• Universal design for learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
• The UDL Guidelines
• Universal Design Guidelines Structure
• From: Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

Talks on the topic:​

Why we Need Universal Design – TED talk

• Disability drives invention: Universal Design for Everyday Life – TED talk
• UDL on Campus – Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education

Some more resources for design of online courses with UDL in mind:​

• Ten Steps Toward Universal Design of Online Courses. Disability Resource Center, University of Arkansas, Little Rock

• Described and Captioned Media Program has many accessible educational videos. Most are designed for K-12, but there is a lot of content appropriate for college-level courses.

• Engaging Learners in Online Environments Utilizing Universal Design for Learning Principles, eLearn Magazine, February 2019

• Ensuring Quality in Online Course from Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center at Northern Illinois University

• Online Course Design Guide from Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A few tips as you build your Canvas courses:

• To find videos on YouTube that are closed captioned, add “, cc” to the end of your search terms. For example, if I wanted to find a video on the Krebs cycle, I would search for “the Krebs cycle, cc”.

• Many videos by TED talks and Khan Academy are almost always closed captioned but please do check for quality as closed captioning is often generated automatically by the site and the result is not always of high quality.

• Do NOT use workarounds such as designating a picture as “decorative image” rather than providing alt text.

• Use techniques that will work for all. If you have a quiz that you normally would allow 20 minutes for, make it 40 minutes long so that all will have the necessary time to complete the quiz.

• As you move from in-class, supervised quizzes to “open-note, open-book quizzes” at home, you may feel the need to adjust different variables. Instead of reducing accessibility, consider making the questions more complicated, such as fill-in-the-blank or multiple checkboxes.

• Accessibility and UDL helps all students, not just those with disabilities.

• Consider requiring students to make discussion posts accessible. If students submit a video for discussion, they need to include captions so that all can access it.​