The Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success acknowledges Indigenous peoples across Australia as the Traditional Owners of the lands on which the nation’s campuses are situated. With a history spanning more than 60,000 years as the original educators, Indigenous peoples hold a unique place in our nation. We recognise the importance of their knowledge and culture, and reflect the principles of participation, equity, and cultural respect in our work. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future, and consider it an honour to learn from our Indigenous colleagues, partners, and friends.

You are reading: UDL in Action: The What, the Why and the How

In case you missed it, ADCET’s inaugural Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Symposium, held on the 5th and 7th of September 2023 was a great success. As previously promised, all of the presentations are now available to view on the ADCET website.

The UDL in Action: The What, the Why and the How Symposium represented ADCET’s ongoing commitment to building capacity in the tertiary education sector around universal design for learning, an important learning and teaching framework for diverse learners and particularly those with disability. The Symposium brought together international and national leaders, academics, learning designers and professionals in a program with something for everyone, from beginners through to experts.

Keynote speaker Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler from the University of Washington, began with the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of universal design for learning. Having worked in the UDL space for decades, she distilled the basics and gave practical applications and resources to aid people in getting started. Day two keynote speaker, Dr. Thomas Tobin from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focused on the ‘how’ of UDL, making it easier to create impactful, incremental changes, and demonstrated what an exemplar online UDL presentation looks like.

“I learnt so much from Tom Tobin. The content of his presentation was excellent, but more than that, I learnt a tremendous amount from the way he presented – he modelled UDL best practice. I am so inspired to do better as a teacher after participating in that session. I can’t wait for the recording so I can watch it again.”  – VET provider

Videos, transcripts and other supporting materials from the symposium are all now available on the ADCET website. 

UDL is a marathon, not a sprint. You can engage with ADCET and continue on this learning journey in many ways, including through its various online resources, an eLearning module and the organisation’s community of practice. Additionally, ADCET can be contacted directly by email at admin@adcet.edu.au