Show Notes
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.
More from Think UDL
Welcome to Ep 167 of the Think UDL Podcast: Your UDL Network Will Change the System with Matt Brett. In this episode, Dr. Matt Brett and I discuss how leadership in UDL often shows up through organizational knowledge flows rather than through formal authority. Instead of thinking about leadership as something executives hold, we talk about how influence moves through relationships, conversations, and shared problem‑solving. In the episode, we explore how networks, conferences, hybrid participation, mentoring, and even storytelling help people advance UDL from wherever they sit in an institution. It’s a very human, very practical look at how ideas spread. We also get into the realities that shape that influence — the institutional context you’re working in, the power dynamics that can either open doors or close them, and the ways gender bias can affect whose leadership is recognized. The conversation is really about how UDL change happens through people connecting with other people, and how being intentional about those connections can shift an entire system.
In today’s conversation, we discuss how Mike and Osu updated an entry level biology assignment in a large enrollment course to offer students choice and flexibility in topics and delivery. And when they presented this topic at ADCET’s UDL Symposium (which I highly, highly recommend), during the actual session they offered to the group if their work should be presented as a podcast or poster or in some other fashion and then did exactly what the group wanted. It was an excellent way to demonstrate how engaged participants can be when given ownership of a task. You’ll learn quite a few ways to make your assessments better and how to improve group work from this conversation.
In this episode, we discuss “Breaking the Code – Using the (In)CLUDE framework to support the implementation of Universal Design for Learning 3.0 in the classroom through the use of Drama in Education,” which delineates easy to use and creative ways to use principles learned in drama education that can be applied to any course whether in the humanities, arts and sciences or social sciences. And what I really appreciated in the article, which is linked in the resource section of this episode, is a helpful color coordinated chart of the UDL guidelines with a co-listed drama in education technique that correlates to each UDL consideration. And then she provides a useful acronym (In)CLUDE which asks each instructor to consider the Where, Who, What, Why and How of each learning environment and learning goal to implement these strategies. Start with the C=Context (Where and who?), L=Learning outcomes, U=UDL Guidelines, D=Drama in Education, E=Enact or put into action. Louise is also a fabulous storyteller and truly it is the stories that carry this conversation so I know you will enjoy this chat and be able to take away at least one more strategy in your teaching repertoire after hearing what is possible.
In our conversation, we discuss the connections between UDL and expressive and creative arts therapies and consider how her work in play therapy and equine-assisted therapy provides an empathetic lens for her to better understand learner variability and the various pathways for learning in her students.
In this conversation, Sarah and I discuss options for faculty members who are considering low tech, no tech, or more analog classroom activities or educational environments. We talk about access friction and decisions that might need to be considered in order to meet the needs of current students with competing access and technology needs.