Open and UDL are both significant trends in education and higher education right now. Access is a huge part of open, and accessibility is a huge part of Universal Design for Learning. But how do we unpack what access means in practice, in either case? And who is served by the current trends in the digital infrastructures that underpin both?

1. AT THE
INTERSECTION(S)
OF UDL &
OPEN PRACTICE
Bonnie Stewart
University of Windsor
Third Pan-Canadian Conference on
Universal Design for Learning
Open for Whom?

2. who here uses the web?

4. ■ Me.

5. a story of the web.

6. https://www.flickr.com/photos/davefoord/18555275093

7. but I want to talk
specifically about ideas of
ACCESS…

8. about what the infrastructure
of the web makes possible
….and for whom.

9. think : pair : share
what is one form of access the web has made
possible for you?
who has gotten to share in that access? who hasn’t?

10. architecture of Web 2.0

11. participatory communities

13. 6 years as a blogger
13,530 non-spam comments / links from readers

14. I started experimenting
with open education
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7304209@N02/16515490143

15. "For the first time in human history, two related propositions
are true. One, it no longer is possible to store within the human
brain all of the information that a human needs.
Second, it no longer is necessary to store within the human
brain all of the information that humans need.
Education needs to be geared toward the handling of data
rather than the accumulation of data.”
- Berlo, 1975
knowledge abundance

16. open
■ sharing of ideas
■ sharing of resources
■ licensing of resources
■ sharing of teaching practices &
challenges

18. open enables
financial
access

19. open enables geographic/regional access
…and new perspectives

20. online = people

21. …I also started
experimenting
with UDL

22. UDL opened up the way I saw learning design
http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/take_a_tour_udl

23. gate or barrier?
BOTH.

24. visuals & video
instead of
*just* readings

25. (…also, step
beyond the usual
suspects FOR the
readings)

27. “Nothing about us,
without us”
works as a guide
for ALL kinds of
learning & discussions

28. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/liberatory-design-cards
open
resources
can support
inclusive
design &
access

30. offer alternative means of representing ideas

32. focus = CHOICE
if we equate print with
“learning,” we create a
staircase to nowhere.

33. video assignments (eep!)

34. Reframe rubrics so learners can produce artifacts that
make sense for their fields
(including a gang sign tattoo .ppt from an officer training instructor)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/4129400323

35. authentic
audiences

36. access
across
hierarchies
https://elearningstuff.net/2018/08/31/drawing-some-pictures-at-altc-and-beyond/#more-8797

37. make evaluation more formative & peer-based

38. expand the
stories we
tell about
learners.
& behaviours.

39. to help learners build
digital literacies, not just
for platforms & tools, but
with participatory
practices

40. http://giphy.com/gifs/40s-chattanooga-1941-W2S0SZbeFBZK

41. Open
practice
UDL
digital spaces & tools enable access TO more, FOR more students.

42. in spite of the web

44. misinformation

45. sensationalism

46. people with unfounded & unreflexive opinions

47. participatory practices pushed out of the picture

48. .
fair.
it’s my JOB to teach
learners how to deal with
knowledge abundance.

49. BUT.
there’s a shift that has me
concerned about what the
web makes possible.
and for whom.

51. Information organizations, from libraries to schools and
universities to governmental agencies, are increasingly being
displaced by a variety of web-based "tools" as if there
are no political, social, or economic
consequences of doing so.
- Noble (2018)
https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/
Information organizations, from libraries to schools and
universities to governmental agencies, are increasingly being
displaced by a variety of web-based "tools" as if there
are no political, social, or economic
consequences of doing so.
- Noble (2018)
https://nyupress.org/9781479837243/algorithms-of-oppression/

56. ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT ALERT
We’ve handed over control of our data,
our identities, & our shared
public infrastructures, including democracy.
We are outsourcing
knowledge-making & governance to AI.
And to the people that build it.

57. And many in power still think this
is a good idea.

58. Reputational
metrics ALWAYS
limit equitable
access…
stratification is
what they’re FOR

60. do we just abandon ship?

62. do you have a
doorbell?
a smart appliance?
a learning
management system?

63. our systemic
problem:
reducing
complex issues to
countable answers

64. but our focus on access & inclusion
can be a form of resistance.

65. we need to understand and USE the
participatory, collective structures
of the system we are IN.

66. Open
practice
UDL
”it’s here they’ve got the range & the machinery for change” –
DEMOCRACY, L. Cohen

67. we can take back
the infrastructure
of the web.
#prosocialweb

68. sometimes
it’s better
to put
SOMETHING
out there –
imperfect
though it
may be

69. a subversive
hope.

71. thank you.
@bonstewart.