Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which is a model for developing content that is accessible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability, or situation. It’s important to be mindful of your students’ various learning styles and needs as you consider how you will interact with them. For example, if you want to post your feedback on an assignment in an audio file for each student, it’s best to tell students up front but invite them to email you if they prefer — for ANY reason — to get their feedback in writing. The learner might have a disability and can’t hear the audio. Or, they might be a more visual learner and the text feedback would be easier to understand. Or, they might be on a slow internet connection and it’s faster for them to read. Using humor can be a great way to bring your voice into the course, but one must be careful because humor may not always translate well in the online environment, by people of various cultures and backgrounds. So be it a diverse learning style or a diverse need, it certainly is important to be respectful of the differences our students bring to the course.

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Katie Venit

I received my B.A. in English with a minor in Journalism from Wake Forest University and an M.A. in Religious Studies from Indiana University Bloomington. I see the role of an instructional designer as one that removes barriers to learning online content. Those barriers might be ones of accessibility, clarity, motivation, or something else that we discover as the online education continues to be refined. My job is to collaborate with instructors to make their content shine.

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