UDL Practicum Open Education Resource
Northwestern UDL Practicum
During the 2022-23 academic year, AccessibleNU, Northwestern IT, the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, the Northwestern Libraries, the School of Professional Studies, Academic Support and Learning Advancement, and Counseling and Psychological Services collaborated to create and deliver a three week Universal Design for Learning Practicum for Northwestern faculty and staff.
Each week of the practicum was developed around one of the principles of UDL.
- Week 1 - Multiple Means of Engagement
- Week 2 - Multiple Means of Representation
- Week 3 - Multiple Means of Action and Expression
The practicum focused on practical implementation of UDL in learning environments and modeled UDL throughout. During each week, participants experienced three different types of learning.
- Large group learning - Core sessions (main topics for the week) and Recommended sessions (options session that went deeper into various UDL topics)
- Small group learning - cohort meetings of 10-15 people where the groups decided what to dive deeper into
- Individual learning - an opportunity to meet with a learning designer to help implement something participants learned during the week in their individual classes
The UDL practicum was conducted three times (August, October, and March) for 250 participants.
Open Education Resource
To ensure that practicum attendees could access all practicum resources and to allow those who were unable to experience the practicum live, the committee that developed Northwestern's UDL practicum turned the practicum's content into an Open Education Resource (OER).
Addressing Evolving Needs with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a resource that will guide instructors of all levels, backgrounds, and teaching contexts to reflect on the evolving needs of students, and to implement UDL principles to create more supportive, inclusive, and accessible learning environments for all. In addition to introducing key UDL concepts, this resource includes practical applications, tools, and discussion/reflection prompts for instructors of all levels. This resource can be used individually or in group contexts. There are two versions of this OER, a Northwestern specific version as well as a public version:
- Addressing Evolving Needs with Universal Design for Learning (Northwestern Version)
- Addressing Evolving Needs with Universal Design for Learning (Public Version)
UDL Practicum Featured on Think UDL Podcast
To learn more, listen to AccessibleNU's Jim Stachowiak discuss the Northwestern UDL Practicum and the Addressing Evolving Needs with UDL OER with Lillian Nave on Episode 109 of the Think UDL Podcast