March 15, 2005

GW Pilots New Teaching Paradigm Through Universal Design

By Jamie L. Freedman

GW has risen to the forefront of an exciting new venture that could change the face of higher education for students with disabilities. The University recently received a grant to help pilot innovative multimedia educational materials utilizing the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a new paradigm for teaching and curriculum development that challenges instructors to make learning accessible for all students.

One of four partner universities nationwide selected by grantor Ohio State University to incorporate UDL initiatives into the college classroom via online technology, GW will showcase its efforts to the University community on March 23 from 11 am to 1 pm in the Marvin Center, Room 308. At the presentation, UDL grant recipients Assistant Professors of Writing Cayo Gamber and Robbin Zeff and Visiting Adjunct Professor of Education Fran G. Smith will discuss their projects and demonstrate them online for their GW colleagues.

The UDL approach emerged more than a decade ago in the architectural field and recently began making its foray into higher education. In its earliest days, the concept centered solely on architects’ attempts to meet the access needs of people with disabilities. As they installed ramps, elevators, and curb cuts to accommodate people in wheelchairs, they quickly realized that people with strollers, bicycles, and luggage also benefited from these modifications. While retrofitting inaccessible buildings increased access for all, it also created many new problems — functionally, aesthetically, and economically. This revelation, coupled with the realization that modifications for the divergent needs of special populations increases usability for everyone, gave rise to the Universal Design movement. The concept, in a nutshell, advocates designing barrier-free buildings from the outset to be accessible to all, with modifications integrated subtly into the design.

Universal Design for Learning builds upon that idea, laying the groundwork to help students with a wide range of disabilities to maximize learning in formal educational settings. The method strives to meet diverse needs by providing versatile and flexible multimedia educational materials and teaching strategies aimed at accommodating all students, ultimately benefiting everyone. An exciting new gateway for educators to reach and meet the needs of diverse learners, UDL is quickly making its presence felt at GW.

“UDL seeks to move beyond merely using technology to make information accessible to students with special needs, but to use technology to make learning accessible to all students,” says Zeff, who used her grant to develop an online tutorial on designing college-level paper assignments incorporating UDL principles. Her grant proposal, “In Praise of Instructions: A Professor’s Guide to Getting Better Papers Through Giving Better Directions,” emphasized the advantages of combining digital technology with clear assignment instructions to satisfy the needs of different types of learners.

An experienced Web designer, distance learning course developer, writing instructor, and author of several technology books, Zeff stresses the importance of using multiple media to reach students. “The more media you utilize, the more accessible your assignment becomes,” she says. In designing her online tutorial, Zeff looked at different disabilities that could be challenging to student writers, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “For students who have difficulty focusing on the instructions, I break up the assignment into chunks, organize information under various headers, provide links to resources and sample papers, and include a thumbnail sketch of how to format the paper,” she says. “The assignment, therefore, becomes a learning tool for all students. Everything they need is just a click away.”

Zeff says that she was first attracted to UDL because “it’s just good teaching.” She explains: “When you implement UDL technologies, everybody benefits. You become a better teacher. The more I read and learn about UDL, the more fascinating I find it. It just makes so much sense.”

Smith pursued the grant for similar reasons. “Universal design of instruction incorporates a wide variety of technology and instructional strategies to reach all students, regardless of their learning approaches,” says the visiting adjunct professor from Virginia Commonwealth University who teaches an online summer graduate education course at GW entitled “Universal Design for Learning — Implications for Career Assessment and Transition.” Through the grant, Smith plans to enhance and expand her UDL graduate course to serve as a model for higher education instruction.

Smith’s course, which embraces both the printed text and companion digital version of the national publication Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning, incorporates the three guiding principles of the UDL approach: providing multiple methods of presentation, providing multiple opportunities for student expression, and providing multiple and flexible options for student engagement. “The incorporation of the online text sets the standard for demonstrating best practices in modeling a UDL approach by providing text and digital formats, visual diagrams of key chapter concepts, hyperlinks to Web sites that support background knowledge, and video clips that strengthen the lectures,” says Smith.

Gamber, too, is using her grant to integrate UDL principles into an online summer course that she teaches entitled Introduction to Women’ Studies. “In an online setting, many disabilities can remain invisible to the instructor, since you’re not meeting face to face,” she says. “This is a wonderful opportunity to think in an instructional design format about how to best reach all of my students through their preferred learning modalities. I’ve taught at the University for over 20 years now, and one thing that I’ve learned is that no single teaching technique works for every student every time. Embracing as many learning modalities as possible enriches everyone as learners and thinkers.”

Concerned that students with disabilities might not be able to fully participate in her online course as it was previously designed, Gamber decided to apply for the grant. “The grant money provided me with the opportunity to become more aware of the computer-related needs of students with disabilities, to reconsider — rather than merely retrofit — our computer-based teaching materials, to learn about computer technologies from experts in the field, and to benefit not only students with disabilities, but all students,” she says.

Gamber says that she appreciates the fact that she’s backed in her work by a team of instructional technology experts from GW’s Center for Instructional Design and Development. The eight-member group, headquartered in the basement of Gelman Library, provides GW faculty with expertise on instructional design and on how to integrate technology into teaching.

In the end, students and teachers alike come away from the process as winners, says Christy Willis, GW’s director of disability support services. “UDL is a win-win situation for everybody, because if you can meet students’ needs on the fringe, then you certainly meet the needs of everyone in the middle, as well,” she says. “UDL is just good instruction and multi-sensory learning at its best. My hope is that our faculty will really embrace this initiative.”

Gamber concurs. “It’s very new terrain,” she says. “Every time you offer a new type of learning modality, you’re opening the door for a student who many not have had full access to the curriculum before. It’s quite a challenge to create a barrier-free learning environment, but every time we’re able to open that door further we all become richer.”

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu