Embracing Universal Course Design to Improve Accessibility & Inclusiveness (Recording)
Accessible courses and content that give all learners an opportunity to succeed are a responsibility of everyone involved in course design and teaching. Learn how you can create universally accessible content, promote student engagement with your online courses, and be able to use your knowledge to advocate and become a leader for ensuring inclusive and accessible content in your organization.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a popular and powerful approach to creating clear, accessible content that complies with national ADA laws and fosters inclusivity. UDL skills enable you to create content for the widest audience that requires little retrofitting.
You’ll learn the basics of using UDL to create online course material and adapt previously created content, with a focus on creating visual, auditory, and other alternative formats that increase engagement and promote understanding. You’ll also be able to recognize barriers to accessing information so that you create content that addresses and minimizes barriers from the outset.
For the webinar, you’ll have access to resources on UDL best practices. You’ll use the materials to practice utilizing UDL guidelines during the session, and Q&A time will allow you to clarify your understanding of design concepts.
Audience
All health information professionals who create or aim to create online courses or course content. A basic knowledge of learning management systems (LMS) and accessibility concepts is helpful but not necessary.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain core Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concepts
- Identify audiences impacted by UDL content
- Design online course content from a UDL perspective
- Adapt existing content using UDL principles
Presenters
Jason Francis, MLS, is an Associate Professor Health Professions Librarian at the Stewart Library at Weber State University (WSU). Jason played a key role in forging a partnership between Weber State’s Disability Services office, WSU Online, and the Stewart Library to identify and correct inaccessible content. He won Hemingway Collaborative awards in 2020 and 2022 for his advocacy for equal and fair access to course materials resulted and is the lead author of “Developing New Online Course Accessibility Services for Faculty through Collaboration between Librarians and Campus Departments: A Case Study” in Medical Reference Services Quarterly.
Diana Meiser, MLS, is the librarian for the College of Engineering, Applied Science and Technology and Assistant Professor at Weber State University. She works with Jason, Shaun, Disability Services, and WSU Online (LMS administrators and course design specialists) in creating accessible online course content at Weber State University and is a co-author of “Developing New Online Course Accessibility Services for Faculty through Collaboration between Librarians and Campus Departments: A Case Study” in Medical Reference Services Quarterly.
Shaun Adamson, MLS, Ph.D. is a Professor and Education Librarian at the Stewart Library at Weber State University (WSU). She partners with Jason and Diana, WSU’s Disability Services Office, and WSU Online to identify and remediate inaccessible content in online and f2f courses. She received Hemingway Collaborative awards in 2020 and 2022 for her advocacy for equal and fair access to course materials resulted and is a co-author of “Developing New Online Course Accessibility Services for Faculty through Collaboration between Librarians and Campus Departments: A Case Study” in Medical Reference Services Quarterly.
Registration Information
- Length: 1.5 hour recorded webinar
- Technical information: After you have registered, go to My Learning in MEDLIB-ED to access the live webinar, resources, evaluation, and certificate.
- Register, participate, and earn 1.5 MLA continuing education (CE) contact hours.
Site License Information