Towards Genuinely Inclusive Universities

The Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO) is delighted to host a webinar series entitled ‘Towards Genuinely Inclusive Universities: an international perspective on best practices in the implementation of universal design’. The series is composed of eight webinars and will run from December 2020 until July 2021. This webinar series will shed light on several topics closely related to current policies and practices in post-secondary education around the topics of inclusion and universal design. Each webinar will focus on case studies about implementation.

This webinar series will be led by Valérie Van Hees, Coordinator Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO, Belgium) and Frederic Fovet, Associate Professor, School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University (Canada). Within each webinar, one or two additional speakers will join the facilitators to discuss the topic through a panel approach. Each webinar will last one and a half hours and will include an opportunity for Q&A.

Target Audience

This webinar series will be of interest to institutional leaders, service providers, academic staff, researchers, scholars, and students interested in the implementation of UDL. The objectives of the series is to offer participants the opportunity to deepen their reflection around UDL implementation and to encourage them to develop sustainable institutional policies and practices in this area. Each webinar includes its own specific participant outcomes.

Programme

The first webinar of the series will offer a broad overview of the landscape, exploring the social dimension of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and how this social dimension has played a role in how universities are implementing inclusion and universal design for learning (UDL) strategies. It will also examine the challenges present in the implementation of UDL across institutions. The concluding webinar of the series will look to the future, and attempt to frame the work that might be necessary over the next decade in terms of UDL implementation in higher education. In between, six webinars will present and discuss case studies related to universities and offer practical examples of the ways UDL has successfully been embedded in faculties, departments, disciplines and courses within various classroom formats. Attention will be given to the whole spectrum of post-secondary education, including teaching, assessment, international classes, student support services and mental health and - in the case of one of the webinars - community colleges, colleges of further education, and trade schools; another webinar will specifically explore UDL implementation in post-secondary in the Global South.

Webinar 1 - State of play on implementing inclusion and universal design strategies in higher education across Europe and beyond
Thursday, 10 December 2020 - 15.30 - 17.00 CET

The social dimension of higher education has been featured in the discussions of the Bologna Process since its early years. A new set of Principles and Guidelines produced by the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) Advisory Group on the Social Dimension (AG1) renews the sectors’ commitment to equity and inclusion and aims to foster concrete change in the EHEA in the coming years. This webinar will review these recommendations and discuss them from the viewpoint of European higher education institutions. The speakers will discuss findings of their research project on university strategies for inclusion, and examine how UDL fits within these wide objectives for inclusion. This SIHO webinar will provide an concise overview of the European landscape on social inclusion in higher education and address the barriers that have emerged with the implementation of the UDL framework.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will reflect on the growing diversity of the higher education population and on the challenges in providing inclusive provisions for all;
• Participants will consider what inclusive provisions mean within the post-secondary classroom;
• Participants will examine policy at institution and government level that supports the further of inclusive teaching and learning.

Webinar 2 - Universal design as an institutional approach: international good practices
Thursday, 14 January 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

This webinar will introduce case studies from universities where a universal design for learning (UDL) strategy has been embedded at institutional level. The webinar will discuss European examples of classroom implementation of inclusive practices, and notably UDL, across curriculum development, teaching and learning. A number of examples of cross-campus implementation from North America will also be explored. This SIHO webinar will consider what further developments are needed in the various dimensions of this implementation to achieve genuine inclusion in the higher education classroom.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will explore the wide array of inclusive classroom practices that have emerged and been developed in the post-secondary sector during the past decade;
• Participants will more specifically examine how UDL has been implemented in the higher education classroom;
• Participants will be exposed to the narrative of practitioners already engaged in the process of making teaching and learning more inclusive and reflect on how some of these experiences can the transferred to their own context.

Webinar 3 - Universal design for learning in the classroom: best practices for inclusive assessment
Thursday, 11 February 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

Assessment remains a point of friction when it comes to inclusion in the higher education classroom. While degrees of UDL implementation have come to life on various campuses around the world, diversifying assessment within our existing institutional cultures can still be tricky. This SIHO webinar will highlight successful narratives from practitioners who have succeeded in rethinking assessment within a UDL lens, and hopes to offer participants tangible examples of what a UDL reflection around assessment looks like, and what outcomes it can lead to.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will examine how resistant the post-secondary sector is to the transformation of assessment through the lens of inclusion;
• Participants will explore practical examples of redesign of assessment carried out with UDL as a lens;
• Participants will consider what the ‘new frontiers’ are looking to the future in relation to inclusive assessment in higher education.

Webinar 4 - The potential of universal design to create inclusive classroom practices with international students
Thursday, 18 March 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

The percentage of international students enrolled in higher education is rising rapidly. Internationalisation of higher education has brought many benefits to our institutions, but deep reflection around the conditions that are necessary for the successful inclusion of international students on these campuses is only beginning. Discussions around multiculturalism in the classroom help in this regard, but they often fall short of genuinely redesigning the learning experience for greater inclusion. This SIHO webinar will focus around the relevance of UDL in the inclusion of international students in the higher education classroom.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will consider the challenges currently experienced by International students in the post-secondary sector;
• Participants will explore the extent to which UDL can be used as a lens to create inclusive classroom provisions for International students;
• Participants will reflect, from a systems perspective, the challenges that lie ahead in getting buy-in from instructors in the post-secondary sector towards inclusive provisions for International students.

Webinar 5 - The potential of universal design for learning with regards to mental health and wellbeing in higher education
Thursday, 29 April 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

To allow current students and future generations of learners to reach their full potential, universities need to be aware of the growing concern that exists about mental health issues among students in higher education. This SIHO webinar will focus on the potential of UDL with regards to mental health issues in the higher education classroom, and will point out UDL solutions which are being proposed, from a design perspective, to minimize the impact of mental health issues within the learning experience.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will examine the impact that mental health issues are having on the post-secondary classroom;
• Participants will explore the degree to which design thinking can eliminate the barriers that create, trigger or exacerbate these mental issues in the classroom;
• Participants will consider, from a systems perspective, the change of mindset that is necessary for the impact of design thinking to be fully acknowledged in this area.

Webinar 6 - The potential of universal design for learning in community colleges, colleges of further education, trade schools, and vocation education institutions
Thursday, 20 May 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

Much of the research taking place in the field around UDL in higher education focuses on universities. This is not in fact reflective of the appetite for change which is currently observed with regards to teaching and learning in the wide spectrum of further education colleges and community colleges. It is high time the best practices being developed in these various categories of further education institutions be highlighted and showcased in the discourse around UDL and inclusion, and this will be the aim of this webinar. Further education institutions and community colleges face a very specific set of variables when addressing the diversity of learners, and these need to be analyzed in detail. The session will support participants as they begin this reflection.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will consider the specific variables that affect non-traditional post-secondary institutions as they seek to address learner diversity;
• Participants will explore the challenges faces by these institutions, as well as the opportunities that are present;
• Participants will gain an insight into some of the work already on the way in community colleges/ colleges of further education in relation to UDL implementation in the classroom.

Webinar 7 - Universal design for learning beyond the Global South
Thursday, 10 June 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

The development and implementation of UDL in Higher Education has so far been tracked, documented and discussed within Global North countries (mostly North America, Europe and Australia so far). The interest for UDL in fact extends to the Global South, a landscape where it represents distinct opportunities but also specific challenges. This session will welcome guest speaker from higher education institutions in the Global South, where UDL implementation has begun. They will share their experiences and showcase what they see ahead in terms of sustainable development of UDL in the post-secondary sector in Global South countries.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will consider what UDL represents and entail for the post-secondary sector in the Global South;
• Participants will explore the challenges and opportunities present in this landscape;
• Participants will reflect on what makes the UDL implementation journey unique and distinct in Global South countries;
• Participants will examine some of the work already under way in the Global South around UDL implementation in the higher education classroom and gain insight into specific case studies

Webinar 8 - Looking to the future: framing the next decade of universal design for learning implementation in higher education
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 15.30 – 17.00 CET

It has already become clear from the many cases in this webinar series, that UDL offers a convenient framework to design inclusive classes that embrace the needs of an increasingly diverse student population. This webinar series will conclude with recommendations to improve the institutional and systems capacity of the post-secondary sector as it strives to become more inclusive. These recommendations will - in part - be illustrated with concrete actions from the Support Centre for Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO), a national body supporting policy makers and universities to increasingly implement UDL principles in policy and practice.

Targeted participant outcomes:

• Participants will reflect on the progress achieved over the last decade towards UDL implementation and the development of inclusive practices in the higher education classroom;
• Participants will consider and identify remaining challenges;
• Participants will frame calls for action in relation to inclusive practices in the higher education classroom, both globally in terms of the field as a whole, and more specifically with regards to their own professional context.

Speakers and facilitators

Valérie Van Hees is the coordinator of the Support Centre for Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO, Belgium) and has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the field of policy and inclusion in higher education. At SIHO, she forms a bridge between policy and practice on a daily basis, being a point of contact for both the Flemish Government and higher education staff to support the implementation of inclusion measures in policies and practices.

Frederic Fovet is Associate Professor, School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University (Canada). Fovet is an inclusion specialist with a specific interest in emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD), critical pedagogy and universal design for learning (UDL). Fovet also has a strong grounding in Disability Studies, and has served as a teacher and principal in schools with a focus on the successful inclusion of students with EBD.

Registration

All webinars are free of charge and registration will be open up to the start of each webinar. All webinars will be recorded and published on the website and video channels of SIHO.

• Registration link webinar 1
• Registration link webinar 2
• Registration link webinar 3
• Registration link webinar 4
• Registration link webinar 5
• Registration link webinar 6
• Registration link webinar 7
• Registration link webinar 8

Presentations and recordings

Consult here the presentations and recordings of previous webinars.