Design with Every Student in Mind
Universal Design in Instruction
Can students with varying characteristics access your classes or services?
Have you designed with EVERYONE in mind?
Do your policies and procedures create likely success for all persons?
Greetings LBCC Faculty and Staff
We are writing to personally invite you to participate in an all-day training during In-Service. We were asked to identify faculty & staff who could help lead LBCC in a transformation of how we design for student success. . . to design with EVERY student in mind and to design for equal success regardless of demographics or “disadvantages.”
Training begins with a one-day session during In Service. There will be year-long opportunities to apply the concepts of training to your work and to consult with peers. If you want support using these principles and tools, it will be available to you. These concepts are designed to create not only equal opportunity, but equal success for every student. We know equitable success is a huge reach. For this reason, we sought the right tools to attain our objective.
What is Universal Design of Instruction (UDI)?
Universal Design of Instruction (UDI) teaches us how to maximize the learning of
“students with a wide range of characteristics.” UDI concepts create success for all students by identifying principles for design of instruction & services (content design, delivery methods, personal interactions, assessments, physical spaces, information resources and technology). We know “one size fits all” is not effective in education. How do we design for all?
What will you learn?
In this UD training, you will learn to “meet the challenge of engaging all learners with diverse needs, abilities and backgrounds. You will gain practical, hands-on solutions for reaching and teaching them.” (Harvard University.) We will learn the principles of UD and how to apply those principles to design of various learning and service environments, courses, syllabi, instructional materials, communication tools (websites, reader boards, forms, handouts), and the like.
The purpose of this training is to help us all develop new tools for creating student success.
We will learn to engage unique learners, including learning to engage the following persons:
- Students with cultural differences: For example, students who learn in unique ways for reasons of first language, national origin, poverty, disability, first-generation status, age or era of birth, gender, veteran status, and others;
- Students with individual differences: For example, students who learn in unique ways for reasons of processing styles and speeds, individual and group orientation, learning styles, multiple intelligences, and life circumstances (married, single parent, elder caregiver responsibilities, employed with needs for work/life balance, and many others).
What do we hope to achieve with this training and how does this tie into the strategic goals of LBCC?
The LBCC mission is “to engage in an education that enables all of us to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from the cultural richness and economic vitality of our communities.”
To achieve that mission, we enter 2013-14, embracing these themes and goals:
Our Core Themes:
- Educational Attainment
- Cultural Richness
- Economic Vitality
Our Strategic Goals:
- Productivity: Increase Completion
- Equity: Completion for All
- Quality: Completion Leading to Better Lives
As we apply UDI concepts, we will impact student success (productivity) and equitable success (completion for all). We will not only make our courses and services accessible to all, we will increase goal attainment for all learners and quality of life beyond college. In the long-run, this inclusive design model reduces work and cost of teaching all students and lessens the use of accommodations. We will empower more students for college success.
Two Opportunities to Participate--Choose One
Wednesday, September 18, 9:00-4:30, IA-231 or
Monday, September 23, 9:00-4:30, Cascade View A & B, CC-205
Lunch and snacks will be provided
What to bring to the training
If you have one, please bring your own electronic device to the training (laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc.). Not required, but helpful.
We also recommend bringing a syllabus or department literature, process checklist, website texts or links to similar items (old or new). As we practice the tools we are building together, you will have the choice of using your own materials or hypotheticals.
Bonus: We’ll help you re-think your fall syllabus or a process or other activity you need to designed before the start of fall term.