Universal Design in Online Education: Employing Organization Change - Katherine J. Kirkpatrick, JOLT

With the rise in online education, universal design is an emerging trend aimed at providing available education opportunities to all students, accommodating for all disabilities. However, universal design in online education remains an ambiguous and lofty goal for an academic organization to undertake. This case analysis employs an organization change theoretical framework via archival document analysis to examine a failed universal design change initiative at a 1,500-student college. This analysis unpacks the complications inherent in the failed initiative via elucidation of the college’s actions comparatively with foundational tenets of organization change, particularly the diffusion of innovations model. Elicitations from this analysis include possibilities for future universal design change initiatives, as well as an overarching call for academic organizations to consider organization change tenets in organizational decision-making. http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Kirkpatrick_0615.pdf