stigmatization and loss of social capital (parallel to the streaming that still occurs in
the K-12 sector)
• Lack of sustainability of these structures and policy: sustainability of support
services, financial sustainability of institutions, sustainability of teaching practices
• Issues at instructor level
• Apart from medical model services (accommodations and retrofitting) which
disempower instructors, the only other model at play is differentiation
• Differentiated instruction is problematic from an instructor perspective

8. Usefulness of UDL in this Context
• What is UDL?
• Shifts instructors away from a medical model perspective to a design thinking
stance
• Allows a whole class approach to inclusion – which checks all the boxes
• Useful in any context where barriers in access to learning are identifiable
• Offers a Common Discourse on Inclusion to all Stakeholders
• Is not Prescriptive and Allows for Flexibility in Implementation
• UDL is a hands-on, user-friendly framework to introduce instructors to design
thinking
• Integrates with ease a varied scholarship on inclusion

9. Innovative and Promising Practical
Applications of UDL in Higher Ed
• Increasing interest in using UDL to develop inclusive provisions for Indigenous
students, International students, first generation students, and culturally diverse
learners.
• Growth of UDL implementation in graduate education
• Rich reflection around assessment is occurring using the UDL lens
• Growing interest for UDL in a new set of disciplines: visual arts, science labs,
language classroom, outside classroom, field placement.
• Osmotic connection with other pedagogical approaches, particularly critical
pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, constructivism and social constructivism,
experiential learning, and active learning.
• Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis: shifting faculty away from teacher-centric
constructions of learner engagement.

10. Looking Ahead to the Next Decade of UDL
Implementation: Strategic Challenges
• It is more important than ever to document successes and to build a collective body
of work around experimentation with UDL.
• Urgency in exploring UDL in specific settings: language classroom, science lab, field
placements, experiential settings, etc.
• Need for a core objectives analysis as a pre-condition to UDL implementation
• Need for a solid scholarship around management of change and strategic
implementation of UDL
• Importance of developing a theoretical framework in relation to this strategic
planning
• Top down or bottom up?
• Reflection around Ownership and Responsibility for Implementation
• Creating a Common Discourse on Campuses

11. Contact details
• Frederic Fovet (PhD.)
• Associate Professor, School of Education and Technology, Royal Roads
University
• Frederic.fovet@royalroads.ca
• @Ffovet
• www.implementudl.com