Design for Inclusion- Post #3 (EDCI 335)

Overview

It is important that content is accessible and engaging for all learners. No matter the form that the content is presented in, it requires designing a learning experience for the learners’ needs. Inclusive learning design emphasizes that students may learn in different ways or that content may not be accessible to them. As Meyer, Rose, and Gordon (Citation 1) explain in their paper, Universal Design for learning: Theory and Practice:

“What is essential for some is almost always good for all” (p. 51).

This idea highlights that accessibility is not about making content “easier”. Instead, it’s about providing multiple ways for students to engage with it. For example, including audio or videos for learners who may have trouble hearing or reading while also supporting students who may have different learning needs, maybe no learning needs, is an important idea when thinking about how to design for inclusion. Moreover, content may not be available to people who lack access to the internet or digital tools. In these cases, providing alternative formats, such as printed guides or offline resources, ensures that learning opportunities are not limited. In this way, it ensures that content becomes more valuable, accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all learners.

How Our Project Is Designed for Inlcusion & Diverse Learner Needs

Our interactive AI prompt learning module is a WordPress site, designed to help people understand and create effective AI prompts. This site is structured into several sections for instructions, overview, practices, assessment, and reflection. Navigation through our site is also simple with “Back” and “Continue” buttons to move between our learning modules, and all resources, such as written guides and examples, are organized. This structure allows learners to progress at their own pace and engage with the content in multiple ways.

We made sure to include multiple means of learning by following the UDL Guidlines Framework.

1. Multiple Means of Representation: We provide examples of good and bad AI prompts and their outputs, online academic papers on our subject which learners can read, and written instructions for learns to follow through our theory page, activity, assessment, and reflection sections. This ensures that content is accessible visually and through text-based guides, accommodating different learning needs.
2. Multiple Means of Action or Expression: Students demonstrate their understanding by creating their own effective AI prompts after analyzing examples and learning tips. They also reflect on their outcomes and participate in group activities, allowing them to apply their knowledge in multiple ways and express their learning through creation and collaboration.
3. Multiple Means of Engagement: Learners interact with the module at their own pace allowing them to spend more time on sections they may find challenging. They also receive feedback on actitivites by comparing their responses to our suggested notes, which encourages them to continue learning. Group activities and reflection sections also creates for collaboration, discussion, and group learning allowing sutdents to learn from each other’s views.

Addressing Potential Barriers

While we did our best to ensure that our interactive AI prompt learning module is designed to be inclusive for all types of users, there are some potential challenges some learners may face. One key issue is accessibility for students who may have trouble reading. Unless you are learning our module with another person, people with these troubles will have difficulties following along since our learning module is all text-based. We could solve this by adding audio guides throughout each section to help students. Moreover, we also do not provide many visuals or videos for those who learn better by watching. Lastly, one key issue is accessibility for students with limited access to the internet or digital tools. Our learning module is an online-based resource which requires internet access. Providing downloadable PDFs for offline use or printable physical copies can make our content accessible to others. By addressing these issues and providing ways to solve them, we can make the learning module more inclusive and accessible for people’s diverse learning needs.

References

Meyer, Anne, et al. Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice. CAST Professional Publishing, an Imprint of CAST, Inc., 2014, UDL Theory Practice, retrieved from: udltheorypractice.cast.org/