Designing Accessible Courses: Leverage UDL and QM Standard 8 for Content Remediation and Inclusive Learning Experiences

Move beyond digital accessibility compliance to proactive, inclusive course design. This session invites faculty and instructional staff to rethink accessibility through the lens of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) -- a framework that prioritizes flexibility and learner variability from the start. 

Grounded in the Quality Matters (QM) Higher Education Rubric and General Standard 8: Accessibility & Usability, this session will introduce practical, sustainable strategies for designing courses that are accessible and usable for all learners. 

Participants will explore how digital tools like Ally and small, targeted changes, including UDL's "plus-one thinking," can make a meaningful difference in the student learning experience.

Session Objectives

• Explain UDL's three core principles and their alignment with QM's General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability.

• Apply Specific Review Standards from General Standard 8 to:

• Design course navigation with a consistent layout and structure that facilitates ease of use.

• Logically structure course content and ensure the use of high-contrast color combinations.

• Provide descriptive alternative text for all meaningful images, and ensure video and audio content includes edited closed captions or an accurate text transcript.

• Produce a course accessibility report using Ally to prioritize course remediation issues and offer multiple content formats that can support diverse learning needs.

• Adopt the UDL practice of "plus-one thinking" by committing to addressing and remediating at least one Specific Review Standard from QM Standard 8 in your next course revision.

This session is open to all faculty and instructional staff. No prior accessibility experience needed.

To RSVP for the event, please click "Going" in the myUMBC event and be sure to add it to your calendar! Registered participants will receive a calendar invitation from the event host at least one week before the event.

At least 5 registrations are needed for this session to proceed as scheduled. The session will be recorded if two or more people attend and the link will be distributed to everyone who registered.

JOINING THE SESSION

This webinar will take place in a Google Meet virtual conference room. Enter the webinar up to 15 minutes before the start time. Visit the myUMBC Event post and select the "Join Online Event" button to join the Google Meet session.

Prior to the Event

1. For the best viewing experience, we recommend using Chrome, Brave, or Firefox, preferably the most recent updates to those browsers. Closing any unnecessary browser tabs will help conserve your bandwidth.  
2. If this is your first time joining one of our webinars, please review the requirements to use Google Meet. Learn how to connect your audio & video, change/blur your background, and use reactions. You can also review the accessibility support including live captions.