Universal Design for Learning and Active Blended Learning: A Phenomenological Exploration of Their Overlap in a Master's Program of Educational Leadership

Abstract

This chapter examines active blended learning and universal design for learning in context within the lived professional experience of the author. The tension between both of these approaches to teaching and learning is first analyzed and explored through a series of vignettes. In the second stage, an analysis is carried out to identify ways in which the tension between both paradigms can be resolved by practitioners in higher education. The final stage of the chapter conceptualizes this empirical reflection and offers a model that can be used in professional development activities with faculty to guide them seamlessly as they attempt to reconcile these 21st century imperatives of teaching and learning in one progressive, cohesive, and coherent discourse.