May-June 2007

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Who Needs an Accessible Classroom?

You’ll be surprised by how many people benefit when you design your courses to be accessible to all.

By Sheryl Burgstahler

Most faculty members design their courses for the average student.1 When a
student with a disability enrolls, the disability services office typically helps the professor accommodate the student. Materials might be created in formats such as Braille, note takers might be provided, or the course might be moved to an accessible location. But there’s a way to make classes accessible to people with different levels of ability, thus reducing the need for special adaptations.

Universal design is an approach to teaching that addresses diversity during all stages of course design and delivery, minimizing the need to make special arrangements for individuals. For example, a standard door is not accessible to everyone. If a large switch that can be operated by hand is installed, the door becomes accessible to more people, including some wheelchair users. When you apply universal design principles, however, you might install sensors that signal the door to open when anyone approaches. This arrangement makes the facility accessible to everyone—a small child, a man carrying a large box, an elderly woman, or a person using a walker or wheelchair.

Making a product or environment accessible to people with disabilities often benefits others. For example, although curb cuts were designed to make sidewalks and streets accessible to those using wheelchairs, they are more often used by parents with baby strollers and delivery personnel with rolling carts. Similarly, when television displays in noisy areas of airports or restaurants are captioned, they are accessible to people who are deaf, but the rest of us can use them as well.

Universal Design

Universal design principles can be applied to an overall plan for instruction as well as to specific teaching materials, facilities, and strategies such as lectures, classroom discussions, group work, Web-based instruction, labs, and field work. A universally designed curriculum offers students who have diverse abilities, disabilities, ethnic backgrounds, language skills, and learning styles multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement (see the Web site of CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology, at http: //www.cast.org). Here are some areas in which you can use universal design principles in your own classroom.

Class Climate.

Adopt practices that show that you value both diversity and inclusiveness. For example, put a statement on your syllabus inviting students to meet with you to discuss disability-related accommodations and other special learning needs; plan for every student to participate actively in class activities.

Physical Access, Usability, and Safety.

Make sure that all students can get access to and use your materials and equipment. For example, develop safety procedures for all students, including those who are blind, deaf, or wheelchair users; label safety equipment simply in large print and locate it so that students can view it from different angles; repeat printed directions orally.

Delivery Methods.

Use multiple accessible instructional methods. For example, rely on different modes to deliver content and motivate and engage students. Consider lectures, collaborative learning, hands-on activities, Internet-based communications, educational software, and field work; provide both written and oral instructions for an activity.

Information Resources.

Ensure that course materials, notes, and other informational resources are accessible to all students. For example, choose printed materials and prepare a syllabus early to allow students to begin to read materials and work on assignments before the class starts if they wish and allow adequate time to arrange for alternate formats, such as books on tape and Braille. Design the course Web site in a format that is accessible to all current and potential students, including those who are blind and who use text-to-speech technology to access the content (see the video and publication World Wide Access: Accessible Web Design at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Video/www.html).

Interaction.

Encourage effective interactions among students and between students and the instructor and ensure that communication methods are accessible to all participants. For example, assign group work for which learners must support each other and that places a high value on different skills and roles; use different interaction methods, including large and small group discussions, one-to-one conversations, and electronic communication.

Feedback.

Provide specific feedback on a regular basis. For example, allow students to turn in parts of large projects for feedback before the final project is due; have students review each other’s work before assignments are submitted and graded.

Assessment.

Regularly assess student progress using multiple, accessible methods and tools, and adjust instruction accordingly. For example, create a straightforward and comprehensive grading rubric, and make sure your syllabus clearly states course expectations, assignment descriptions, deadlines, and expectations as well as assessment methods and dates. Keep academic standards consistent for all students, even for those who require accommodations; assess group and cooperative performance as well as individual achievement; allow students to choose the mode in which they will present their work.

Accommodation.

Plan for accommodations for students whose needs you can’t meet with your instructional design. For example, know how to get materials in alternate formats, reschedule classroom locations, and arrange for other accommodations for students with disabilities. Make sure that assistive technology can be made available in a computer or science lab in a timely manner.

Devise a Process

To make your courses accessible, select appropriate strategies and then apply universal design to each activity within a class. Specifically, you need to

  •  Identify the course. Select the course, goals, and overall content.
  • Define the universe. Describe the overall population of students (for example, consider the prerequisites for enrolling) who might take the  course and then take into account the diverse characteristics of potential students (for example, characteristics related to gender, age, size, ethnicity or race, native language, learning style, socioeconomic status, and abilities to see, hear, move, manipulate objects, and learn). Select standards for good practice. Adopt good teaching practices.
  • Adopt universal design guidelines. Integrate universal design practices with other best teaching practices.
  • Apply guidelines and standards. Apply universal design along with design principles and standards for good teaching practice to your teaching methods, your curriculum materials (for example, a class Web site), and the overall design of your instruction (for example, in your choices of lecture, discussion, cases, online notes).
  • Plan for accommodations. Develop processes to address accommodation requests from individual students for whom the course design does not automatically provide access (for example, arrange for sign language interpreters or create alternate formats for presenting material).
  • Evaluate. On an ongoing basis, monitor the effectiveness of the instruction by gathering feedback from students who have diverse characteristics, assess their learning, and modify the course based on their feedback.

Consult the publication Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction, available at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/equal_access_udi.html,for more examples.

Employing universal design principles in instruction does not eliminate the need to make specific accommodations for students with disabilities. For example, you may have to provide a sign language interpreter for a student who is deaf. Still, applying universal design concepts in course planning ensures full access to the content for most students and minimizes the need for special accommodations. For example, designing Web resources in accessible formats as they are developed means that no redevelopment is necessary if a blind student enrolls in the class; he or she will be able to access all of the content of your Web site with a text-to-speech computer system. Similarly, if the videos you use in your classroom or on your Web site are captioned, individuals who are deaf will be able to access the content without accommodations. Captioning course videos, which provides access to deaf students, also benefits students for whom English is a second language, some students with learning disabilities, and those watching in a noisy environment. Delivering content in redundant ways can improve instruction for students with different learning styles and cultural backgrounds. Letting all students have access to your class notes and assignments on an accessibly designed Web site benefits not only students with disabilities, but everyone else, too. Planning ahead saves time in the long run.

Employing universal design principles in everything we do makes a more accessible world for all of us. It minimizes the need to alter it for anyone. For help in making your courses more accessible, consult The Faculty Room, a comprehensive resource available at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/.

Note

1. This article has been adapted with permission from the following publications: Universal Design of Instruction: Definition, Principles, and Examples (available at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/instruction.html) and Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction (available at http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Academics/equal_access_udi.html). Back to text

Sheryl Burgstahler is director of accessible technology services in the computing and communications organization at the University of Washington. These services include the DO-IT Center, which hosts programs that promote access to college and challenging careers, such as those in science, engineering, mathematics, and computing, for people with disabilities. She and the programs she directs have received many awards, including the Information Infrastructure Award in Education, the Presidential Award in Mentoring, and the Catalyst Award. For more information, see her Web site:http://staff.washington.edu/sherylb/.