12 Thinking about Barriers: Scenario One
Reducing the need for accommodations
We have just encountered perspectives from those who have experience with UDL. Now, let us think about how we might respond to the sorts of online teaching and learning challenges we may encounter in the virtual classroom. Here is a scenario that you might encounter in your teaching practice.
You are developing a new online course prior to the start of the term, and you have started to receive students’ accommodation letters from your campus’s Accessibility Centre. Think about the type of requests you typically receive: for extended time on exams and assignments, for an alternative to in-class presentations, or the like. What is one thing you might do differently in this course to reduce the need for students to rely on these accommodations? In what ways would this also better meet the needs of those of your learners who do not have special accommodations, but may still struggle due to other barriers, such as a different first language than the language of instruction or complicated work commitments?
Some possibilities to consider
- One of the ways you might approach your new course to reduce barriers could include using assessment methods where time parameters are more flexible, such as non-timed exams, or substituting essays or projects for timed testing.
- You might consider giving your students more than one assignment type from which to choose – for example, some students really enjoy delivering oral presentations, but for others, a written paper may be more psychologically manageable.
- The UDL approach strongly supports project-based learning in general, as the greater variety of potential topics and approaches, more complex thinking and organization, and the ability to foster the kinds of skills and self-regulation students will need in the workplace all help to support deeper, more passionate, more accessible learning and enhanced student agency.
- If there are specific skills that your course needs to cultivate – for example, writing a research-based paper – think about how you might proactively reduce unnecessary struggle (and students’ anxious late-night emails to you) by providing more detailed guidelines and links to citation resources right in the assignment instructions. Remember, flexible assignments do not necessarily mean unstructured ones! Especially for students who may lack a strong foundation in some key academic skills, providing explicit guidelines and “thinking prompts” rather than assuming tacit knowledge can make the difference between the ability to produce work they are proud of and turning in assignments about which they feel uncertain, embarrassed, and disconnected – and it can also result in fewer papers that are “suspect” for AI-generated or essay-mill-authored content.
Think about the three UDL principles and try to identify just one concrete, manageable change you can make that will reduce barriers for these students.
