Universal Design There are many reasons, both practical and economic, for creating a world we can all use which requires a shift in our thinking. Understanding the Population People who can benefit from universal design include many, both with and without disabilities. In some cases, people may experience difficulty in using products purely as a result of the environment or an unusual circumstance. Beneficiaries of universal design include: People in a noisy shopping mall who cannot hear a kiosk People who are driving their car who must operate their radio or phone without looking at it People who left their glasses in their room People who are getting older People with disabilities. Students who speak English as a second language International students Older Students A teacher whose teaching style is inconsistent with the student's preferred learning style Aging teaching faculty who require accommodation based on an acquired disability All students In order to design for the general population, it is important to understand the diversity, problems, tools and abilities of its members. Universal Design In recent years, as the notion of accessibility has been broadened to encompass much more than design for people with disabilities, the concept of "universal design" has gained visibility. Traditional design has focused on filling the needs of the "average" person, with the assumption that design for the average provides for the needs of most. The universal design argument is that designing for the "average" is by definition exclusionary, because the "average" user is a fictitious construct. Attempts to design for this fictitious "average" user may not account for effects of multiple individual differences. Tognazzini (1992, p. 74) related an anecdote from Blake (1985) illustrating the pitfalls of ignoring such overlapping differences: Several years ago, the Air Force carried out a little test to find out how many cadets could fit into what were statistically the average-size clothes. They assembled 680 cadets in a courtyard and slowly called off the average sizes-plus or minus one standard deviation-of various items, such as shoes, pants and shirts. Any cadet that was not in the average range for a given item was asked to leave the courtyard. By the time they finished with the fifth item, there were only two cadets left; by the sixth, all but one had been eliminated. The Universal Design philosophy emerges from a recognition of the idea central to this story-that there is no average user. Universal designs target the broadest possible range of user capabilities. Examples of products that embody this theme include automatic doors, remote control thermostats and velcro. Using no assistive technology, people who were previously unable to open a door, operate a thermostat or tie their shoes are able to perform these tasks, whereas "the rest of us" find these tasks easier as well. Proponents of universal design do not assume that all users will be able to use all designs, but instead argue that by redefining our definition of the user, a much wider range of users can be accommodated without significant extra effort (Vanderheiden, 1992). There are seven basic principles of Universal Design. The principles "... may be applied to evaluate existing designs, guide the design process and educate both designers and consumers about the characteristics of more usable products and environments." Below is an overview of the principles and their definitions: Equitable use: The design is useful to people with diverse abilities. Flexibility in use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. Simple and intuitive use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills or current concentration level. Perceptible information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities. Tolerance for error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. Low physical effort: The design can be used efficiently and comfortably with minimum fatigue. Size and space for approach and use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation and use regardless of user's body size, posture or mobility. What Is Universal Design For Learning? To accommodate students' individual needs and to give them the opportunity to progress in content areas, educators traditionally have adapted or altered the textbook or tests. Typical accommodations are Braille or recorded texts for visually impaired students, captioned materials for hearing-impaired students and customized supplementary materials or alternative texts that address cognitive disabilities. In most classrooms, these accommodations are added to the standardized curriculum, much as a wheelchair ramp is added to a building where stairs formerly provided the only access. Just as after-the-fact architectural accommodations are often awkward and expensive, after-the-fact curriculum adaptations can be time consuming to design and difficult to implement in classrooms of diverse learners. A more efficient way to provide student access is to consider the range of user abilities at the design stage of the curriculum and incorporate accommodations at that point. This "built-in" access for a wide range of users, those with and without disabilities, is the underlying principle in universal design. In terms of curriculum, universal design implies a design of instructional materials and activities that allows learning goals to be attainable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, understand English, attend, organize, engage and remember. Such a flexible, yet challenging, curriculum gives teachers the ability to provide each student access to the subject area without having to adapt the curriculum repeatedly to meet special needs. The essential features of universal design for learning have been formulated by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) into three principles: The curriculum provides multiple means of representation. Subject matter can be presented in alternate modes for students who learn best from visual or auditory information or for those who need differing levels of complexity. The curriculum provides multiple means of expression to allow students to respond with their preferred means of control. This accommodates the differing cognitive strategies and motor-system controls of students. The curriculum provides multiple means of engagement. Students' interests in learning are matched with the mode of presentation and their preferred means of expression. Students are more motivated when they are engaged with what they are learning. To gain a better understanding of Curriculum Access and Universal Design for Learning read http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed437767.html. Discover | Read | Explore | Apply | Measure