An Exploration into Educator’s Awareness and Implementation of Universal Design for Learning within an Irish Higher Education Institution

Abstract

Universal Design for Learning (from herein referred to as UDL) is a tried and tested framework. There is a building research evidence base to tell us it works. This paper explores the awareness and implementation of UDL within a Higher Education (HE) institution's teaching practices.

In recent years, responding to student diversity has become a key priority in education systems. Attributable to the broader diversity, one of the most significant challenges facing educators is engaging and supporting a vast and diverse group of students. Now more than ever, teaching practices must adapt to reflect the changing landscape of higher education. UDL has become a key pedagogical approach to promoting inclusive and equitable education in response to diversity, and it is slowly and implicitly emerging in Higher Education teaching practice. This study aims to ascertain educators’ awareness of UDL and explore the area of implementation within HE teaching practice to establish if Intuitional improvement and professional development to enhance educators’ skill sets for working with diverse learners are required.

This research presents an in-depth review of the literature, using primary research conducted with educators in one Higher Education institution with four geographical locations in Ireland. It brings insights into educators’ awareness of UDL and the implementation within HE teaching practice and establishes best practices in supporting and engaging educators in UDL practices. The research methodology utilised for this study follows a pragmatic approach using mixed methods. The data collection methods involved an online survey (quantitative) and semi-structured interviews (qualitative). The above methods were chosen to gather the essential data for achieving the information and the research objectives.

The research finds there is a high level of awareness and implementation of UDL but an inconsistency in the participation of formal PD in UDL; in addition, confidence in the implementation of the framework is quite varied.

The study makes several recommendations to Higher Education to bridge the gap between awareness, implementation and best practice in supporting, encouraging and engaging educators in UDL practices.