What is Universal Design (UD)

Students with disabilities are increasingly opting to take distance education courses. As a result, many courses are not prepared to adequately meet the needs of their students. This chapter provides an overview of the main accessibility issues, including the delay in technology use and adaptation and assistive technology integration for people with disabilities in distance education courses. To mitigate these issues, a framework for instructional design, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), is presented. UDL is a set of three principles that, when applied from the beginning of the course design, can reduce the need for later modifications or accommodations. Instructors may use UDL to ensure that the course is accessible, not just for students with disabilities, but for all students in the course.