What if all students had equal opportunities to learn?

At UiO we have over 26 000 students with different needs. As teachers, we have an obligation to make teaching accessible to everyone, regardless of their needs or disabilities.

This course focuses on the digital learning environment, specifically how you as an instructor design and present teaching materials so that they meet the requirements for universal design (UD). Such design is required by several laws and regulations: the Universities and Colleges Act, the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act, and the Regulation on universal design of ICT solutions.

But universal design is not just a legal requirement. By designing your teaching materials with universal design in mind you facilitate better learning for everyone! Universal design, besides inclusion and equal opportunities, is largely about clarity, structure and flexibility. Small measures can have a big impact, and the learning platforms we use make design easy once you know how.

The course is created for all teachers at the University of Oslo who use online solutions and digital learning resources as part of their teaching, but is also useful to administrative employees that make webpages and documents in the same applications and online solutions.

Welcome to the course, and good luck!

Start the course

The course consists of five modules

The first three modules make up the course itself. The fourth consists of practical guides. In the fifth you will find a final test (Quiz). You should allow 1–3 hours in total; time spent depends on prior knowledge and how much time you want to spend on the practical module 4. A good tip is to take the course in small portions.

Module 1: What is universal design?

In this module you will get an introduction to what universal design (UD) is, and what the UD requirements mean for you as a teacher.

Module 2: Requirements

In this module you will become familiar with all the requirements that apply to universal design of teaching materials.

Module 3: Recommendations

This module is about some recommendations that can further improve the quality of your materials.

Module 4: Universal design in practice

In this module you will learn to use standard tools (Canvas, Word and PowerPoint) to design materials in accordance with universal design (UD) requirements. We also look at how to check whether you meet the requirements, and how to fix UD issues in Canvas using Anthology Ally.

Module 5: Final quiz

The UD test.

Test yourself — have you understood the most important aspects of universal design?

Do you have questions or feedback?

The course was developed by the Faculty of Humanities, University of Oslo. If you have questions or feedback, contact HF:Studio (uio.no).

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