Case stories

Teachers’ UDeL experiences and good practices

As a part of TINEL Erasmus+ project, a “Call for Best Practice Proposals for Higher Education Institutions” was launched to present the current best practice initiatives for inclusive and flexible education in eLearning and blended learning. Four out of the nine proposals were extended into articles, providing an overview of the current landscape of UDeL in higher education. These articles reflect the diversity of UDeL cases as they represent a number of different dimensions: from student diversity to strategic and organisational levels.


Editor of the collection is Merja Saarela, EdD, Principal Research Scientist, Research Manager and the leader of Multisensory and Assistive technology research group in the Research Unit of Smart Services at HAMK.


Additionally, as a part of TINEL Erasmus+ project two other articles, also found below, have been produced.


The collection includes the following articles:

Romppanen, M. (2020). “Songs of Life” – Video-documentary as a part of Bachelor’s Thesis. In M. Saarela (Ed.), Universal Design for Learning (UDL). HAMK Unlimited Journal 11.5.2020. Retrieved 7.12.2021 from https://unlimited.hamk.fi/hyvinvointi-ja-sote-ala/songs-of-life-video documentary/

Matre, M. E., Andersen, R., Thormodsæter, M. S., & Cifuentes, M. O. (2019). Digital Competence – Providing Tools to Create an Inclusive eLearning Course. In M. Saarela (Ed.), Universal Design for Learning (UDL). HAMK Unlimited Journal 29.8.2019. Retrieved 7.12.2021 from https://unlimited.hamk.fi/ammatillinen-osaaminen-ja-opetus/digital competence

Háhn, J. (2019). Crossing Borders Without Travel: Virtual Exchange Practices for Students. In M. Saarela (Ed.), Universal Design for Learning (UDL). HAMK Unlimited Journal 29.8.2019. Retrieved 7.12.2021 from https://unlimited.hamk.fi/ammatillinen-osaaminen-ja-opetus/crossing borders-without-travel

Lehtonen, M. J., Chew, J. Y., Schilli, K. S., & Varadarajan, A. (2019). Nordic Rebels: A Blended Approach to Fix Higher Education. In M. Saarela (Ed.), Universal Design for Learning (UDL). HAMK Unlimited Journal 29.8.2019. Retrieved 7.12.2021 from https://unlimited.hamk.fi/ammatillinen-osaaminen-ja-opetus/nordic-rebels

Saarela, M., Eftring, H., Petrie, H., Torkildsby, A. B., & Ladonlahti, T. (2019). Improving Accessibility of eLearning in Higher Education from Universal Design for Learning Perspective. In M. Saarela (Ed.), Universal Design for Learning (UDL). HAMK Unlimited Journal 28.8.2019. Retrieved 7.12.2021 from https://unlimited.hamk.fi/ammatillinen-osaaminen-ja-opetus/improving-accessibility-of-elearning

Håkan, Eftring, Elinor J., Olaussen, Helen, Petrie, Merja, Saarela, Tarja, Ladonlahti & Anne Britt, Torkildsby: From Face-to-Face to Online UDeL Camps: Supporting Staff at Higher Education Institutions in Developing Universal Design for eLearning (UDeL). 2021. Retrieved 22.12.2021 from http://www.urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-202106093576.


Source:

https://unlimited.hamk.fi/universal-design-for-learning-udl/#.YW1u2xpBw2w

Videos

The following videos 1-3 present students’ perspective on how personal challenges have impacted their studies in a higher education institution. The following videos 4-7 present teachers’/ professional’s perspective on what to think about universal design of studies in higher education institutions. All the videos give an idea of how to think flexibly both in relation to role as a student and as a other actor in a higher institution organization and what kind of possibilities it exists to create diverse studying opportunities.


Video 1


In the video ‘Being a Student with Visual Impairment’ Gagan Chhabra shares his critical thoughts about the concept of an average/normal student and what kind of perceptions do we often relate to an individual student in relation to other students and what kind of challenges this may create. Being a Student with Visual Impairment


Video 2


In the video ‘Being a student with dyslexia’, Malin Cronquist, diagnosed with dyslexia, tells about her university studies at Lund university, her challenges in studies, what helpful tools she uses and what kind of support she receives from the university in her studies. She also shares her challenges in everyday life. Student with dyslexia


Video 3


In the video ‘Flipped classroom - student perspective’ Nora Tomas tells about her experience about flipped classroom as a study method and the benefits it has for someone like her who is visually impaired but also for students in more general. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNqhwxg0D6A


Video 4-5


In the video ‘Critical Reflections of Being a Professional with Visual Impairment’ Gagan Chhabra tells about how he has experienced the concept of impairment in different roles as a lecturer, a public speaker and a researcher. He tells by examples how this concept looks different depending on which role you are playing and what kind of questions arise in diverse situations. Critical Reflections of Being a Professional with Visual Impairment


In the video ‘Universal Design of a learning environment: A Journey and not a Destination!’ Gagan Chhabra tells about his opinions on how we should understand the universal design of learning environment and related aspects of diversity. He also talks about how we should approach the concept of inclusive learning environment. https://youtu.be/AzoE9uk2eNo


Video 6-7


In the videos ‘Experiences from UDeL Camp’ Lars Harryson (from Lund University) and Lotta Åbjörnsson (from Lund University) tell their personal experiences from the UDeL Camp. They share their reasons and incentives why they attended the UDeL camp as well as their opinions of the practical relevance of UDeL.


Katie Novak’s EDtalk – an introduction to UDL: http://edtalks.org/video/katie-novak universal-design-learning-introduction