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When UD is in  the ‘Fabric’ of the University

Pennsylvania School 'Designs for All'

What started more than 30 years ago at Edinboro Univer­sity in Pennsylvania as an interest in increasing access for students with disabilities, has grown into a campus-wide pursuit of universal design.
According to Bob McConnell, Director of the Office for Stu­dents with Disabilities at Edinboro, in the mid-1970’s, the university decided to make the campus accessible for stu­dents with disabilities. “As we made the campus more accessible for stu­dents using wheelchairs, we began to hear comments from the maintenance department that power door openers and ramps were making their work eas­ier,” he says. “We also heard comments from delivery people -- vending com­panies and UPS -- that they appreciated ramps. Now, whenever we build some­thing on campus, we are keenly aware of not only our need to provide access, but also how can things be designed to allow others to use the facilities with ease.”

Edinboro University's two story interior ramp is used by everyone -- students to delivery people.
Universal design is a natural outgrowth of the university’s philosophical position that students, employees and the general public using the campus should be able to do so without needing to request an ac­commodation. Universal design is not just some special priority, it is the fabric of the university, says McConnell who has been at the school for 21 years.
“As the campus is renovated, as new instruc­tional equipment is purchased, as new facilities come on line, my office along with the construc­tion office, the deans and vice presidents all look for ways that we can incorporate universal design. We look not only at facilities but also teaching methods, faculty development and policies for ways to be more inclusive,” he says.
UD Features
On campus, the Crawford Center, completed in 2002, offers a variety of universal design features, including:

The Crawford Center also has an accessible apartment. It has two outside entrances with power doors, living room, kitchen, bedroom and large bath­room that has both a roll-in shower and tub shower seat. It is used to help students learn how to manage their daily living needs; for short stays by students visiting the university to help them determine if they might want to attend; and for visiting scholars.
McConnell notes while the university has been successful with some aspects of universal design, it has struggled with other components. “We are not perfect. We do make mistakes and we continue to have people who have not bought into the concept of universal design. The good news is we can do some­thing about that and we continue to work to make the campus more universally designed,” he says.

 

UD Theory in Action
Bringing a Practical Approach to Teaching

When we focus on “what” we want people to learn rather than on “how” we want them to learn it, we are moving toward universally designed instruction, according to Sue Kroeger and Gladys Loewen. For the past two decades, disability service providers have been focused on arranging accommodations for students with disabilities when instructors would not allow any flexibility in how the class would be taught. When embracing the universal design principles and applying them in the instructional setting, the focus shifts to a flexible environment where differences are planned for in the delivery of the course materials, thus reducing the need for accommodations.
Educators and promoters of universal design in instruction, Kroeger, the Director of the Disability Resource Center at the University of Arizona and Loewen, the Manager of Assistive Technology British Columbia, say that universal design in instruction is simply the application of good teaching techniques. They think of it as multiple ways of demonstrating material. Whether training employees or teaching college students, instructors who can employ a variety of practical techniques can reach more people.
Kroeger and Loewen have embraced the thinking of Carol Gill who has developed a model on disability that maintains if a disability is defined as a deficit needing to be fixed, the actual problem, an environment that excludes people, will not be addressed. She believes the focus should be on changing the environment to be more inclusive rather than exclusive. Universally designed instruction is a way to make a learning environment inclusive. Kroeger thinks of it as instruction that works for “more” people regardless of learning style or background.
“My classes have a variety of people in them — people with disabilities, people with diverse backgrounds, international students.... I ask myself ‘How can I deliver the material to reach the most people? How do I deliver the material so that the number of necessary accommodations can be reduced or eliminated?’ ,” she says.
On the Web Often simple website postings can eliminate the need for accommodations. For example, if notes are posted to a class website, the need to take notes is eliminated. It helps everyone. Loewen noted that a student with low vision once asked a professor to make his PowerPoint presentations available two days in advance of the class meeting. The student was then able to view the material with the braille display before the class and be “on the same page” during the class. Now the professor posts it on the website in advance for everyone.
There are techniques that require little technology, such as Kroeger’s mini lecture format. In a class where there are students with disabilities and students for whom English is a second language, Kroeger presents a mini lecture, then splits the class into groups. In the groups, the students work together to answer assigned questions. The group responses are turned in for points. “The students work together,” says Kroeger. “It allows for all the students to feel more included. No accommodations are necessary. A lot of students have said that the group work was meaningful.”
Testing
Other professors have also adopted innovative techniques in teaching and testing. Loewen recalled a professor who posted the exam on the class website. Students were given a week to complete it. The students were told to complete three drafts of the exam and then pick one to submit for a grade. Students who might have normally needed accommodations, didn’t. They didn’t need extra time and they didn’t need a reader or a writer as they were able to write the exam when and where it suited them, using whatever technology that served them best.
She also remembers one innovative instructor who allowed students multiple ways of showing what they learned. The professor provided an outline of the course goals and objectives at the beginning of the semester. Students were asked to determine how they would demonstrate the learning of the materials using four activities of choice.
Each student was asked to make a contract outlining their plan. Options to demonstate their learning included exams, term papers, oral presentations, group presentations, and research projects.
There, of course, have been challenges to making instruction more universal. Kroeger says that some faculty and employers get caught in the grips of the “how” instead of the “what” they want students/employees to learn.
She notes one particularly inflexible statistics professor who required students to memorize formulas. He wouldn’t let anyone bring cards into class with formulas on them. “We kept asking him ‘what it is you want students to know?’ He finally came to conclusion he wanted them to know how to appropriately apply the formulas,” she says. “Then he let everyone bring in cards and found it didn’t compromise what he wanted them to learn.”

 

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