Explore every episode of the podcast Think UDL

Welcome to Episode 133 of the Think UDL podcast: Online Graduate Education with Tracy Balduzzi. Tracy Balduzzi is the Associate Director of Strategic initiatives for the graduate school at Syracuse University and an adjunct Lecturer at Utica University in upstate New York. Tracy recently wrote an article about how she has implemented UDL strategies in the graduate online course she teaches and I was able to catch up with her to talk about what interventions she used to increase engagement, and added multiple ways to assess students along with providing multiple options for representation. We will also talk about student feedback and where to go from here!

Welcome to Episode 132 of the Think UDL podcast: Design Cycle and Research with Kavita Rao. Dr. Kavita Rao is a Professor in the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the current director of the Research Institute there in the College of Education. In today’s conversation we discuss her published article on the UDL design cycle and then move into the current state of UDL research in Higher Education. We start this discussion with an understanding of the UDL design cycle and why it was codified. Then we move into taking stock of the state of UDL research in higher education, what we have, and what we need as we move forward as well as what to do if you want to start your research in UDL in higher education! I hope you will be inspired to add to our research base in UDL in higher ed, and thank you for listening to the Think UDL podcast.

Welcome to Episode 123 of the Think UDL podcast: AI and Ethics with James Basham. Dr. James Basham is a Professor in the Department of Special Education in the School of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He is the founder of the Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network (UDL-IRN). His research is focused on the implementation of UDL, STEM education, learner-centered design, innovation, and technology in human learning. He has received and managed over $27 million in successful research and development funding. He is well-published, has given hundreds of talks, serves on various boards for journals, companies, and organizations, and is the principal investigator on various projects including CIDDL, the Center for Innovation, Design and Digital learning.

In this episode we discuss AI and UDL in higher education, and how AI relates to competency based learning and various forms of assessment. We also discuss personalized learning and the ethics of how AI impacts the teaching and learning experience in higher ed. And finally, we also discuss Jamie’s work as the founder and principal Investigator of CIDDL.

Welcome to Episode 122 of the Think UDL podcast: Artificial Intelligence and Accessibility with Joe Houghton. Joe Houghton is an Assistant Professor at University College Dublin Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Dublin, Ireland. He is also a prolific writer and producer of books, podcasts, and instructive videos and webinars on teaching and learning. He has recently thrown his intellect into the emerging trends in Artificial Intelligence and published his book, Applying Artificial Intelligence to Close the Accessibility Gap. I was glad to have the opportunity to write the foreword for this book and am delighted to have the chance to speak with Joe for the second time on the Think UDL podcast. If you’d like to hear our first conversation, you can listen to episode 91: Reflecting on a Starfish Difference with Joe Houghton and I will have a link to that episode in our resources section on the ThinkUDL.org website. This episode, episode 122, details some of the ideas from Joe’s book on AI and accessibility. We discuss tools that can be used to improve accessibility, the benefits and challenges of using AI to make courses and teaching more accessible, and what ethical concerns we should be aware of when using AI. And finally I ask Joe a bit about what he sees on the horizon for AI, UDL, and accessibility.

Dr. Liz Norell is the Associate Director of Instructional Support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. In this conversation, Liz and I discuss several important UDL ideas including reflection and how to incorporate that into our classes and how beneficial it is for our own learning. We also discuss how to create psychological safety even within a course that could have many “hot-button” type issues, how to create choice and flexibility in your course, and what to do if there are too many choices for some students. We also discuss how students can essentially choose their own grade for a course based on their interests and efforts. Tune in for a very enlightening conversation with so many great ideas about how to infuse your course with UDL principles.

Welcome to Episode 120 of the Think UDL podcast: The Double Empathy Problem with Aaron Lanou and Colin Ozeki. Aaron Lanou is an educational consultant supporting schools and organizations to reach all kids with inclusive, strengths-based practices. Through the lens of Universal Design for Learning, he coaches teachers to support autistic students and all kids with a variety of academic, executive functioning, and social support needs. Aaron is also a member of Carol Gray’s Team Social Stories and was previously a special education teacher in the New York City Public Schools and Executive Director of ASD Nest at NYU, leading the nation’s largest inclusion program for autistic students. Colin Ozeki is currently a special education teacher at Urban Assembly Media Studies High School supporting the autism inclusion program ASD Nest. Growing up as an autistic student, he noticed the significant lack of autistic teachers and role models. Taking this observation into adulthood, Colin stepped up to become the teacher, role model, and inspiration autistic students deserve. He uses his unique position as an autistic teacher to promote neurodivergent inclusion, acceptance, and understanding of different neurotypes across school environments as a living example of success. Today’s episode focuses on a mindset and technique that Aaron and Colin introduced to me that is helpful when dealing with the Double Empathy problem, which is essentially what we have when a heterogenous group of neurotypical and neurodivergent, specifically autistic, people communicate with each other. Who do we expect to bend more or less, and how can we best communicate together? Stay tuned for some fantastic insights from Colin and Aaron along with how this all relates to UDL, and thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

Welcome to Episode 119 of the Think UDL podcast: Contextual Pathways with Lee Dale. Lee Dale is the founder and CEO of Say Yeah!, an educational tech company based in Toronto, Canada. Lee saw the accessibility gaps in online education and decided to do something about it, he created his company Say Yeah! to help unlock the potential in everyone. In this conversation, we discuss instructional design, using technology thoughtfully, and creating contextual pathways in online learning. If you have wondered how complicated teaching itself is, we discuss the various roles that are needed for online learning to be successful which include the subject matter expert, the educator, and the role of technology in online learning.

Welcome to Episode 118 of the Think UDL podcast: Badges, Modules and Praxis with Thomas O’Shaughnessy. Thomas O’Shaughnessy is an Assistive Technology Officer and UDL Project lead at the University of Limerick in Ireland. I thought I might introduce him and this episode with a poem:

In Limerick, Tom's praxis did shine,

Inclusive practice, his paradigm fine.

With UDL's broad scope,

And tech breaking trope,

Access for all, his constant line!

In this episode, Thomas outlines how UDL has bloomed at the University of Limerick with a national UDL badge, faculty and staff training, and large-scale awareness and implementation of UDL. Thomas has been championing the implementation of UDL and creating more accessible and inclusive educational spaces for all and shares his great work with us today. Thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

Rachel Combs is a Disabilities Accommodations Consultant and Professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. In this conversation, Rachel and I discuss her work with Project ENABLE which stands for Expanding Non-discriminatory Access By Librarians Everywhere and which seeks to raise librarians’ understanding of the library and information needs of disabled students and develop programs, services, resources, and technologies to meet those needs. We also discuss what she is doing at the University of Kentucky to reach all students and patrons and decrease barriers to access for all. You’ll find resources associated with this conversation on the ThinkUDL.org website and thank you for listening to this conversation on the Think UDL podcast.

Welcome to Episode 116 of the Think UDL podcast: The UDL Gears with Loui Lord Nelson. Loui Lord Nelson is an author, leader, consultant, and educator in  Universal Design for Learning in a global context. She is also my esteemed friend and colleague as well as the host of two podcasts on UDL, UDL in 15 minutes and UDL Research in 15 minutes, both of which cover a multitude of subjects focussing on UDL around the world mostly but not entirely focussed on K-12 . Together we cover a lot of UDL ground and I am so happy to have her on the Think UDL podcast today! In this episode we discuss a fabulous new resource Loui has created to help all of us understand and implement Universal Design for Learning a little better called the UDL gears. Through this tool, Loui has created an accessible visual representation of the mindsets, skills, and practices of UDL practitioners. And in this conversation we discuss how these three things are related and how we can dig a little deeper into them together. You’ll find a link to the UDL gears and some supporting materials on the resources page for this episode on the ThinkUDL.org website. Thank you for joining us to learn more about UDL.

Welcome to Episode 115 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL at Scale with Tom Tobin. Thomas J. Tobin is a founding member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Teaching, Learning and Mentoring as well as an author, speaker, and consultant on UDL, evaluating online teaching, copyright, academic integrity, and alt-ac careers (non-traditional and non-faculty career paths). Not only that, Tom is my long standing UDL friend whom I have already once interviewed in episode 3 of the Think UDL podcast. And he is back on the show again to move us far forward from that conversation way back in 2018. In fact, this conversation is about how to systematically implement UDL at scale. Tom has been doing a lot of research and work on how universities and systems can be successful in implementing UDL at large, not just in classrooms or in departments, and he has some sage advice and actual real evidence of what has already worked, and what we all might be able to do to accomplish this goal. It is an incredibly helpful and enlightening conversation based on so many conversations that Tom has had with UDL practitioners around the world! And let me also say now, too, that Tom says by the end of this episode that he wants to hear from you and your strategies and successes in implementing UDL at scale. So please look over the resources for this episode and reach out to Tom, too!

 Welcome to Episode 114 of the Think UDL podcast: HEQCO’s Key Recommendations with Rachel Courts and Ken Chatoor. Rachel Courts is a Researcher at HEQCO, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and Ken Chatoor is a Senior Researcher at HEQCO as well. Together with their co-authors Jackie Pichette, Ofure Okujie and Ryan Tischoff, they have extensively researched UDL in Higher Education in Ontario and written a fantastic and extremely helpful work for any UDL practitioner entitled, HEQCO’s Dialogues on Universal Design for Learning: Finding Common Ground and Key Recommendations from the Sector. In this episode, Rachel and Ken outline how they and their colleagues assembled the ideas for this practical work. We discuss the thoughtful ways that the authors and collaborators researched and collected stories and information from their colleagues about the use and implementation of UDL in Ontario’s higher education institutions including their challenges, opportunities and successes. And from this they have produced recommended strategies for others to implement and institutionalize UDL in their universities. You can view HEQCO’s full report in the resources section on the Think UDL web page for this episode along with the other resources that we mention throughout the episode. Thank you for tuning in to hear how you can implement UDL successfully in your institution with the help of my guests Rachel Courts and Ken Chatoor.

Welcome to Episode 131 of the Think UDL podcast: Easing Academic Stress with Elizabeth Hitches. Elizabeth Hitches teaches across various universities in Australia in inclusive education and research methods, and is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. Her current research is exploring students' academic stress through the lens of UDL and considering how stressors in the higher education environment might differ between students with and without accessibility requirements or disability. Her broader research explores inclusive education both nationally and internationally, drawing on students' voices and lived experiences. All of her research is available on google scholar. Elizabeth also works to support professional development to empower higher education staff to take accessible and inclusive approaches. She is grateful to be a member of CAST's national faculty, and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. In today’s conversation, we talk about Elizabeth’s research on academic stress and what it looks like in the higher education environment, what it does to students, and how UDL can alleviate some of its effects. You might find a new way to consider your approach to your teaching and reconsider the learning environment we create.

Welcome to Episode 113 of the Think UDL podcast: Equity Frameworks in a UDL Course in Context with Joanna Friend. Joana Friend is a Professor in the School of Early Childhood and Faculty Facilitator in the Teaching and Learning Exchange at George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Over the last several years, she and her colleagues have put together a fantastic course on Universal Design for Learning that is couched within their own context and within larger equity frameworks. In today’s episode, we discuss the context surrounding the impetus and creation of the course as well as what has been learned through various iterations of the course in the last several years. If you are interested in creating a course for your college or university, you will be enriched by this discussion which provides a step by step process including questions to ask, ways to facilitate the learning experience, stakeholders to consult, and general advice on how to attempt something in your particular area. Everything is context specific, so we will delve into George Brown College in particular, but this discussion is helpful to replicate in any context. You’ll find several resources about this course, Universal Design for Learning: Inspiring Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education, on our web page for this episode.

Welcome to Episode 112 of the Think UDL podcast: Simplified, Authentic and Engaging Library Science with Amanda Nichols Hess. Amanda Nichols Hess is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Instruction and Research Help, as well as the Liaison Librarian to the School of Education and Human Services at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She has researched, written about and created many resources for library science that focus on UDL. In today’s conversation, we will look at the role of the librarian on campus and how she has incorporated UDL into many different areas, from small projects to campus-wide initiatives. Even if you are not in library science, you’ll benefit as an instructor to hear how collaboration with librarians on your campus can bring benefits to both you and your students. Amanda has supplied her work as resources and you can find them on our website ThinkUDL.org for this episode. Thank you for listening!

Welcome to Episode 111 of the Think UDL podcast: Digital Ethics in ePortfolios with Kristina Hoeppner and Kevin Kelly. Kristina Hoeppner, M.A., is the project lead for the open source portfolio platform Mahara, working at Catalyst IT in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand. She traded hemispheres and careers in 2010 and enjoys supporting and working with the New Zealand and worldwide community of educators, learning designers, and education innovators in both formal and informal learning settings to create positive and supportive learning environments. Since 2019, she has been a member of the (Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning) AAEEBL Task Force on Digital Ethics in ePortfolios and, since 2021, a member of the Executive Committee of FLANZ (Flexible Learning Association New Zealand). In September 2022, Kristina started the podcast ’Create. Share. Engage.’ in which she interviews members of the portfolio community to share their stories in a contemporary medium, making these stories accessible beyond academic articles and conference presentations. Kevin Kelly, EdD, works with colleges and universities as a consultant to address distance education, educational technology, and organizational challenges. He also teaches online courses in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University, where he also previously served as the Online Teaching and Learning Manager. Kevin is a member of the AAEEBL Board of Directors and the AAEEBL Task Force on Digital Ethics in ePortfolios. He co-authored with Todd Zakrajsek the 2021 Stylus book, Advancing Online Teaching: Creating Equity-Based Digital Learning Environments which is featured in episode 55 of the Think UDL podcast. In today’s podcast my guests explain the ethics of ePortfolios and how they are aligned with UDL principles. It turns out, there is a lot of overlap between the two! Kevin, Kristina, and their colleagues on the task force have done all of the heavy lifting so that you don’t have to, and you’ll find links to the digital ethics for ePortfolios on the Think UDL web page for this episode. 

Welcome to Episode 110 of the Think UDL podcast: Teaching STEM Students with Dawn Tamarkin. Dr. Dawn Tamarkin is a Biology Professor and Chairperson in the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at National University which has multiple campuses with its main campus in San Diego, California. Almost half of the enrolled students at National University are in the military and many are first generation college students with an average age of 33 years, and most students attend National University online. Dawn is also the founder and CEO of CellZone, Inc., a company that makes models and other manipulatives for science instructors to help students better understand and connect with learning complex science concepts. We will discuss how Dawn accidentally became a business owner through her own UDL teaching journey. In today’s conversation, Dawn will explain her theories about how STEM students learn a bit differently from, let’s say humanities students, because of the course material, how she started making models because of a particular need in her class, how using hand-held manipulatives has changed her teaching, and what shifts we need to make in our own teaching to help our students thrive. She also provides several free resources that she created with a National Science Foundation grant that outlines how to teach STEM courses using UDL. You’ll be able to find those resources on the ThinkUDL.org website.

Welcome to Episode 109 of the Think UDL podcast: Implementing a UDL Practicum for Faculty with Jim Stachowiak. Jim Stachowiak is the Accessible Technology Strategy and Operations Lead in the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Jim brings a depth of knowledge in disability services and information technology to the creation of a very successful UDL practicum at Northwestern University that has brought really fantastic results. In today’s episode, we discuss how this came about, who all is involved, how to implement it, and how others can replicate a UDL Institute successfully on their campuses. And what is really exciting is that Northwestern has made this UDL Practicum free and available for anyone else to use! You will find a link to this UDL Practicum on episode 109’s resources at ThinkUDL.org.

Welcome to Episode 108 of the Think UDL podcast: Engaging Cultural Teaching with Tolu Noah. Dr. Tolu Noah is a faculty developer, speaker, educational technology specialist, and the Instructional Learning Spaces Coordinator at California State University, Long Beach. She is an incredibly engaging speaker and conversationalist as you will hear today, and has created a list of resources that accompany this episode that you can find on our website ThinkUDL.org. In today’s episode, we discuss how to engage students in face-to-face and online courses before during and after synchronous class times, the use of various reflection strategies, and how to model vulnerability and build trust and rapport in the classroom when talking about difficult subjects. Indeed this episode is chock full of so many ideas, you may want to refer to the episode resources often!

Welcome to Episode 107 of the Think UDL podcast: Inclusive Interventions in Film & Media Studies with Bridget Kies. Bridget Kies is an Assistant Professor of Film Studies and Production at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and the editor of the recently published “UDL in the Media Studies Classroom” which is a special issue of the Teaching Media journal. In this episode, Bridget and I discuss each of the essays in the special issue she edited, including her own, which touch on how to implement UDL strategies in course content and delivery and student expression, how to create community in online asynchronous courses as well as in-person courses, and ability and disability in media studies courses, the ethics of UDL and care, and how access is central to community. Even if you don’t teach in the realm of media studies, you’ll still find some excellent interventions and ways of thinking about your classes that will make them more inclusive and accessible using UDL. 

Welcome to Episode 106 of the Think UDL podcast: Systematic UDL Application in Disability and Diversity Programs with Zebadiah Hall. Zebadiah Hall is the Vice President in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. Previously, he worked in Cornell University's Office of Disability Services and his graduate work has focussed on Universal Design for Learning and how to apply the UDL principles systematically. He brings a wealth of knowledge in UDL, Disability Services and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to our conversation. We discuss how UDL can be applied systemically to the practices of a university, including the intake of students for disability accommodations, how to organize a disability office using UDL, how intersectionality affects DEI work, how to approach difficult topics equitably, avoid cancel culture, and practice free speech in all its forms.

Welcome to Episode 105 of the Think UDL podcast: Collaborative Neurodiversity Institutes with Sarah Mooney. Sarah Mooney is the Associate Director of the Learning Effectiveness Program at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. The Learning Effectiveness Program is an academic support program for students with learning disabilities that supports learning and neurodiversity at the University of Denver. Since 1982, the LEP has developed innovative and comprehensive supports for their students and serves over 350 students each year. Together with the Office of Teaching and Learning and representatives from across campus including Disability Services and Faculty Affairs, they have put together a very successful Neurodiversity Institute for the faculty that is growing and improving the teaching and learning landscape as well as student success broadly at University of Denver. In this conversation we learn all about the Neurodiversity Institute and discuss the impetus for such an institute for faculty, the collaboration across campus that has made it a success, and the long-standing student-focussed support program for neurodiverse students from which it came. We also hear advice and encouragement from Sarah for implementing something similar at your institution.

Welcome to Episode 104 of the Think UDL podcast: More Fluid Mobile Learning with Christina Moore. Chrisitina Moore is the Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Christina has been on the podcast once before to talk about Online Faculty Learning Communities on Episode 38, and she is back on the podcast to talk with me about her book Mobile-Mindful Teaching and Learning: Harnessing the Technology That Students Use Most. In today’s episode, we discuss how learners interface with materials, instructors, and each other through mobile devices, define characteristics of fluid learning and talk about learning ecologies and how they are all important steps to understanding mobile-mindful teaching and learning. We talk about creating ecosystems for learning and how to encourage social learning through well-designed learning environments. Christina is full of ideas to take away barriers for students by using the technology they have right at their fingertips.

Welcome to Episode 130 of the Think UDL podcast: Virtual Gathering, Real Inclusion with Cait Kirby and Liz Norell. Cait Kirby is the founding Associate Director of the Williams College Center for Teaching, where she primarily engages with faculty around exploring and celebrating teaching practices and opportunities. Cait spends her time tweeting about disability, pedagogy, and games. She enjoys knitting, reading, and making good trouble. Liz Norell is an associate director of instructional support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi, where she supports faculty who want to improve their teaching. Liz is also dedicated to spreading greater awareness of neurodivergence in and out of the classroom, reads voraciously, and loves a good road trip.

Drs. Cait Kirby and Liz Norell were two of the organizers of the June 2024 virtual conference Making Change,Taking Space: A Call to Gather (virtually). The first time conference was organized entirely by volunteers primarily in the North American higher education space as a FREE professional development opportunity for anyone around the world who would like to participate in three days of workshops, lighting talks, and structured social gatherings. I was lucky enough to be able to attend this virtual conference and was really impressed with the thoughtful design that the organizers collectively created, so I asked Cait and Liz to join me to discuss those decisions and how it all came about. You’ll also be able to see a lot more information about this virtual gathering in the resources section of the ThinkUDL.org website for this episode and find contact information for the group as well as Cait and Liz, who are only two of the many volunteers who put together this exceptionally well-designed, inclusive, thoughtfully paced and incredibly generative space. In today’s conversation, we will discuss how and why this virtual conference came into being, how and why accessibility was baked into every design and planning choice, what lessons were learned after this inaugural and hopefully annual conference and what is on the horizon for any folks who may have missed out and want to join along in this community. Perhaps you will find some new ideas to put into practice in your spaces that will radically include your learners and/or participants, too.

Welcome to Episode 103 of the Think UDL podcast: Active Learning Online with Joanne Ricevuto and Laura McLaughlin. Joanne Ricevuto is the Assistant Vice President of Instructional Success at Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Laura McLaughlin is the Director of Graduate Education at Neumann University in Aston, PA. Together they have co-authored the book Engaging Virtual Environments: Creative Ideas and Online Tools to Promote Student Interaction, Participation, and Active Learning published by Stylus Publishing. Laura and Joanne have put together a jam-packed resource for online instructors that discusses the many roles an online instructor must take on to lead an effective course. They also offer multiple ways to interact with students in synchronous and asynchronous settings. I have already enjoyed this book so much and I was honored to be asked to write the foreword for it. Join today’s thoughtful conversation and learn about multiple ways to engage your students online!

Welcome to Episode 102 of the Think UDL podcast: Upskill, Reskill, Thrive with James McKenna. James McKenna is a speaker, learning consultant and author of the just released book Upskill, Reskill, Thrive: Optimizing Learning and Development in the Workplace published by CAST professional publishing, the very same people who brought us the UDL guidelines! In this conversation, James draws from his varied background in the military, education, and professional learning to outline a new approach to learning and development. No more staff training where everyone blindly clicks through choices without even thinking! We delve into learning in the modern world, and who our contemporary learners are. He explains how to create emotional, intellectual, and strategic connections for your learners and why it is important and even discusses the difference between friction and rigor. Thank you for tuning in to learn about a new approach to learning and development based on Universal Design for Learning!

Welcome to Episode 101 of the Think UDL podcast: Build Engaging Courses Right from the Start with Tim Van Norman. Tim Van Norman is an Instructional Technologist at Irvine Valley College in Irvine, California, which is part of the California Community Colleges system. He also hosts his very own podcast called The Higher Ed Tech podcast. Today, he will be discussing his personal views on instructional design and educational technology which are not associated with or speak for Irvine Valley College. In today’s episode, we talk about not just how students learn but where they learn, how we should think about deadlines, especially in relationship to one’s Learning Management system, where the work should be put in to improve a course (will it be early or later and how much), and what are his suggestions for engaging educational technology for online and in-person learning.

Welcome to Episode 100 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL Critiques with Eric Moore. Eric Moore is the Director of Learning Technology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD. He is also the founder and owner of Innospire Education Consulting through which he consults with organizations on UDL, instructional design, and accessibility. Eric also was my very first guest on the Think UDL podcast back in 2018. And as this, the 100th episode was approaching, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind talking with me again about the state of UDL and how it has progressed and changed in higher education since our first conversation. And since we have been working on an article with some esteemed colleagues on various critiques of UDL, we thought it would be a needed conversation for the public to hear. So in this episode, we will discuss the various critiques we have heard as UDL practitioners in higher education over the last 5 years and offer some answers along with some further discussion in a way that seeks to further strengthen UDL in higher education and beyond.

Welcome to Episode 99 of the Think UDL podcast: Can Tech Help Create Belonging? with Rachel Kruzel. After over ten years working as an Assistive Technology and Accommodations Specialist in Disability Resource Offices at various higher ed institutions, Rachel Kruzel is now the Higher Education Specialist at TextHelp where she supports colleges and universities to implement accessibility based solutions to help create more inclusive, equitable, and accessible learning environments for all students. During her time in higher ed, she built and developed assistive technology programs at both schools she worked at, as well as coordinated the provision of accommodations. Rachel is a national expert in the areas of assistive technology, digital accessibility, accessible course materials, and accommodation provision around testing and notetaking. In this episode, we discuss how technology helps, hinders, and relates to access, inclusion and belonging. We discuss a culture of collaboration on campus and how technology can be a catalyst for change on a campus that values diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. 

Welcome to Episode 98 of the Think UDL podcast: Multiple Means of Music Education with Reba Wissner. Reba Wissner is an Assistant Professor of Musicology in the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia. Reba recently presented at a musicology conference about her UDL interventions in her college music courses and I had heard of what she is doing through another professional organization, so I was very excited to connect with her on this topic. In today’s conversation, Reba and I discuss not only the “what” of multiple means of representation when it comes to music education courses, but also why we need to do this right now, and how to do this. And don’t worry if you aren’t in the music department, we also talk about the ideas surrounding this and offer some great ideas if you are interested in diversifying your course! The resources we mention can be found on the ThinkUDL.org website for episode 98.

Welcome to Episode 97 of the Think UDL podcast: Community is the Key to Accessibility with Mark Nichols. Mark Nichols is the Senior Director of Universal Design and Accessible Technologies at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Mark’s team has had great success in implementing accessible learning materials campus-wide with the help of many offices and fellow advocates on campus. In today’s conversation, we will talk about how to create a culture of accessibility, how he has been able to improve and think systematically about accessible materials at his university, and the various tools, ideas, and programs Virginia Tech is employing to help students achieve their goals and succeed in their academic pursuits. Mark mentions Virginia Tech’s C. A. L. M.  campaign which stands for Choose Accessible Learning Materials in which his team introduces a new accessibility idea periodically on campus with the slogan, “Keep C. A. L. M. and use accessible slides…” (or PDFs or some other tool). He would be happy to share the templates they used if anyone would like to borrow this campaign or learn more. Just reach out to Mark via email which is linked on our resources page for this episode at ThinkUDL.org. Thanks so much for listening to this conversation.

Welcome to Episode 96 of the Think UDL podcast: Neurodivergent Workforce Win-Win with Jeff Miller. Jeff Miller is the founder and CEO of Potentia, an organization that not only matches neurodivergent talent with companies, but also works with companies to make sure that the work environments are optimal for their neurodiverse employees, which means neurotypical and neurodistinct employees feel supported and comfortable in their workplace. In this conversation, we talk about why recruiting neurodistinct individuals is a good idea for both employee and employer, how to create an interview and onboarding process that lessens the barriers to hiring ND (neurodistinct) talent, what measures a company can take to create a favorable environment for all workers, including the neurodistinct ones, and how to support these processes. Along the way we talk about why he created this company and why it makes sense! In fact, there is a lot of talk about our “why”s in today’s conversation and it maps so seamlessly onto why UDL is so important in higher education and how the same principles are implemented in the workforce and benefit both workers and employers. We talk about why it is important to focus on your goal and how to do that, and Jeff outlines how Potentia enables companies to hire and retain fantastic candidates by creating an environment where all workers can thrive.

Welcome to Episode 95 of the Think UDL podcast: Math, Finance, Economics, & Employment Skills with Subhadra Ganguli. Dr. Subhadra Ganguli is an instructor in the Department of Economics, Ziegler College of Business, at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. She has had extensive experience teaching very practical workplace skills in finance and accounting globally and is now sharing her expertise in the United States. In this episode, we discuss how Subhadra has been implementing very engaging, collaborative learning in her classes. We also talk more about why math isn’t just an individual skill or subject. Additionally, we discuss the skills that economics, math and finance students will need once they graduate, and how Subhadra is building those skills in her classes for her students using the UDL principles. 

Welcome to Episode 94 of the Think UDL podcast: Kintsugi, Kelp and Art Therapy with Michele Rattigan and Denise Wolf. Michele Rattigan and Denise Wolf are both Associate Clinical Professors of Art Therapy and Counseling in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies, College of Nursing and Health Professions, at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In this episode, Michele, Denise and I talk about the myth of perfectionism, teaching interventions to reach a variety of students (with an equally vast set of skills), what to do if you want to include art and creative expression in your classes as to expand your multiple means of expression options but aren’t an artist or an art therapist, how to face skill deficits with a lens of growth and renewal, and we even make a foray into questioning the system of making an art therapist. Yep, we cover a lot of ground, and yes, we all have an arts or art history background, so art interpretation and a certain body part come up (as often happens in art and therapy), so please enjoy this rousing (or should I say arousing) conversation and thank you for listening to the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 129 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL Toolkit with James D’Annibale. James D’Annibale is the Director of Academic Technologies at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and has created a UDL Toolkit for his faculty at the small liberal arts college to help faculty integrate UDL into their teaching in no tech, low tech, and high tech ways, and with low lift to high lift options. This instructor-focussed toolkit systematically sorts some teaching responsibilities into UDL categories and may be a helpful way to engage your campus without having to reinvent the wheel yourself! Stay tuned as we talk about the UDL Toolkit for college instructors and thank you for listening to the Think UDL podcast.

Welcome to Episode 93 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL and Intersectionality with Denia Bradshaw. Denia Bradshaw is a UDL Advocate and Independent Scholar, an adjunct instructor at Landmark College, a musician, and the Music Department Coordinator at California State University, Los Angeles. We are fortunate to hear how she brings all of these amazing gifts to bear in her work during this conversation. This episode centers on the emergence and history of both Universal Design for Learning and the concept of Intersectionality. We will define these terms and discuss similarities and connections between the two, taking particular aim at what has been overlooked and what to do now. We will discuss why using both of these lenses matters in higher education today. 

Welcome to Episode 92 of the Think UDL podcast: Disability Cultural Centers with Carrie Ingersoll-Wood. Carrie Ingersoll-Wood is the Director of the Disability Cultural Center at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. In this conversation, Carrie and I talk about what in fact a Disability Cultural Center is, and what it is not. It is not your university’s Office of Disability Services. It is very different. We also discuss a little about the history of Disability Cultural Centers, why they are important, what they do, how UDL figures into them, and why we need them in Higher Education now. 

Welcome to Episode 91 of the Think UDL podcast: Reflecting On A Starfish Difference with Joe Houghton. Joe Houghton is an Assistant Professor at the Smurfit College of Business at University College, Dublin. In this conversation we talk about the usefulness of reflection and feedback in various projects, and talk about a lot of collaborative projects that Joe has been implementing in his graduate courses, along with the fantastic work he has been doing to raise awareness and spread the effectiveness of Universal Design for Learning principles in higher education in Ireland. He has his own podcast, called the Plus One podcast, which is also about UDL! In fact, I met Joe when he asked to interview me on his podcast over a year ago. You can find a link to his podcast in our resources for this episode, and look for his interview with me on Episode 5 from May of 2021. The title of this episode is Reflecting on a Starfish Difference because not only do we talk about reflection and how important it is in learning, but also how important one little change, one small effort can be to just one student, and to that student, it makes all the difference. You’ll hear the story of the starfish a little later on as Joe tells it.

Welcome to Episode 90 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL’s High Impact Teaching Blueprint with Erin Leif and Lizzie Knight. Erin Leif is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Educational Psychology and Counseling at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and Lizzie Knight is a Research Fellow at the Mitchell Institute: Centre for International Research on Education Systems also in Melbourne. Erin and Lizzie have told me that they are both dialing in for our interview from the Traditional Lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. This conversation focuses on disability, diversity, inclusion, belonging, and how UDL can be used a blueprint to engage High Impact Teaching Strategies to include a wide variety of students. You’ll also hear of quite a few resources that are listed on our website for this episode, so feel free to follow up on this conversation for some great information and a free eLearning course.

Welcome to Episode 89 of the Think UDL podcast: Technical and Further Education with Jen Cousins and Meredith Jackson. In this episode I speak with Meredith Jackson, the Leading Vocational Teacher at TAFE (Technical and Further Education), Queensland, and Jen Cousins, a Teaching and Learning Specialist in Accessibility and Inclusive Education at TAFE, South Australia. This is a great companion to our last episode, Episode 88 with Luis Perez and Tracey Hall from CAST who discussed Career and Technical Education in the United States of America. Now get a chance to speak with the leading voices in UDL in Technical and Vocational, or Further Education in Australia. You’ll hear a few different acronyms during this conversation besides our usual UDL. They include VET which stands for Vocational Education and Training, ADCET, which is the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training, the NDCO, National Disability Coordination Officer Program, and of course TAFE, which is Technical and Further Education and is akin to Vocational, Technical and Community College programs in the United States. In this conversation, we hear how UDL has been integrated into Technical and Further Education in Australia to a great extent and hear about the successes of this integration!

Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 88 of the Think UDL podcast: Career and Technical Education with Luis Perez and Tracey Hall. In this episode, I speak with two CAST members. And when I say CAST members, I don’t mean a theater play or a Disney employee, but rather CAST, the non-profit that created and introduced the Universal Design for Learning guidelines to the world several decades ago. Originally, the acronym CAST stood for the Center for Applied Specialized Technology, but now they are simply known as CAST. At CAST, Luis Perez is a Technical Assistance Specialist and a noted speaker, and Tracey Hall is a Senior Research Scientist and Instructional Designer. In today’s conversation we talk about how UDL has been and can be implemented in career and technical programs in the United States. Our next episode, episode 89, will cover similar initiatives in Australia, so be on the lookout for that. I often am asked about how UDL can be applied in technical fields, and so I was very excited to talk to Luis and Tracey who have been successfully working in Career and Technical education and workforce readiness, and continuously implementing UDL strategies. If you have questions about ways in which UDL can help you and your students in practical ways, this episode will prove helpful for you!

Welcome to Episode 87 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL Masterclasses with Jodie Black. Jodie Black is a Teaching and Learning Specialist at Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, and this episode is actually the second time I get to talk to Jodie on the Think UDL podcast. You can find our earlier conversation on episode 12 in which we discussed her work at Fleming College. Today we will talk about her new project, Masterclasses, which are open to everyone worldwide. In today’s episode we will talk about what a UDL masterclass is and discuss three different topics that her UDL masterclasses cover. These topics include what it means to be a UDL-informed leader, what UDL-informed Course Design is, and the difference between UDL, Accessibility, and Academic Accommodations. Even if you cannot take a masterclass, this discussion is a fruitful one that helps us all understand the importance of UDL in leadership, course design, and its place in the university. 

Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 86 of the Think UDL podcast: Different Kinds of Intelligence with Temple Grandin. Temple Grandin is an author, Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, and a sought-after speaker on Autism and Neurodiversity all over the world. She has been named one of the top 10 college Professors in the country by CEO World Magazine, she is the subject of her own eponymous movie biopic in 2010, and a recognized thought leader on different kinds of intelligence. I was surprised and greatly honored when she accepted my invitation to speak with me on the Think UDL podcast.  I have known of her, listened to her speak, and read so much about her over the last 20 years, that I was very excited during this interview! When I told my friend and colleague Jill Van Horne from our university’s counseling program that I was offered an interview with Temple Grandin in 4 hours time, Jill was equally excited and so I invited Jill to join me for today’s conversation. Jill leads our really fantastic equine therapy program at Appalachian State. I asked Jill to join me because she thinks differently than I do and especially because she knows a lot more about animals than I do, and even more especially because she is also a big fan of Temple Grandin. You’ll hear Jill pop in the conversation and ask her own questions in this episode as well. In this episode, Professor Temple Grandin talks about the different ways people think, how to teach a variety of learners, what advice she gives college professors, what advice she gives college students, and why she thinks we don’t need algebra (for some things at least) among other things! Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast! Dr. Grandin, it is a great honor to have you on the podcast and I will start us off with the question I ask all of my guests, and that is, “What makes you a different kind of learner?”

Welcome to Episode 85 of the Think UDL podcast: Design for Divergence with Megan Kohler. Megan Kohler is a Learning Designer with the John A. Dutton e-Education Institute at Penn State. 

Her areas of interest/research revolve around supporting neurodivergent learners. Megan and her colleague, Tracy Balduzzi offer a workshop on creating Neuroinclusive learning experiences called Designing for Divergence. She has also collaborated with Penny Ralston-Berg to develop a new learning design model called the Collaborative Content Design Model in which the processes are put to the side and the focus is placed on collaboratively designing courses with faculty.

Megan has presented nationally and internationally and relies on her training and experience as a professional actor to create a fun and engaging experience within her presentations and design work. Today our conversation focuses on how instructors can create inclusive educational spaces for neurodiverse learners in higher ed, creating community and supporting interpersonal connections. 

Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 84 of the Think UDL podcast: Engaging Alternative Grading with Joshua Eyler. Joshua Eyler is the Director of Faculty Development at the University of Mississippi and the author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching and the forthcoming book Scarlet Letters: How Grades are Harming Children and Young Adults, and What We Can Do About It. Josh recently has been raising the chatter about the usefulness and challenges of traditional grading and also bringing a lot of attention to alternative grading practices. Today’s conversation will focus on how the UDL guidelines dovetail with non-traditional grading, especially focussing on multiple means of engagement. In fact, we will look at the specific ways that alternative grading practices recruit learner interest, help sustain effort and persistence in multiple ways, and also serve to guide students through self-reflection. It is a veritable engagement smorgasbord and I am so excited to have this conversation!

Welcome to Episode 128 of the Think UDL podcast: HyFlex Love Affair with Kenyada McLeod. Kenyada McLeod is Associate Professor of Web Design at Brightpoint Community College in the central Virginia region. I first came in contact with her work when she helped me through the QM certification process years ago when I had my First Year Seminar course QM certified. It was then we struck up a friendship around UDL and kept in touch over social media. Just recently, we crossed paths again when I saw she had written about her HyFLex model in practice and I decided it was time to interview her for the podcast to learn about how she has integrated UDL into her HyFlex world. Her teaching in the HyFlex model has been exemplary and is something I think we have needed to revisit on the podcast so I have invited her to talk about how she has been able to remove barriers to learning for her students and for faculty as well. Tune into this conversation to learn more about how to help today’s faculty and students who have varied demands on their time survive and thrive in a HyFlex learning environment.

Welcome to Episode 83 of the Think UDL podcast: Supporting Neurodiverse Learners with Chiara Horlin. Chiara Horlin is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Glasgow and a founder of the Neurodiversity Network there. She is a developmental Psychologist with particular interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder and neurodiversity in general. In today’s conversation, we talk about why she founded the Neurodiversity Network and what it does for students, faculty, and staff at the University of Glasgow. We also look into the challenges that neurodiverse students find at universities and what strengths they bring! And finally we discuss what college instructors can do to support neurodiverse students on our campuses. You’ll find that’s where Universal Design for Learning comes into play a lot in our conversation.

Welcome to Episode 82 of the Think UDL podcast: UDL University with Nicole Brewer, Randy Laist, and Dana Sheehan. Nicole Brewer is an Assistant Professor of Humanities and a Literacy Specialist at Ana Maria College in Massachusetts. Randy Laist is a Professor of English at Goodwin University and the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. And, Dana Sheehan is an Assistant Professor of English and the Director of the Writing Center, also at Ana Maria College. This is my first podcast with three guests, and it is power packed with UDL ideas from their book UDL University: Designing for Variability Across the Curriculum. All three authors worked together at Goodwin University and through a great UDL initiative have incorporated UDL into their teaching. In this episode we talk about how UDL has transformed their teaching and hear several examples of how to leverage the diversity of learners for everyone’s gain. I also think it is a great encouragement to hear how UDL has been applied in a faculty learning community first, and then across the entire curriculum.

Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 81 of the Think UDL podcast: Graphic Design for Course Creators with Dawn DiPeri. Dawn DiPeri is a learning designer and graphic designer who has taught and worked in higher education and in the corporate sector. She has expertise in educational technology, new media literacies, and interpersonal communication and has published widely on gender and race disparity in the workforce and online pedagogy. Today we talk about her new book Graphic Design for Course Creators with a particular focus on accessibility and graphic design. Dawn saw the need for this book and set about to write and I am so glad she did! She incorporates Universal Design for Learning guidelines but goes even further to incorporate graphic design principles to help instructors be as clear as possible for our students. If you have any part of your course that exists online, even if you aren’t fully teaching online, you will gain some valuable insights from this conversation. Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Episode 80 of the Think UDL podcast: Neurodiversity Hub with Andrew Eddy. Andrew Eddy is the CEO and co-founder of Untapped based in Melbourne, Australia, a social enterprise that helps to develop job opportunities for Autstic individuals and he is the co-creator of the Neurodiversity Hub which provides resources and trainings to students, universities, and employers focussing on programs to benefit neurodiverse students and employees. Today we get the chance to talk about the many ways in which universities, students, and employers are collaborating in Australia, the United Kingdom, and in North America to provide training, programs, informational presentations, and plenty of ideas about how to best serve our Autistic students throughout their educational and career journeys. You can find all of the resources we mention on the website ThinkUDL.org for episode 80. Be sure to check out Neurodiversityhub.org as we will be talking a lot about what you can find there. Let’s change the way we think and talk about neurodiversity!Thank you for listening and a special thank you to the folks at the UDLHE Network for their financial support of the Think UDL podcast!