Universal Design: Addressing Variability through Flexibility

Facilitator: Lori Hokerson, Universal Design and Accessibility Coordinator

Variability is an important element of universal design, but can be viewed as incompatible with instructional design in higher education. Another element of universal design is flexibility, which can be misconstrued as “reducing rigor” or “not holding students accountable.” What if I told you that both variability and flexibility increase student agency without compromising rigor or instructional quality, and positively increase student success – would you believe me? Our students come to us with varied disabilities, varied needs, varied barriers, and varied levels of self regulation and motivation. Universal design offers solutions to the variability of our students through varying our courses and how we deliver them to students. I invite you to join me and learn how you can build variability and flexibility into your courses to meet the needs of your students.