National Council on Public History

I’m coming from dual roles as a trained historian completing a PhD program, as well as a coordinator of disability-related accommodations for students at a university. I work extensively with both students and faculty to ensure access to courses and programs. In addition to administrative support and advocacy for students with a wide range of disabilities, I also create academic skills workshops where any student could come through the door to participate. The combination of these experiences have made me an enthusiastic supporter of the Universal Design (UD) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) movements. UD originated in architecture and the acknowledgement that disability is a product of the environment. Stairs are only a barrier if you can’t walk up them. A text is only a barrier if you don’t have a means to read it. UD advocates making the built environment accessible by design, rather than as an afterthought. Further, UD proves that accessibility can be aesthetically appealing as well as functional, and–something that is often forgotten–allows for human dignity.

As an extension of UD, UDL encourages educators to design their courses and programs from the very beginning by considering three principles (a modification of UD’s seven basic principles): multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement. Each of these principles starts with “multiple means” because flexibility and choice for the learner is fundamental to providing the widest range of access. While my examples below are largely in reference to classroom situations, these same principles can be applied to the design of any learning experience including curating exhibits or developing historical programming.

Multiple means of representation:

• The “what” of learning
• For instruction, this refers to the content and modes of presenting information and concepts. In terms of learning, this is how we gather facts and organize it. This includes the physical acts of seeing, hearing, and manipulating objects.
• Instructors need to assure the information and materials are perceptible (can be accessed by someone with a sensory impairment) as well as consider whether they appeal to a wide range of learning needs (reading, listening, demonstrations, hands-on)
• This is the area that presents the majority of basic barriers: rooms available only by going up or down stairs, classroom furniture that cannot be moved, furniture that cannot accommodate a variety of physical needs, videos or audio items without captions/transcripts, printed materials that have not been brailled/converted to an electronic format/provided in enlarged font, large blocks of information being presented without breaks or emphasis
• Examples of simple ways to use UDL to overcome representation issues: Providing cognitive supports to help students hone in on key information and concepts and to structure their learning (e.g. giving a list of key terms, pausing frequently to summarize while lecturing, giving a list of questions to guide reading) and is especially helpful for students on the spectrum; giving a lecture and providing printed and/or online set of notes, always turning on the captioning for films and videos, providing a textbook description and drawing of a molecule (for example) as well as a 3-D model
• Caveat: do not make assumptions about how someone prefers to take in information or whether or not an individual is capable of learning something. Not all blind individuals read Braille, not all deaf or hearing-impaired people know ASL, etc.

Multiple means of action and expression

• The “how” of learning (what’s going on in the learner’s head and how they show their learning, which we usually think of as assessment)
• Opportunities for the learner to demonstrate an ability to plan and organize, problem-solve and express ideas (like writing an essay or solving a math problem)
• Instructor should think in terms of both instructional activities as well as assessment.
• It’s really important to be clear on what your learning objectives are for your students. What is the specific content you want them to learn? What are the skills they need to be able to demonstrate?
• The answer to those questions should shape the ways you ask students to demonstrate their learning [assessment]
• For an exhibit, curators/instructors would provide different types of cues (visual, written, auditory, experiential) to help direct visitors/learners toward a better understanding of specific historical figures, events, relationships, and concepts.

Multiple means of engagement

• The “why” of learning
• What gets students interested, excited, motivated
• Course content that appeals to varied levels of skill and interest
• Again, it’s really important to think about what you want every student to leave your class/program knowing and being able to do. If you start from there, it becomes easier to see how flexibility in your course/program might be possible.

Universal Design Resources

There is a wealth of excellent resources on the web about UDL: what it is, examples of it in action, self-assessments to see if you’re creating accessible learning opportunities, and some inexpensive ways to create accessible materials and experiences.

• Access-ed
• AHEAD Annotated Bibliography on UD Resources
• AHEAD Universal Design Resources
• Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)
• The Center for Universal Design in Education
• Equity and Excellence in Higher Education: Universal Course Design
• The Florida Consortium on Postsecondary Education & Intellectual Disabilities
• “From Bach to Lady Gaga: Music Lessons for Special Education,” National Center for Universal Design for Learning
• “How to add captions on YouTube videos”
• Meyer, Anne; David H. Rose and David Gordon. Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice. Available for free in electronic format.
• National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials
• Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center LearnLab
• UDL Connect
• UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Universal Design for Learning Faculty Development Guide
• Universal Course Design
• University of Washington, DO-IT: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology

~ Amanda Harrison, American University

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