Does your course offer students multiple ways to consume content, complete activities, and demonstrate learning? Accessible course content is good content, as the saying goes, but how can you offer multiple modalities that meet the needs of diverse learners?

The framework to support this practice is Universal Design for Learning (UDL). At its core, UDL is about providing all learners with experiences that include multiple ways to engage, represent, and express. It is about intentional and proactive steps faculty take to create an accessible course for everyone. 

These steps often begin with identifying one more option for students, what Tobin and Behling (2018) call a +1 strategy. Ultimately, what is one more way students can engage with content, complete an activity, or show what they know?

You can develop a +1 strategy by considering these questions: 

• Where do students tend to ask lots of questions? 

• Where do students often get things wrong on quizzes or tests? 

• Where do you almost always need to re-teach or explain things in a different way? 

The answers can help you develop the framework for meaningful enhancements each semester. You can develop a +1 strategy by starting where you are. You may focus on enhancing course content options first, then expand learning activities or assessments. 

Some +1 ideas for expanding content choices beyond reading text include: 

• Chunk content into smaller videos, with captions (and transcripts if possible)

• Offer podcasts for those who are auditory learners

• Create evergreen content; that is, it can be repurposed from one semester to another

Some +1 ideas for offering students multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge or proficiency include: 

• Journaling or blogging

• Creating a video

• Creating a multimedia presentation

• Writing a paper 

As you create a +1 strategy, consider Blackboard Ally -- a tool that provides alternative formats students can download in order to access course information in a format they need or want. Students who are prone to eye strain might prefer to download an HTML or ePub format of text for easier reading on a mobile device, or because they want options to copy, paste, search, or highlight passages of text. Students who are auditory learners find listening more helpful than reading and can download an audio format of text. Other alternative formats include electronic braille and BeeLine Reader. 

Alternative formats aren't just for a select group of students: They benefit everyone in your quest to design accessible course content. 

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:

• Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources

• Check our extensive FAQ collection 

• What’s new in Ultra? | Known Issues 

• Open a ticket via RT

• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups

• Request a consult with instructional technology staff

Over the summer, DoIT’s instructional technology team delivered four cohorts of PIVOT+ training to 275 UMBC faculty. Leveraging peer mentors and daily webinars focused on effective pedagogy for online teaching, the PIVOT+ program offered new opportunities for faculty to reflect on teaching and connect with each other as they prepared courses for fall.

Now available to the campus community and beyond, PIVOT Solo contains lessons on five key topics including course organization, active learning, community building, assessment, and supporting students. Choose one or all lessons, or just some content within a single lesson. PIVOT Solo is designed to be a flexible, self-directed experience, allowing faculty to determine what knowledge they want to refresh or enhance. 

PIVOT Solo follows the PIVOT Live webinar series, which generated enormous interest. More than 1,000 registrations were recorded for the first five PIVOT Live sessions. More than 250 PIVOT Live participants were unique during the week, nearly half of which were teaching online during the summer. To date, over380 unique faculty have either attended the synchronous sessions or viewed the recorded PIVOT LIVE webinar series. 

It is important to note that completion of any or all of PIVOT Solo will not result in eligibility for the professional development stipend that accompanies participation in PIVOT Live and PIVOT+.

As always, if you have any questions, please consider the following options:

• Academic Continuity | Keep On Teaching | Student Technology Resources
• Check our extensive FAQ collection 
• What’s new in Ultra? | Known Issues 
• Open a ticket via RT
• Follow the Instructional Technology & DoIT myUMBC groups
• Request a consult with instructional technology staff