Accessibility.
The more flexible the course, the fewer obstacles to accessibility.
Universal Design for Learning is often cited as a key framework for guiding the development of any course, online or on the ground. It emerged from Universal Design, a theory developed over the twentieth century that contends human spaces must be built so that they “can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. An environment (or any building, product, or service in that environment) should be designed to meet the needs of all people who wish to use it.” Universal Design is governed by seven principles, the second of which is Flexibility in Use: “The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.”
Applying that principle to course design can cause some instructors to get a bit itchy. Talk of “individual preferences” can lead to concerns that designing for unique preferences may fly in the face of across-the-board fairness. But if we put the talk of preferences to one side and instead focus on providing students with choice, we can give all students greater agency in their learning.
What instructors have to be careful with, however, is creating situations where offering choice also results in a lot of extra housekeeping headaches for instructors. Take for example the “free ticket” device that many instructors use: they give students a certain number of free tickets which can be used to request extensions without needing to give a reason. This introduces flexibility that the student controls, but it also introduces an extra task for the instructor to monitor the use of the tickets and to approve the student’s request. A dual deadline policy - a regular deadline followed by a no-excuses-necessary extension - achieves the same goal as the free ticket system, but without adding to the instructor’s workload because the extensions are automatic and don’t have to be recorded.
Establishing guidelines like the dual deadline policy can also have benefits with regard to accessibility and accommodation requests. At the beginning of term I receive emails from our university’s AccessAbility office (yes, that’s really how they spell it) informing me that a student needs this or that accommodation. These accommodations are sometimes related to a physical disability (which are then usually handled by the AccessAbility team, for example when a student has vision or hearing impairments), but more often than not they are connected to learning or mental wellness issues. In the case of these situations, the request is most often for more time to do tests or term papers. But I’ve designed my courses to have no tests, and I use the dual deadline policy for assignments, and those two policies alone are able to meet the accommodation needs of almost all learners without requiring me to do any extra housekeeping or creating special access in the learning management system.
Introducing flexibility is especially helpful in these pandemic times as students adapt to the “busyness” of online learning. It can also help instructors manage their time.
For Fall Term 2020 this blog will be exploring issues informing education during a pandemic. It is appearing as part of a graduate seminar on online teaching and learning. You can read more about the seminar or see the other posts.
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