Overview
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Fellows Program will support faculty and staff to develop expertise in UDL through a cohort-based professional development program comprising a series of facilitated workshops, online modules, and a project-focused set of activities to help participants use UDL principles to redesign their courses to be more inclusive and accessible.
The goals of the UDL Fellows Program are to:
- Identify and address systemic barriers to equitable learning opportunities, to create and sustain equitable and inclusive campuses by enhancing the accessibility of physical and virtual spaces for students, staff, and faculty (supporting UBC Strategic Plan Strategy 4: Inclusive Excellence; and the UBC Inclusion Action Plan)
- Improve access and inclusion in on-campus, online and hybrid teaching and learning environments with a focus on barriers for students with disabilities or other accommodations
- Develop a network of practitioners with expertise in applying UDL approaches in the design and delivery of courses across a range of disciplines and who will promote awareness of UDL amongst faculty and staff at UBC Vancouver
- Develop a range of strategies and resources to help increase support for accessibility in UBC courses
For more information on this program please refer to the UDL Fellows Program page on the TLEF website.
Project Team Structure/Commitment
All project teams selected for the second intake of the UDL Fellows Program will commit to participating in a series of UDL Fellows Program workshops (hybrid and in-person) between May and August 2024. During this period, they will work with their team to develop and implement UDL approaches in their course, which will be offered during the 2024/25 academic year (i.e., Winter Session 1 starting September 2024 or Winter Session 2 starting January 2025).
Eligibility
- Ideally, faculty project teams will include an instructor (could be tenure-stream or contract faculty) who teaches a course that will be the focus of the project and a support staff member (from a Faculty Instructional Support Unit or departmental support unit). If the Faculty is unable to nominate a staff support person, CTLT can provide support to the project.
- Departments will be eligible to receive $10,000 in funding to cover a three-credit course release for faculty who participate in the UDL Fellows Program. Faculties will be asked to commit in-kind support of a staff member where possible to participate fully in this professional development program as a core project team member, and to work closely with faculty on a course-focused UDL redesign project.
Faculty of Science Nomination Process
The Faculty of Science will nominate two project teams to participate in the second intake of the UDL Fellows Program. Interested teams should submit a letter of interest on or before December 1, 2023. Please address the letter to Jaclyn Stewart, Associate Dean Academic, and submit it to ugrad.admin@science.ubc.ca.
The letter of interest should identify the faculty member and staff member in the team and answer the following questions:
- Why do you want to join the UDL Fellows Program?
- Which course will you redesign? What are the existing systemic barriers in this course?
- What aspects of the course would benefit from being redesigned with a Universal Design for Learning approach?
- For multi-section courses, what is the level of commitment from the other instructors to apply the redesign to all sections of the course?
- How could the impact of the redesign be assessed?
- How will you share what you learn in the program with others in the Faculty of Science?
Teams who submit comprehensive and compelling letters of interest will have an equal chance of being selected for the inaugural UDL Fellows program. One team will be randomly selected from large, multi-section courses (2+ sections with over 100 students total). One team will be randomly selected from single-section or smaller courses. Laboratory courses or teams representing laboratory components of courses are encouraged to apply.
For consultation and support with your letter of interest, please reach out to the Science Faculty Liaison, Ashley Welsh, at ashley.welsh@ubc.ca.
Selected teams will work with the Associate Dean Academic to complete the program nomination form, which is due January 25th, 2024.
