From Accommodations to Accessibility: Creating Learning Environments That Work for All - Luis Perez, EDUCAUSE Review

In the next stage of the A3 model, Accessibility, the focus shifts from addressing the needs of a single student to creating a learning environment that works for all learners. One way to move an institution into this phase is to make sure that instructional design incorporates Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. UDL is a framework for inclusive education that places the burden for accessibility on the curriculum rather than on students. Although a full exploration of the UDL framework is beyond the scope of this article, a number of resources from the Center for Applied Special Education (CAST) are available for any faculty or staff members who want to learn more. UDL was inspired by the universal design movement in architecture, but in its current incarnation, it owes more to neuroscience insights about the nature of learning and learners. UDL is based on the idea that learners show a great deal of variability in what engages them in learning, in how they perceive and process information, and in how they are able to interact with the learning environment and demonstrate their learning. http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/accommodations-accessibility-creating-learning-environments-work-all