The UDL framework offers us guidance for proactively approaching course design and teaching to reduce access barriers for all learners. Formulated by the US-based nonprofit organization Center for Applied Special Technology, or CAST, in 2008, the UDL principles and approach have continued to undergo development and refinement. The version, 3.0, that you will find in this module was updated and released in 2024.<\/p>\n
At the core of the UDL model as set out by CAST are three basic principles, accompanied by more-specific considerations that flow out from these, all centred around the goal of fostering learner agency. While we will not be able to explore the many details of the UDL model in this module, we will spend some time thinking about the three principles, and some additional resources will be made available if you wish to explore the model more deeply on your own.<\/p>\n
Also, it is important to acknowledge that educators, like all workers, may face restrictions and limitations on their agency in designing and delivering their courses. Whether these are institutional regulations, departmental or professional-accreditation requirements, or simply time constraints for instructional faculty with heavy teaching loads, they often prevent faculty from offering the learning opportunities that they would wish to deliver in an ideal world. But there is still value in thinking about teaching work through a UDL lens, because sometimes even small changes can produce big differences in students\u2019 learning experiences.<\/p>\n
Fundamentally, UDL builds on an expanded notion of what \u2018access\u2019 means, beyond just making sure that disabled learners have opportunities to participate in education (as vital as this is, of course). The phrase \u2018holistic access\u2019 is often used today to position accessibility as something which concerns all people. Most of us are familiar with at least some basic access measures that our institutions may offer, such as braille versions of course materials, or ASL interpretation for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students.<\/p>\n Photo by Ketut Subiyanto<\/a>, Ivan S<\/a>, Eren Li<\/a> and Mikhail Nilov<\/a> from Pexels. These images available under Pexels license<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a holistic approach to access requires thinking about an even wider variety of barriers, especially as learner demographics. For example, in the context of higher education, financial costs can be a significant barrier to many students, especially those from working-class backgrounds. Likewise, rigid deadlines and limited library hours can present significant barriers for students who must work to be able afford to pursue their studies. Family responsibilities, especially for students who are single parents or who have elder-care obligations, can conflict with attendance policies or force learners to choose between meeting education-related responsibilities and providing the support that loved ones require.<\/p>\n If you have been teaching online for some time, you may have already noticed that many students who face such barriers gravitate toward online courses and programs, as these can provide greater flexibility. But, in designing and delivering courses, we need to be reflexive or self-aware about our own practices and how they can facilitate the access students require to succeed in higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-30","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":27,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/30\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openstudio.pub\/designingonlinecoursesthroughudllens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Four](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.openedmb.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/200\/2026\/05\/Image-of-some-barriers.jpg#fixme\")