Accessibility
It is essential to ensure your online course is accessible to all learners.
The ALT Centre recommends following the three steps below to help build an accessible course.
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Use a UDL Approach to Course Design
What is UDL?
Universal Design for Learning is "a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn" (CAST, 2020). The ALT Centre recommends using a UDL course design approach.
UDL's framework and guidelines help ensure your lessons and assessments are accessible BEFORE or AS you design them, rather than adjusting them on a case-by-case basis after the fact.
UDL = Flexibility
In particular, UDL emphasizes flexibility. The three UDL principles are about providing stduents with 'multiple means' of engagement, representation, and action and expression.
What does a flexible classroom look like? One way is ensuring students have multiple ways to engage with your lesson content: something to read, something to watch, and something to do, for example. As long as students are demonstrating your learning outcomes, you could allow them some choice in media or means of expression for large assignments. Using clear course sequencing is also important, so students know how to navigate your course site and use assigned technologies.
UDL for Online
This flexible approach to course design is ideal for online learning. Explore how UDL can make course assessment exciting and new by clicking on the button below.