Use of Universal Design forLearning to promote inclusion and equitable access in learning. Delivered to conference on innovative education and teachers in Warsaw, Poland in June 2016

1. EDUSPACES 21
CONFERENCE
Inclusion and UDL in
the innovative
learning spaces of
global citizenship
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Ireland
Warsaw: June 2016

2. Purposive learning in an age of
uncertainty
End of linear models of learning
Cognitive dissonance: what is needed is
not being provided
Alienation and anomie in a changing world
Labor market flux
Adaptability and innovation as norm
Globalized paradigms/fractured
communities

3. Towards Global Citizenship
Education must fully assume its central role in
helping people to forge more just, peaceful, tolerant
and inclusive societies. It must give people the
understanding, skills and values they need to
cooperate in resolving the interconnected
challenges of the 21st century.
United Nations: Global Education First Initiative
(2012)

4. Shaping Imaginative Spaces
 Ethnic demographics
 Disability
 National frameworks & EU contexts
 Flexibility and adaptability
 Educational systems and new learning
 Interculturalism and diversity.

5. ICT: re-imagines space and
access
Contradictory and paradoxical
What we think:
 Citizens
 Shared knowledge
 Participative engagement
What we have:
 Consumers
 Increasing exclusion
 Significant problems with equitable access

6. Responding to change
 Flexibility
 Digital learning
 Visions of excellence
 Sustainability
 Sugata Mitra:
Comprehension/Communication/Computation

7. Universal Design meets learning spaces
 Equitable use.
 Flexibility in Use. Design accommodates individual abilities.
 Simple and intuitive. Design easy to understand,
 Perceptible information. Design communicates
 Tolerance for error. Design minimizes hazards.
 Low physical effort. Design can be used comfortably.
 Size and space for approach and use.

8. Technology Innovation
Partnerships (CITED 2006)
Universal Design concept rooted in three areas:
1. Design of physical environments
2. Web development
3. Teaching and learning (Universal
Design for Learning).

9. Aim of UDL
 UDL creates barrier-free environments that
enable teachers to apply universal design
concepts to support widest range of learner
differences.
 UDL develops course content that is
proactively accessible to as many as possible.
 UDL informs space design

10. Crisis impact: system change

11. Conclusions
 Education at crossroads
 Leadership critical
 Leadership requires planning and clear goals
 Designing for a globalized world
 Vision for community needs
 Innovative design accommodates imagination
and inclusion

12. Dziękuję
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Dublin
abruce@ulsystems.com
Associate Offices: BARCELONA - HELSINKI - SÃO PAULO - CHICAGO