Enrollment in online and technology-blended courses in institutions of higher education is growing at a dramatic rate across the United States. According to an investigation of over 2,500 institutions by the Babson Survey Research Group, the College Board and the Sloan Consortium (2008), nearly 3.9 million college students were enrolled in at least one online course during the fall 2007 term. This represented a 12% increase from the prior year. Despite this rapid growth, there is limited evidence related to effective teaching practices in online and blended courses for diverse learners, particularly those with mild cognitive disabilities. The goal of the UDI Online project is to extend prior work in Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) into online and technology blended learning environments. This poster session will present highlights of activities to date of the UDI Online Project, which is one of the funded Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education from the US Department of Education. Highlighted activities include the results of a needs assessment of students and faculty at six postsecondary institutions in the northeast, the development of an electronic toolbox of “e-Tools”, and the development of a series of online instructional modules for postsecondary faculty. Each is described in more detail below. Needs Assessment - Student surveys and interviews. Students (n = 400) with and without learning disabilities and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - from six institutions in the northeast are currently being surveyed using an electronic instrument designed by the project staff. The survey gleans information regarding student experiences in online and technology-blended courses. The students were asked to rate their perceived importance of various components of course organization, course delivery, and course evaluation (assessment). To gather additional insight into student experiences, 30 students from the same six institutions are currently being interviewed related to their experiences in online and technology-blended courses. Half of the students being interviewed have learning disabilities and/or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These students are enrolled at a research 1 university, two public universities, a private college, and two community colleges. Needs Assessment - Faculty surveys and interviews. Simultaneously, interviews and surveys are being conducted with faculty at these six institutions. A total of 350 faculty, representing a range of disciplines, rank, and experience teaching in an online or blended format are being surveyed, while 30 are being interviewed. Questions focus on the benefits and challenges of teaching in this format, as well as on techniques found to effective and important. Electronic Toolbox. The needs assessment described above serves as a guide for the development of an electronic toolbox that consists of a series of “e-Tools”. These e-Tools are digitally presented materials, instructional techniques and/or strategies that can be used or manipulated by a course instructor to proactively create a learning environment that benefits a broad range of learners. These e-Tools range from simple, readily available features of common programs (e.g., Microsoft Word Highlighting tool that helps to scaffold student readings), to free downloads (e.g., Jing, Doodle; Skype – programs that allow increased collaboration and interaction between students and faculty), to low cost programs (e.g., Adobe Acrobat 9.0). Using a cycle of developing, piloting, and revising, the electronic toolbox focuses on “faculty as designer”. Instructional guides have been created for faculty to locate and use the tool, without the need for support from an instructional technology department. Faculty users will also provide ratings and feedback related to the tool that future users can employ to guide their selection and use of e-Tools. Instructional modules. The electronic toolbox also contains a series of online instructional modules related to a range of topics. These include an introduction to UDI, the history of UDI, the application of UDI to postsecondary education, legal issues in serving students with disabilities in postsecondary education, and learning disabilities/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Other modules contain model resources that faculty can use and adapt to their courses as needed, including a list of important campus resources for students, an introductory session of an online class, and resources related to developing course objectives and grading rubrics. Results Participants will learn about the application of UDI to online and technology blended courses, and about resources that can be used and shared with campus faculty teaching in these environments.
