Table Of ContentWorking with Faculty Toward Universally Designed
Instruction:
The Process of Dynamic Course Design
Elizabeth G. Harrison
University of Arizona
Abstract
Both learner-centered education (LCE) and universal design (UD) require an instructor to be constantly reflective
and flexible. But although both focus on the needs of different types of learners, until now LCE has not explicitly
included students with disabilities within the array of learners it seeks to serve. And the UD movement, while it begins
with consideration of disability, does not yet provide specific processes for integrating UD principles into the design
of instruction. This paper introduces one such process, dynamic course design, which can be used by disability
service providers in working with instructors to develop more universally designed classes. The process is designed to
help instructors systematically identify and examine their expectations for student learning in a course and to prompt
them to design their course so as to make the learning in it accessible to a wide variety of students.
Public awareness of disability has begun to change tions (environments, conditions, and circumstances)”
in recent years. As a result of various types of activity at (TRACE R&D Center, 2003). The UD movement has
both the state and national levels, disability is beginning emerged from a new understanding of disability as a so-
to be seen as one aspect of diversity. Yet on college and cial construct much like those that defined women and
university campuses (as elsewhere), disability is still of- people of color in what we now recognize as unaccept-
ten treated as a “different” difference and separated from ably sexist and racist ways. In this new understanding of
activities related to diversity. Thus, students with disabili- disability, society creates the negative sense of disability
ties are usually served through a Disability Services Cen- as deficit. Disability in and of itself is not a problem, but
ter by specialists who advise them and arrange the spe- the environment in which we ask people with disabilities
cial accommodations they are entitled to by law. Instruc- to function often is: We built campus buildings inacces-
tors are asked to send over their course syllabus, read- sible to people unable to climb stairs and, although we
ings, and tests to be administered in ways appropriate to built elevators, we used to put the control buttons at the
their students with disabilities and without disrupting their right height for the “average” person.
plans for class. This practice of creating individualized The new conceptualization of disability suggests that
“special accommodations” for students (or anyone) with solutions lie in our willingness and ability to change the
disabilities is based on a medical model that puts disabil- environment to make it more inclusive: We now build
ity in a negative light, as a deficit or something abnormal new buildings with ramps or other means of entry that
in the individual that should not be allowed to affect the allow use by everyone (students using wheelchairs, par-
“normal” working of the class. ents with strollers, athletes on crutches, teachers pulling
Universal design (UD) shifts our focus from the per- loaded carts), we mount elevator control panels at a lower
son with a disability, the center of the medical model, to height, and we label them in Braille. These changes help
the environment within which she or he lives. In the broad- many different kinds of people make use of our built struc-
est sense, UD is “the process of creating products (de- tures, not just people with disabilities, and no one is
vices, environments, systems, and processes) which are singled out. These kinds of changes are examples of UD,
usable by people with the widest possible range of abili- as opposed to the special accommodations of the medi-
ties, operating within the widest possible range of situa- cal model.
152 Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2
Making a campus physical plant accessible is only universities) over those of non-credentialed people in all
half the battle, however. The concept of UD must be ap- their individual, non-normative variety. In this logic, we
plied far beyond the built environment if we are to bring don’t trust students to tell us whether an instructor’s teach-
fundamental change to education. The question for any- ing is effective just as we don’t trust students with dis-
one working in education is how we can put UD into abilities to tell us what will help them learn. We may
practice in teaching and learning. A classroom full of stu- give them the opportunity to tell us, but the opportunity
dents presents an instructor with much the same chal- is more pro forma than genuine. The experts, the instruc-
lenge as a physical environment does the architect when tors and the disability service professionals, are the ones
she or he contemplates the possible users of a building: who know, and it is the students’ responsibility to do what
• The architect might ask, How can I effectively and they say.
creatively fulfill the requirements of the job with a In the world of teaching and learning, LCE turns this
design that is inclusive of the widest possible range logic around by asking instructors to make instructional
of people and that does not single out individual decisions based on their assessment of student learning
users? rather than solely on their own experience and expertise
• The instructor might ask, How can I effectively and in their discipline.
creatively design and teach this course in multiple Being learner-centered focuses attention squarely on
ways that make the learning in it accessible to the learning: “on what the student is learning, how the stu-
widest possible range of the learners in the class dent is learning, the conditions under which the student
without compromising the essential elements of the is learning, whether the student is retaining and applying
course and without singling out individual learners? the learning, and how current learning positions the stu-
• The disability services professional might ask, How dent for future learning.” (Weimer, 2002, p. xvi)
can I help faculty members buy into the need to Learner-centered teaching asks instructors to become
design their courses in ways that make the learning facilitators of learning rather than simply providers of
in it accessible to the widest possible range of knowledge, and that requires a different approach to teach-
learners in the class without singling out individual ing in many disciplines at the college level. Specifically,
learners for “special” or different treatment? LCE encourages the following strategies:
Combining our advocacy for UD with the current • Know the students—Learn where they are starting
administrative interest at many colleges and universities from, their preconceptions and their prior knowl-
in promoting learner-centered education gives us a highly edge.
strategic opening for working with faculty toward more • Encourage self-directed learning—Allow students to
universally designed instruction. make choices and take responsibility for their
learning.
Learner-Centered Education and Universal Design • Develop student self-awareness (metacognition)
about their learning—Encourage reflection, integra-
Student learning is the main concern of the learner- tion, and critical thinking.
centered education (LCE) movement that is sweeping • Engage students in active, experiential learning.
American colleges and universities. A focus on learning • Value interactivity, among students and between
may seem self-evident in an educational setting—learn- students and instructor.
ing is what school is all about, isn’t it? In fact, teaching, • Give and receive feedback often, student-to-student
not learning, has traditionally been the focus of faculty and student-to-faculty as well as faculty-to-student.
and administrative attention at the postsecondary level. • Keep the focus on learning—Recognize the
According to the traditional model of teaching-and-learn- instructor’s role as facilitator of learning.
ing, if faculty are well prepared, organized, on time, and • Choose instructional strategies and techniques
enthusiastic in the classroom, if they listen and respond appropriate to the goals and learning objectives for
respectfully to students and are available outside the class- the class. (Weimer, in passim)
room, students will learn. If students do not learn, if they The LCE movement asks instructors to articulate
do poorly on exams, for example, they, not the instructor, specific learning goals and measurable learning objec-
are to blame. tives, to make them explicit to students, and to base plans
If this logic sounds familiar, it should. It is the logic and decisions related to instruction on them (this is the
of the medical model of disability, a logic that privileges last strategy in the list above). Instructors who take an
the views of experts (service providers; instructors) and LCE approach to their teaching acknowledge the variety
the normative institutions they represent (colleges and of learners in their classroom by consciously examining
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2 153
the choices they make in designing a course and how DSPs do not need training or experience in teaching
those choices impact student learning. An LCE approach or faculty development in order to do this. Indeed, their
also calls for instructors to continually monitor the effec- training in disability services prepares them admirably to
tiveness of their choices by using a variety of assessment be UD consultants. They can help instructors reflect on
techniques that allow them to understand the student disability as simply one of the many ways their students
learning experience in their classes and make adjustments differ from each other, help them identify ways that spe-
when needed. cific instructional choices create barriers to learning for
It is here that we can see both the intersection and various types of learners (including, but not limited to,
the disjunction between LCE and UD. Both LCE and UD students with disabilities), and encourage them to develop
require an instructor to be constantly reflective and flex- and use instructional strategies that will eliminate barri-
ible; thus, both require more planning ahead of class than ers to learning for most of their students. This does not
many instructors commonly do. But although both LCE mean that they are telling faculty how to teach; consult-
and UD focus on the needs of different types of learners, ants do not generally tell their clients what to do. As a
until now LCE has not explicitly included students with consultant, a DSP’s role would be to ask questions that
disabilities within the array of learners it seeks to serve. lead faculty members to acknowledge and address the
At the same time, the UD movement has not explicitly diversity of learners in their classes through the design
addressed the need for disability service providers to work of their students’ learning experience. The dynamic course
directly with instructors to help them reconsider their design worksheet (see Figure 2) provides one possible
instructional choices so as to make the learning in their process for this type of consultation. (The DRC on my
courses more widely accessible. campus is now restructuring its operations at all levels so
as to shift its responsibilities from documentation and
Universal Design, Instructors, and Disability individual accommodations toward a more consultative
Service Professionals model in keeping with the principles of UD.)
Traditionally, disability service professionals (DSPs) Dynamic Course Design
have been concerned with students with disabilities and
have worked with instructors primarily to ensure access Dynamic course design (see Figure 1) blends the pro-
to reasonable academic accommodations for qualified cess of articulating goals and objectives that is central to
students. On my campus, for example, the Disability LCE with the idea of identifying the essential elements
Resource Center (DRC) has, until relatively recently, fo- of a course that is introduced in ADA legislation in the
cused on evaluating students’ documentation, helping stu- context of jobs to lead faculty toward more universally
dents understand what kinds of accommodations they designed instruction. The worksheet (see Figure 2) maps
should expect, and making arrangements for those ac- out a process through which instructors (a) articulate
commodations; for example, the DRC administers more goals, learning objectives or performance outcomes, and
than 12,000 individual exams to students in its testing assessment measures for a course; (b) identify barriers to
center each academic year. The accommodations arranged student learning and to demonstration of their learning
are, for the most part, consumable. That is, they have to for each objective and assessment measure; (c) identify
be renegotiated for each individual student and usually what is essential to the course, and, where there are bar-
do not bring about any lasting change in the classes the riers; (d) remove them by modifying what all students
students attend. are asked to do or arrange special accommodations for
The paradigm of UD as it is applied to instruction essential elements that cannot be modified for everyone
suggests that we take a different tack: Our aim should be without changing the nature of the course.
to help faculty make sustainable changes in their instruc- In this process the idea of rethinking a course in or-
tion, overall changes that will make learning more acces- der to provide more equitable access to learning for stu-
sible for all students—including, students with disabili- dents with disabilities is subsumed within the more gen-
ties—so that no one is singled out to do things differ- eral concern to identify and address all types of barriers
ently. This approach asks DSPs to step beyond their tra- for all types of students, which is the goal of UD. By
ditional role of arranging and ensuring accommodations. doing this, the usual resistance to changing the way an
It asks them to become consultants to instructors and to instructor thinks about students with disabilities is side-
use their training in disability-related issues to help in- stepped, if not avoided altogether. This is because asking
structors reflect upon their teaching and how the choices instructors to identify potential barriers to learning
they make may create barriers for different types of learn- prompts them to think about all aspects of the course in
ers in their classes.
154 Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2
Figure 1. Dynamic course design.
(1)
Identify goals, objectives, and means of assessment from LCE
(2) (3)
What barriers What is essential
from ADA
do they present? to your course?
Provide accommodations
Eliminate barriers
for essentials that cannot
through UD
be modified
(4)
Diagram of the 4-step process of dynamic course design, which incorporates elements of learner-centered educa-
tion, identification of essential elements based on ADA, and universal design.
relation to the students, not just about the course content duction to the ideas of UD in the context of instruction.
or the students in isolation from each other. With goals Ideally, this would be an introduction that focuses on re-
and objectives written so they can be examined, it is dif- moving barriers to learning for all types of learners rather
ficult for instructors to avoid the fact that they are teach- than just students with disabilities. For example, having
ing in order for students to learn and that the responsibil- instructors begin in a workshop setting by brainstorming
ity for learning lies on both sides. In addition, by not sin- a list of all the ways that the learners in their classes can
gling out students with disabilities for special consider- differ from each other will inevitably yield “ability/dis-
ation in terms of course design, this process encourages ability” as one response, but it will also yield everything
instructors to think of disability as simply another type from “facility with English” to “access to the Internet.”
of difference. Prompted to name the kinds of students for whom “facil-
On the one hand, the idea of “dynamic” course de- ity with English” or with language in general might be a
sign reflects the fact that the design of instruction is an barrier, instructors usually mention ESL students and in-
iterative, not a linear, process. No matter at what point an troverted students as well as students with certain kinds
instructor starts in the process, she will inevitably move of disabilities - whether learning, physical, or cognitive.
back and forth between the steps, over and over again, as And they recognize that access to the Internet can be a
the process brings to the surface unexamined assump- barrier for students with disabilities as well as for stu-
tions and expectations for her course and her students. dents who come from less advantaged socioeconomic
On the other hand, “dynamic” reflects the need for ad- backgrounds who may have little experience with or not
justments in a course on the daily level; for example, feed- have a computer.
back from students may show that more time is needed At this point instructors are generally ready to throw
to work with some content, student interest may suggest up their hands in frustration at the thought that they are
a shift in direction, outside forces may dictate a change being asked to remove all barriers for each and every
in schedule or requirements. This kind of responsiveness student in their class, individually. They draw this con-
to both students and the situation is one of the hallmarks clusion because the only model they know for removing
of learner-centered teaching. It is also a central charac- barriers is the medical model, which calls for individual
teristic of UD as applied to instruction. accommodations. They are now primed to hear about the
The dynamic course design worksheet is designed to global types of solutions that a UD approach offers.
be used by instructors after they have had a brief intro-
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2 155
1 Dynamic Course Design Worksheet F
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This worksheet is designed to help you identify the basic goals, learning objectives (performance measures), and means of assessment
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Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2 157
1 Step 3. Write specific means of assessment for each learning objective above. F
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Knowledge Skills Attitudes e
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Objective: Students will be able to Objective: Students will be able to Objective: Students will be able to c
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What types of
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n will you ask students
a basic Confucian virtues, give illustrates the properties of 16mm • Take a learning styles inventory.
l o to attempt in order to examples from readings. film as it relates to exposure. Turn in a study plan for the course
f P know whether they that builds on your learning
ost have achieved your • Individual writing in class: Identify • Shoot a series of shots that preferences.
se objectives? and explain the Confucian virtue at progressively reveals light and the
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Ed • Group midterm exam: Compare and • Write a process paper explaining w ill do differently in the future.
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ati Chinese and a Vietnamese story. the times you chose, the structure • Keep track of how and when you
on you envision for your film. work on a research paper. When
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m Would this change allow you to maintain the rigor and disciplinary requirements of your course?
e 1 → If so, then you should make that change. This may require you to rethink the way you “usually” do things in your course or your
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b Would this change compromise your course in ways unacceptable to you or to your program or discipline?
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r 2 → If so, a UD solution may not be a good choice for your course. YOU, the instructor, must decide this.
Remember that:
(cid:2) Barriers to student success that are left in place are just that, barriers.
(cid:2) Special accommodations are consumable, single students out, and do not always reach all the students
who are affected by barriers to learning.
(cid:2) UD solutions are sustainable and give students more equitable opportunity to demonstrate their learning.
1
5
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Introducing UD through its history in the built envi- data are collected in a chemistry lab, how those data are
ronment works today as almost everyone is familiar with evaluated, and how they are reported.” And most can iden-
some of the common examples: ramps, automatic doors, tify a set of skill goals commonly articulated in their in-
closed captioning, dual-height water fountains, and so stitution as well as skills associated with their discipline.
on. And instructors know from personal experience that “Work effectively as a member of a group or creative
these UD solutions are useful for all kinds of people. They team,” “Learn tools to create sounds and images,” and
can also understand that these solutions are now a part of “Perform basic lab techniques” are examples of skill
the original design of buildings and other built facilities, goals.
which alleviates the need for expensive and time-con- Identifying affective goals for a course is more diffi-
suming retrofitting to make inaccessible designs acces- cult for many postsecondary instructors. In fact, some
sible. In other words, they can see that it makes sense to may believe that they have no affective goals or that af-
plan accessibility in from the beginning. fective goals have no place in the formal academic disci-
By this time in the discussion, they’re beginning to plines at the postsecondary level. We have no business
think about their own instruction. Giving instructors time telling our students what kind of people they should be-
to discuss UD solutions to the list of barriers to learning come, these instructors may reason. However, I would
that they created earlier will give them general examples argue that college-level instructors have many affective
to work from as they rethink the design of their own goals for their courses, especially for courses at the gen-
classes. The Dynamic Course Design Worksheet can be eral education or introductory level. Statements in insti-
used as a heuristic device to aid in that reexamination. tution- and program-level mission statements such as
“Value diverse perspectives,” “Become an independent,
The Worksheet creative thinker,” “Develop a deep curiosity about the
natural world,” and “Know oneself as a learner” are ex-
The Dynamic Course Design worksheet is designed amples of common affective goals that inform many col-
to help instructors systematically identify and examine lege-level courses. Moreover, I would argue that the
their expectations for student learning in a course and to much-touted goal of helping students become critical
prompt them to design their course so as to make the learn- thinkers, which is usually understood to be a skill (how
ing accessible to a variety of types of students. Although to think critically), includes a strong affective compo-
the worksheet and explanation provided here use the vo- nent, as internalization of a value of any kind involves an
cabulary of teaching and course design, the process can affective component. For example, if students simply
be generalized for use in planning any kind of presenta- learn to use the steps in the process of critical thinking
tion, meeting, or workshop to improve accessibility of when assigned but do not have the inclination to use that
the learning experience. The remainder of this article will process of their own accord whenever confronted by a
discuss each step in the worksheet separately. Please re- new situation, we have not succeeded in making them
member that the design of a course (or presentation, meet- critical thinkers. Students must master the process of criti-
ing, workshop) is a complex process that does not pro- cal thinking (skill goal), but they must also develop the
ceed in an orderly, linear fashion. habit of mind to use that process when appropriate (af-
fective goal).
Step 1. Identifying Overall Goals
It is not hard for most instructors to cite some learn- Step 2. Determining Learning Objectives or Performance
ing goals (also called learning outcomes) for any course Measures
they teach, but this first step of the worksheet asks in- Learning objectives (alternatively called performance
structors to articulate goals in three categories: knowl- measures) articulate what an instructor looks for in stu-
edge goals (What do you want your students to know as a dent behavior or work that demonstrates achievement of
result of this class?); skill goals (What do you want your particular goals. That is, objectives are measurable.
students to be able to do?); and affective goals (What Whereas the knowledge goal “Understand the basic ele-
kind of people do you want your students to become?) ments of a Confucian world view” is quite general, leav-
(From Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, in Santrock, 2004, ing both students and instructor without much idea of
pp. 380-383). Most instructors at the college level are how it will be demonstrated, a parallel learning objective
used to thinking in terms of knowledge goals such as such as “Students will be able to identify and explain
“Understand the basic elements of a Confucian five Confucian elements in a new text” gives specific
worldview,” “Understand common environmental prob- parameters for evaluating student achievement of that
lems, their causes and solutions,” and “Understand how goal. We might want to add to this an objective that re-
160 Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2
quires students to use a higher level of cognitive learn- her own way. Another strategy is to assign a variety of
ing, such as “Students will be able to create and justify a types of tasks to all students across the semester, which
scenario in which characters behave in valid Confucian gives every student a chance to be successful on some-
ways.” thing. Resources such as Angelo and Cross’s Classroom
One reason for the LCE emphasis on articulating Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teach-
goals and objectives is the transparency that it brings. ers (1993) provide examples of many kinds of assess-
That is, goal-driven teaching gives everyone the oppor- ment tasks that can be used in the classroom.
tunity to understand the instructor’s intent and the ways It is also important for instructors to plan more than
the various aspects of a course fit together if the goals are one assessment task for each learning objective. This
made explicit to all participants. And carefully defined accomplishes several things. It allows students the op-
goals and objectives give us a way to document or mea- portunity to demonstrate their knowledge on several dif-
sure the learning that is happening in a course. Another ferent occasions and in several different ways; this trian-
reason for this emphasis in the LCE movement is the cred- gulation effect will yield a richer understanding of stu-
ibility and accountability that documentation affords. This dents’ grasp of course material. It also allows instructors
kind of measurement is useful to instructors as they make to assess students’ deepening command of the same ma-
course-related decisions; to students, who can see that terial over time. And it reinforces for students the idea
they are learning or understand where they need help; that they are responsible for longer-term mastery of course
and to administrators, who need such data as they make material rather than the memorize-for-the-test-then-for-
decisions with wide-ranging impact. But the most im- get type of learning for which they often seem to settle.
portant reason is that the process of articulating goals
and specific learning objectives forces an instructor to Step 4. Moving Toward a Universally Designed Course
focus on what and how students are learning. Huba and The last step of the dynamic course design process is
Freed’s Learner-Centered Assessment on College Cam- actually a series of steps that leads instructors to reexam-
pus (1999) is a useful resource on the process of devel- ine everything they have done to this point from the stand-
oping specific goals and objectives. point of barriers to student learning. Here is a possible
plan for helping instructors with this work:
Step 3. Designing Assessment Activities 1. Begin by asking instructors to identify potential
Quizzes, timed tests taken in class, and term papers barriers to students’ successful achievement of the
are the standard assessment tools of the traditional col- learning goals, objectives, and assessment tasks they
lege instructor who delivers new material to students, tests have articulated. Are competencies assumed and not
to see if they have learned it, and then moves on. Most planned to be taught in the course? Are some assess-
experienced instructors can follow this formula in their ment tasks difficult for some students for reasons
discipline with their eyes closed—and that is pretty much that may be unrelated to their understanding of
what they are doing in terms of actually ensuring that course material? Have instructors make a list of
their students are learning. This step in the process of potential barriers and the learners who may be
dynamic course design asks instructors to design assess- affected by each barrier.
ment activities that are keyed specifically to their learn- 2. By way of example, ask instructors to think about
ing objectives, for this is the only way in which we can the potential barriers presented by an in-class essay
know whether students are learning what we think it is exam. As a test of what has been learned in a course,
important for them to learn. If instructors have identified this format assumes (a) that students have a com-
specific learning objectives and published them in their mand of English appropriate to the necessary level
course syllabus, students will have a better idea of what of expression and the limited amount of time al-
to expect in a course and what to aim for in terms of lowed; (b) that they are able to formulate their
mastery of course material. thoughts quickly and then write or type quickly,
It is important that instructors assess student learn- legibly, and for a long enough period of time to
ing in a variety of formats, media, time frames, and envi- demonstrate their understanding; (c) that they can
ronments. This is because different types of learners of- work effectively in the classroom environment
ten perform differently on different types of assessment (consider space, lighting, sound, distraction) and
tasks, regardless of how well they know the material. with the materials provided (size of font, contrast,
Allowing students to choose from several different ways color); and so on. This mainstay of college-level
to complete the same assignment is one way to give each assessment is fraught with potential barriers, as
student the opportunity to demonstrate learning in his or disability service professionals well know.
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability Volume 19, Number 2 161
