Universal design principles for educational tools, media and environments

Most educational tools, media and environments are designed for the "average" pupil or student. As a result, the student who falls outside this average has serious problems using them. Whether the student is disabled, has a poor command of the language of instruction or lives far from the institution providing the courses, the problems begin.

This led to the idea of Universal Design in Education (UDE), which would set accessibility standards to guarantee access to educational products and services for all. These universal standards apply to science rooms as well as educational software, libraries as well as student residences, websites as well as the writing of exercise instructions.

In all these areas, the aim is to"make the various aspects of the educational experience more inclusive", for all those involved in education, who have heterogeneous characteristics. So, it's not a question of creating new products for students with special needs, but of guaranteeing the same qualities to all products and equipment, for the benefit of all students.

The University of Washington has a research center dedicated to increasing the participation of students with disabilities in academic programs. This is the DO-IT Center, for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology. The main criteria guaranteeing UDE are presented on the center's website.

UDE criteria for IT equipment and online courses

Let's take a look at the EDU criteria applied to information technology. A guide has been drawn up to assist software designers and hardware manufacturers in their task. Criteria taken into account:

• Ergonomics and display;
• Peripheral handling and preference settings;
• Access to routine maintenance operations;
• Hardware documentation;
• Security.

When it comes to the way instructions are presented in online courses, the creators of UDEs retain :

• The presence of different representation tools, so that learners can choose the information channel (visual, sound, etc.) that best suits them;
• The presence of different means of action and expression. Here again, the aim is to provide learners with alternatives; consider, for example, the ultra-domination of the written word in online courses;
• The presence of different modes of engagement in learning, which translates into attention to learners' interests, the provision of appropriate tests and sources of increased motivation. This subject is probably the least explicitly visible in learning products, but is among the most exclusionary: the culture underlying presentations and choice of content still too often favors the upper social classes, familiar with a certain elite culture.

The online course programs themselves must be submitted to the IDEs, in particular with regard to the following points:

• Make all useful texts available in digital format, so as not to favor those who can afford to buy the books;
• Systematically save audio recordings of oral exchanges and make the files available;
• Provide relevant explanations (audio or written), images and diagrams, as well as videos;
• Adopt learning methods that are accessible to all, and provide learning aids: summaries, progressive pedagogy, priority to practice, verification of prerequisites, explicit instructions concerning course objectives and methods employed.

The authors of the presentation regret that EDUs are so little used... They deserve to be better known, so that no one is left by the wayside.

Many of these principles are set out in detail on the DO-IT Center's website; a full list can be obtained by e-mailing the Center.

Universal Design in Education: Principles and Applications. DO-IT Center, University of Washington .pdf

Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice, 2nd Edition
https://doit.uw.edu/publication/universal-design-in-higher-education-from-principles-to-practice-2nd-edition/