Leading UDL implementation as instructional designers in Higher Ed: a realistic exploration of opportunities and hurdles

1. Leading UDLimplementationas instructionaldesignersin
Higher Ed: a realistic exploration of opportunitiesand
hurdles
UTS Learning design meetup
May 23rd, 2022, Sydney

2. Land Acknowledgement
• I am honoured to live and work on the unceded and ancestral territory of the Syilx
Peoples

3. Objectives of the Session
• Examine the historic ambivalence of instructional design as a field towards UDL
• Explore the radical changes the COVID pandemic has triggered in this landscape
• Assess the gains and hurdles encountered during the pandemic in relation to
inclusive blended learning
• Explore three examples of successful UDL reflection having occurred during the
pandemic
• Examine the specific opportunities of instructional designers in this landscape
• Acknowledge remaining challenges present in the implementation of UDL in post-
pandemic teaching and learning

4. Format of workshop
• It is always difficult to be fully interactive when online. It can also be
challenging to be entirely UDL in short presentations.
• I have nevertheless tried to incorporate as many inclusive features as
possible:
• Use one interactive activity with Menti.com. Will not switch screens in the
interest of time but will talk to the results of the polls.
• Will also be monitoring my Twitter handle through the session and for the
rest of the day (@Ffovet)

5. Format of Workshop (contd.)
• We may have some time for questions at the end of the session. You can also
use the chat function throughout and the facilitators will inform me during
the talk when questions pop up.
• Happy to engage with all participants one on one beyond the session via
email or social media.
• The slides of the presentation will be available on SlideShare immediately
after the workshop (and appear on my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts). I will
integrate the Menti slides for your use.

6. Personal lens and methodological stance
• Unique positioning as a scholar: have been both an Accessibility Services manager
and a faculty member
• Was involved in large scale UDL implementation from 2011 to 2016 across a campus
– experienced this process in its full complexity
• Have also been Academic Lead/ Program Head at UPEI and RRU, and have needed to
guide contract faculty around inclusive teaching and the use of UDL.
• Act as a UDL consultant with colleges and universities in Canada.
• My research and scholarship focuses on UDL
• I will be drawing from these multiple and varied perspectives

7. What is UDL?
• It can be difficult to define
• There is an overwhelming volume of resources online
• In a nutshell, it is the translation of the social model of disability into classroom
practices
• According to the social model of disability, disability is not a label or inherent
characteristic of the individual, but rather amounts to a tension/ lack of fit between
individual embodiments and the design of experiences, spaces or products
• UDL assumes learners diversity is the norm
• Encourages intentional inclusive design from the get-go
• Uses three principles/ dimensions to achieve inclusive design: multiple means of
representation, multiple means of action and expression, multiple means of
engagement
• UDL is therefore a reflective lens on practices

8. Encouraging recent historical growth of the UDL
model in the post-secondary sector
• Growing but sporadic interest around Universal Design for Learning across the post-
secondary sector in most jurisdictions over the last decade.
• Particular early hubs of activity in Norway, Ireland, Belgium, Canada and the US
• Encouraging energy
• No doubt that the notion that inclusion must be achieved through proactive inclusive
design rather than through retrofitting and accommodations is finally gaining in
popularity and visibility
• Accommodation and retrofitting models are cracking at the seams. Represent an
approach to equity and access to learning that remains grounded in deficit model
views of diverse learners.
• Accommodation and retrofitting model is also expensive and unsustainable.
• Differentiation is problematic in higher education – as the only viable alternative
• This conjuncture offers UDL a strong role as optimal framework for inclusion in the
tertiary sector and for the implementation of recent EDI policies.

9. Historic ambivalence of instructional design as a
sector towards UDL
• Instructional designers often entertain a complex relationship with UDL.
• Instructional designers aware of accessibility lens but do not always consider
themselves experts in this area.
• An understanding of the slightly daunting scope of the work – e.g. captioning
course resources. Leads to a degree of reticence to fully embrace.
• Highly aware of other pressing imperatives that shape teaching and learning:
constructivism, social constructivism, alignment of teaching and assessment,
etc.
• Training usually grounded in avenues that have not prioritized inclusion.

10. Historic ambivalence of instructional design as a
sector towards UDL (contd.)
• Many instructional designers have a background in technological integration
and the scholarship on technology rich delivery and assessment is oddly
distinct from the literature on UDL. The osmosis is not explicit even when
one would expect it to be.
• Concerns over role: instructional designers see themselves as supporting
faculty but no hierarchically free to take the reign on key decisions related to
inclusion.
• Higher ed is fraught with issues of silo mentality. This is an area where
collaboration and interdisciplinarity should be much more substantial but
have been hindered by fragmentation of post-secondary services.

11. And then came COVID…

12. Interactive activity - How has the COVID pandemic
changed attitudes towards inclusion and UDL?
• We will use Menti to quickly poll you as participants.
• I will generate the Menti code synchronously as otherwise it resets if not used
immediately
• Visit www.menti.com and use the code that will be generated during the session
• Do you feel that the COVID crisis has:
• (1) improved awareness of accessibility and inclusion, and made UDL more appealing
• (2) made accessibility and inclusion more challenging, and has been detrimental the
buy-in for UDL

14. Methodological stance
• A three-pronged methodological process:
• Discussions with accessibility personnel and UDL advocates/ stakeholders in
qualitative interviews in relation to UDL implementation.
• Wider dialogue with inclusion and UDL advocates in interactive virtual events
throughout the pandemic.
• Discussions with instructors, instructional designers and accessibility
personnel about MH and inclusive design in HE that was impacted by the
pandemic and unfolded it within it.

15. Observations and Analysis
• Some gains/ facilitators
• Instructors have globally embraced
their role as designers of the
leanring experience
• They are increasingly aware of the
impact of bad design on student
experience
• They are more receptive than ever
to the relevance of UDL
• There have been more widely and
openly shared resources related to
UDL
• Some new hurdles
• The UDL discourse is more diluted
and less easy to identify
• Some confusion between UDL
strategies and simple technology
integration
• The reflection around UDL is
perhaps not as systematic as it can
be – engagement in particularly
has generally been ignored during
the pandemic. Focus has been on
‘multiple means of representation’
and ‘multiple means of action &
expression’

16. Observations and Analysis (contd.)
• Some gains/ facilitators
• Noticeably growing international
dialogue around UDL. Ironically, there
has been less travel but more
opportunities for the global sharing of
knowledge (e.g. launch of the ADCET
platform in Australia)
• More advocacy related to UDL from
the student body itself
• Widespread understanding that many
of the lessons learnt during the COVID
pandemic in relation to UDL need
integrated into f2f teaching in the
post-pandemic landscape
• Some new hurdles
• There have not always been adequate
points of contact for faculty seeking to
adopt UDL strategies – most key
stakeholders have been oversolicited and
exhausted
• Instructors themselves are more
receptive to UDL but also burnt out and
less open to innovation. COVID
exhaustion is real.
• Many students feel that despite growing
UDL efforts, there have also been
significant accessibility issues (proctoring
practices for example).

17. Final Assessment: A window of opportunity
• There is a key role for UDL to play in the post-pandemic reflection around the
online & blended learning and inclusion.
• Some important lessons can be drawn from the pandemic pivot but these
lessons will not be learnt/ integrated without a conscious and intentional
analytical recap taking place.
• What did we learn about online accessibility? What did we learn about the
design of these online experiences? Where did we go wrong? Where might
UDL be useful as a framework. What can be transfer back to f2f teaching
post-pandemic?
• UDL can represent a simple, user-friendly, common-sense, and progressive
pathway towards designing fully inclusive online experiences. In that sense
UDL has a key role to play.

18. Final Assessment: A window of opportunity
(contd.)
• The pandemic has offered opportunities for awareness. We have to be
weary, however, of organizations’ and practitioners’ natural tendency to
return to status quo, in a pendulum movement, and to avoid change
altogether – even after a period of forced disruption.
• We have become more aware of silo mentality in higher ed and of its
detrimental impact on inclusive provisions. Need to rethink our professional
interactions and degree of collaboration.
• A lot of innovative, creative, and transformative practices developed and tried
out online during the pandemic are not inherently accessible and inclusive:
constructivism, social constructivism, critical pedagogy, active learning, etc.
• UDL allows us to find the ‘happy place’ – the overlap between these
pedagogical approaches and the central need to be accessible and fully
inclusive

19. Spendingalittlemoretimeoncasestudies,through thelensofthe
threeUDLprinciples–threeperspectivesontraditionalclassroom
practicesthathave radicallychanged.
• We have a few minutes to be more specific and examine examples of
practices which evolved through the application of inclusive design during the
COVID pandemic.
• We will examine an example using each of the three UDL principles as a lens:
• Multiple means of representation
• Multiple means of action and expression
• Multiple means of engagement

20. Multiple means of representation
• Starting this reflection with an anecdote
• Early attempts to shift lecture style delivery to the online space have proved
catastrophic
• They have also shown the limitations of the traditional lecture format in f2f
delivery
• Has led to rich, innovative and often successful experimentation to vary the
ways course content is presented to students.
• The three hour lecture is not dead but it has been irrevocably rethought and
reinvented.
• This reflection can be framed, supported and guided by UDL.

21. Multiple means of action and expression
• The most noticeable example of how the pandemic has triggered a reflection
around multiple means of action and expression is the rethink which has
occurred around assessment.
• After well publicized failures trying to shift summative assessment to online
spaces, faculty have become authentically involved in reshaping assessment
altogether, seeking to move away from the regurgitation of content towards
genuine demonstration of gained and mastered competencies.

22. Multiple means of engagement

23. Multiple means of engagement
• The shift to online teaching during the pandemic, combined with the inclusive design
lens, has led many instructors to re-consider how they conceive and define learner
engagement.
• Many Zoom catastrophes have led to a collective acknowledgement that online
engagement is not just about being on camera.
• It leads to a wider reflection around the fact that being present in f2f class is not
evidence of student engagement either.
• Rich and far reaching initiatives have been developed over the last two years which
fit well within the UDL mindset: flexibility around synchronous presence, objective of
deeper more meaningful engagement with class content, importance of student
voice in the way engagement is delineated, etc.)

24. So… does this mean things are lookingup for UDLwithina
post-pandemiclandscapeand that the role of instructional
designersis clear and immediatelyobvious?

25. Interactiveactivity–Howcomfortable,asinstructionaldesigners,do
you currentlyfeelsupportingfacultywhoarecarryingoutadeep
explorationofUDLintheircourses?
• We will use Menti to quickly poll you as participants.
• I will generate the Menti code synchronously as otherwise it resets if not used
immediately
• Visit www.menti.com and use the code that will be generated during the session
• How comfortable, as instructional designers, do you currently feel supporting faculty
who are carrying out a deep exploration of UDL in their courses?

27. Pressing danger
• Danger of the thirst for a return to ‘normality’
• Danger of a pendulum swing in large HE organizations which tend to want to return
to the status quo
• The status quo in HE was not ideal. Pre-COVID, there were singificant resistance to
UDL; there was also a great deal of haziness in instructors’ understanding of what
UDL represents; there was some hesitation too as to which stakeholder should drive
UDL implementation across campus (Senior administration? Teaching and learning
centers? Accessibility centers? Instructional designers?)
• This is a key moment in the process of UDL implementation in HE: campuses have
the opportunity to capitalize on these experiences or to revert back to their pre-
pandemic ambivalent positioning vis-à-vis UDL

28. Strategic hurdles
• Caveat: Pre-existing tension around the strategic process of UDL adoption in HE
• There were organizational issues related to UDL adoption across campuses, before
the pandemic
• Often UDL adoption has been over-focused on evidencing pedagogical benefits; it
has neglected management of change from a strategic and organizational
perspective (Fovet, 2021)
• There has also been a lot of confusion as to which stakeholder should be in charge of
the implementation drive. This often leads to territoriality.
• There is a need to plan UDL implementation with an eye on an ecological
understanding of the contextual variables that come into play
• The COVID pandemic has not eliminated these strategic hurdles. The process of
management of change needs to be proactively mapped out – even more so now

29. Need for an ecological lens on UDL
implementation across institutions

30. The specific strategic challenges that instructional
designers are facing with UDL implementation
• Hierarchical and organizational hurdles exist in the way instructional designers
interact with faculty or can bring up issues of faulty design.
• Similarly there is insufficient osmotic communication and exchange between
instructional designers and accessibility services/ personnel.
• A pressing need to break the chasm that exists between the scholarship on
instructional design and the literature on UDL: sharing discourse and key
terminology, referring back to each other’s filed, working in an interdisciplinary and
collaborative way, inviting practitioners of the other field to PD events and
conferences, etc.
• How do instructional designers position themselves in the momentum for greater
UDL implementation?
• Instructional designer often have the difficult task, alongside EDI teams, of making
UDL advocates realize that UDL should go far beyond impairment and disability.

31. Questions

32. References & Resources
Black, R. D., Weinberg, L. A., & Brodwin, M. G. (2015). Universal design for learning and instruction:
Perspectives of students with disabilities in higher education. Exceptionality Education International, 25(2), 1-
16
Boothe, K., Lohmann, M., Donnell, K., & Hall, D. (2018) Applying the Principles of Universal Design for Learning
(UDL) in the College Classroom. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 7(3).
Burgstahler, S.E. (2015) Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice. Harvard Education
Press, MA
Dalton, E. M., Lyner-Cleophas, M., Ferguson, B. T., & McKenzie, J. (2019). Inclusion, universal design and
universal design for learning in higher education: South Africa and the United States. African Journal of
Disability, 8, 519
Dean, T., Lee-Post, A., & Hapke, H. (2017). Universal design for learning in teaching large lecture classes.
Journal of Marketing Education, 39(1), 5-16
Fovet, F. (2021a) Developing an Ecological Approach to Strategic UDL Implementation in Higher Education.
Journal of Education and Learning, 10(4).
Fovet, F. (2021b) Anger and Thirst for Change among Students with Disabilities in Higher Education: Exploring
Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Transformative Action. In C-M. Reneau and M.A. Villarreal (Eds.)
Handbook of Research on Leading Higher Education Transformation with Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion.
IGI Global.
Fovet, F. (202c1) UDL in Higher Education: a Global Overview of the Landscape and its Challenges. In F. Fovet
(Ed) Handbook of Research on Applying Universal Design for Learning Across Disciplines: Concepts, Case
Studies, and Practical Implementation. IGI Global

33. References & Resources (contd.)
Fovet, F. (Ed.) (2021) Handbook of Research on Applying Universal Design for Learning Across Disciplines:
Concepts, Case Studies, and Practical Implementation. IGI Global
Fovet, F. (2020) Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Inclusion in the Higher Education Classroom: Tips for
the Next Decade of Implementation. Education Journal. Special Issue: Effective Teaching Practices for Addressing
Diverse Students’ Needs for Academic Success in Universities, 9(6), 163-172.
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=196&doi=10.11648/j.edu.20200906.13
Griful-Freixenet, J., Struyven, K., Verstichele, M., & Andries, C. (2017) Higher education students with disabilities
speaking out: perceived barriers and opportunities of the Universal Design for Learning framework. Disability &
Society, 32, 10
James, K. (2018) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Structure for Culturally Responsive Practice. Northwest
Journal of Teacher Education, 13(1), Article 4.
Kennette, L., & Wilson, N. (2019) Universal Design for Learning: What is it and how do I implement it?
Transformative Dialogues: Teaching & Learning, 12(1)
Nieminen, J.H., & Pesonen, H.V. (2020) Taking Universal Design back to its roots: Perspectives on accessibility and
identity in Undergraduate Mathematics. Education Sciences, 10(1). 2020, 10(1), 12
Novak, K. & Bracken, S. (Eds.) Transforming Higher Education through Universal Design for Learning: An
International Perspective. Routledge

34. Contact details
• Frederic Fovet (PhD.)
• Implementudl@gmail.com
• @Ffovet
• www.implementudl.com