Donegal Further Education & Training Board, September 2nd 2021

1. UDL in Further Education: Addressing
learner diversity in a sustainable way
Donegal Further Education & Training Board, September 2nd 2021
Dr. 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. Personal Introductions
• I have worn several hats along my career and will revisit some of these
perspectives during the session
• Was head of accessibility at McGill for 4 years – ‘accessibility services’
perspective
• Have been Academic Lead on an MEd at UPEI for 3 years and Program Head
at RRU for three more – supervisor and mentor with contract faculty
• UDL advocate and researcher who seeks to apply this lens actively to his own
practice – phenomenological perspective as an instructor
• Also researcher and consultant – applying a more conceptual/ systems
approach to UDL implementation

4. Objectives of today’s session
1. Why UDL? What is currently not working when it comes to addressing
learner diversity?
2. Getting to grips with the model
3. Showcasing it effectively and getting buy-in from colleagues
4. Particular relevance of UDL in the current COVID context

5. What is not working currently with the
way we are addressing learner diversity?
• We are going to use Menti to interactively collect your thoughts on your level of ease
with the framework
• Visit the site www.menti.com and I will generate a code for the activity
• What is not working currently with the way we are addressing learner diversity in the
classroom?
• In the interest of time, I will not switch screen but I will speak to the comments being
posted.
• I will also attach the slide to my slide deck when I share it online after the session (on
Twitter and LinkedIn)

8. 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

9. 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 policies: 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 in further
education

10. 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

11. Covering some of the initial questions I
often receive
• Is it possible to create a resource or pool of examples of practice under each principle to
make UDL more understandable and less abstract?
• This is a delicate topic because as soon as you create examples, instructors will cling to them
as a checklist.
• I can certainly offer examples of the sort of barriers instructors are likely to explore as they
begin this journey:
• Multiple means of representation: use of multimodal sources, offering PPTs in advance,
using the LMS for the intentional scaffolding of differentiated resources, connecting with
learners in multiple formats of interaction, unpacking the implicit messaging in assessment
directives.
• Multiples means of action and expression: creating multiple formats of submissions for
assignments, integrating curriculum co-creation, allowing students to work with the software
and tools they are already familiar with, creating varying roles for the learner in the
classroom.
• Multiple means of engagement: redefining learner engagement away from teacher-centric
constructions of the term, integrating critical pedagogy to connect content with the learners’
lived experience and interests.

12. Covering some of the initial questions I
had received (contd.)
• Do you need to be skilled in IT, graphics, editing, to successfully offer multiple means
of representation/engagement?
• We are often on the defensive when considering multiple pathways and get worried
that we have to be the expert on the format chosen.
• Offering choice does not presume instructors have ultimate expertise in the formats
being explored
• The learner can often become particularly empowered in this process of collective
learning.
• It does imply we reconsider our implied positioning as ‘controller’ of the classroom
space. There is definitely a reflection around power dynamics that needs to occur
here.
• The real challenge is creating (through an inclusive design process) new rubrics that
can be used whatever format is chosen.
• It is also important to walk students towards the notion of increased choice (issue of
“transitional friction”).

13. Part 2 - Getting to grips with the UDL
model
• It should not be prescriptive. Always steer away from the checklist
• It is a lens for reflection on practice, nothing more
• Different practitioners of varying expertise, working in separate
disciplines and working with varying clienteles, will reach different
conclusions/ design solutions. This is one of assets of this framework
• The division of the reflection on design into three facets/ three
principles is at times artificial. Embrace the fact that the principles
overlap significantly in most examples.
• There is no order in which to apply the three principles
• They do not all need to be applied at the same time
• A UDL reflection is life long and should be paced

14. An essential element of embracing UDL
• UDL is the only framework for inclusion which genuinely moves us away from
a deficit model approach to diverse learners
• It does so by translating the social model of disability into classroom practices
• What is the social model of disability?

15. Interactive Resources around the Social
Model
• If faculty are not familiar with the social model of disability, a good resource
to trigger a discussion around it is a video by Judith Butler entitled “Examined
Life” (first 8 minutes)
• Butler, J., & Taylor, S. (2010) Examined Life. YouTube [Video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE
• Another useful, tongue in cheek segment that is useful when introducing the
concept of the social mode comes from the UK.
• Adams-Spink, G. (2011) Social Model Animation. YouTube [Video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s3NZaLhcc4&t=20s
• Let’s watch them together and discuss their potential use in your reflection on
UDL – in break out rooms

16. The social model of disability
• Why is the notion of social model so important?
• It positions disability as an interaction between personal embodiments and
the design of spaces and experiences
• Once an instructor is introduced to the social model, they are likely to shift
away from the social model and to embrace their role as designer who can
able/ disable learners
• When using the social model, one shifts from focusing on the exceptionality
of diverse learners to examining the barriers in the learning experience
• This barriers analysis is pertinent for all diverse learners
• The onus is no longer on the diverse learner to adapt and change
• Barriers can be identified and removed through an inclusive design process

17. Shifting from a deficit model approach to
a ‘barriers analysis’ perspective
• Barriers in material (print, inaccessible websites and PDFs, one single level of conceptual
complexity/ length/ level of language, overreliance on text).
• Barriers in the way we interact with learners (lectures that are long and complex; difficulties
in keeping up and taking notes; refusal to share PPT ahead of time)
• Barriers in the very content of the teaching (students do not relate with content, find it
impossible to connect content with their lived experience, students cannot motivate
themselves as they see no pertinence, students have no voice within the course)
• Barriers in the way we articulate team work (hazy expectations; few guidelines as to how to
develop team skills; no intentions to monitor the group work itself; over-focus on the end
product)
• Barriers in the teacher-centric ways we formulate participation requirements (presence,
participation in non-congenial formats, lack of clarity in expectations, )
• Barriers in the way we assess (expectations are teacher-centric; only one mode of
submission is available; assessment often evaluates competencies which are not taught;
many implicit expectations which are not explained to the learner)

18. Part 3 - Showcasing UDL effectively to
colleagues
• We are returning to Menti to check what concerns you may have concerning
showcasing to/ discussing UDL with colleagues.
• Visit the site www.menti.com and I will generate a code for the activity
• What are the concerns you currently have with regards taking the model back
to your departments and showcasing it effectively?

21. Showcasing it effectively to colleagues
• UDL is a spectrum. Nothing is black and white. All instructors are necessarily doing
something UDL already.
• The aim is to encourage them to progress slowly on this spectrum, progressively
through their career
• Help your colleagues situate themselves on this spectrum
• UDL has often been presented as something new and ‘out of the box’
• This branding can be counter-productive
• It is more productive to present UDL as the convenient packaging of many existing
principles of learning and teaching/ several philosophical approaches to pedagogy
• UDL is a way to find a common discourse around the best practices we are probably
all already exploring actively
• It is often difficult to implement UDL if an instructor/ department/ faculty has not
clearly identified teaching objectives/ core competencies being taught and assessed

22. Caveat: Not just colleagues who need to
understand your objectives!
• It is important to do this job of introducing UDL not just with colleagues but with
students as well.
• Students can be resistant to change in the classroom even when the change in
question represents a shift to a more accessible, more inclusive and more student-
centered pedagogy.
• I often call this phenomenon ‘transitional friction’: students need to understand the
changes we make to learning and the objectives of these changes.
• Students must become partners in the work we carry out around UDL
• This means that we must find a language to discuss UDL with students, as well as
organic opportunities to trigger these conversations.

23. Final Menti Activity
• We will use Menti one last time to collect your thoughts about growing
relevance of UDL in the COVID pivot landscape.
• Do you feel that the global health crisis has led to an increased focused on
equity and accessibility, or do you feel that equity and accessibility and
inclusion have suffered in this climate?
• Visit the site www.menti.com and I will generate a code for the activity

24. 4. Exploring the particular relevance of
UDL in the COVID context
• This is a profoundly disrupted landscape:
• Instructors are responding to the urgency with creative innovations, often overnight.
• These practices are usually not inherently accessible or inaccessible. It becomes a
matter of degree of use/ detail of the implementation effort (e.g. flipped classroom,
synchronous vs. asynchronous participation, transformation of exams for open book
assessment, etc.). A rich and complex reflection around ‘barriers’ is necessary just-
in-time
• Interaction with accessibility services is not much more difficult and accessibility
services are often these days confronted with practices they have had no chance to
evaluate.
• Accommodations approach is often simply not available during the COVID pivot.
• The result of this matrix is that instructors are constantly assessing inclusive nature
of their practices live and in the moment. UDL is the only lens available to them

25. Remaining Questions

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