The Faculty Partnership Programme was conceived in 2021 to support and accelerate the implementation of UDL throughout the University. It offers faculty a structured opportunity to undertake Universal Design training, to facilitate this training for the colleagues and peers, and become a role model who will persuade and influence others as to the merits of inclusion for all students.
Academic integration/belongingTraining | Online program | On campus | Off campus | Online & in person (hybrid) | Live and recorded
Time lineWhat is the main idea or gist?
What does this initiative/support/project look like?
Faculty Partners are drawn from all 6 UCD Colleges representing a range of diverse disciplines with currently 30 members of faculty appointed to the programme. Partners are appointed following an application process with a review panel drawn from UCD Access & Lifelong Learning, UCD Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and UCD Teaching & Learning.
They facilitate the rollout of the Digital Badge for Universal Design in Teaching & Learning.
As our classrooms and lecture theatres become increasingly diverse, our practices must also adapt to reflect the changing landscape of higher education. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, which guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate individual learning differences and cater for the wide range of diversity in our lecture rooms. The Digital Badge provides teaching staff with a sustained opportunity to critically reflect on their teaching methods and make changes to the practice by embedding UDL.
Over 4,000 individuals have completed this Badge nationally across the tertiary sector. The 10-week course is completely free of charge. Any member of teaching staff within the University can undertake this piece of training.
Faculty Partners actively recruit colleagues to sign up for this training. The Badge itself takes 25 hours of self-directed learning to complete. Between 2-3 hours per week over 10 weeks. Rollouts are facilitated each Autumn and Spring Trimesters. Those doing the Badge will need to complete a redesign activity which does require active teaching.
The University for All project team oversees and supports the Faculty Partners with resources, funding and guidance. They set the project goals, organise the community of practice, the University for All Symposium and the case study publication.Faculty Partners have shared their work in a collection of case studies, the purpose of which is to show best practice in the field and highlight practical ways of implementing the UDL framework across a variety of disciplines and contexts. The University for All Symposium in 2022 also gave partners the opportunity to share this work.
What are the goals?
The overarching goal is to create a University for All, that is accessible for all students regardless of background or circumstances.
Objectives
How are students involved?
Students have been actively involved in the implementation of UDL. Faculty Partners have used student feedback, carried out student surveys and focus groups to incorporate UDL practices into the classroom. These are specific to each Faculty Partner and are detailed in a set of case studies published in 2023.
What underlying constructs or ideas inspired the design?
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn, including students with disabilities. UDL aims to improve the educational experience of all students by introducing more flexible methods of teaching, assessment and service provision to cater for the diversity of learners in our classrooms. This approach is underpinned by research in the field of neuroscience and is designed to improve the learning experience and outcomes for all students.
What the success criteria and the points of attention?
The cross-disciplinary and collaborative nature of the Programme has led to rich discussion, formulation of ideas and solutions to shared challenges, resource sharing and a sense of community.
The funding has been less important in some respects than originally thought. Giving the Partners recognition and the platform with funding attached has valuable and has given them clout. Some Partners have found the funding difficult to spend and the project spending criteria have been revised.
It has been crucial for the employment of a dedicated project officer and for funding resources, the case study publication and the symposium.
(How) does the effectiveness get tracked?
Very effective – 368 new colleagues have completed the Digital Badge since the Programme began in 2021. This could not have been achieved without the work of the Partners encouraging and persuading their colleagues as to the benefits of Universal Design. UCD now has the highest number of completions nationally.
The wider recognition and adoption of UDL practices is being observed right across the University with professional staff now keen to undertake training to embed UD in their services and supports. There is also a wider adoption and understanding of other inclusion-related activities and synergies with other EDI/T&L initiatives.
The formation of a community of practice has been an unintended outcome of this Programme – the Partners support and share resources with each other and this forum for the exchange of ideas has been very valuable.
strongly agree
(How) is this initiative/support/project evaluated?
How is it communicated and advertised?
What is the current and ideal timing and duration?
Takes place throughout the academic year.
What resources are needed to run this initiative?
Is it easily transferrable to other contexts or groups?
We think it is easily transferable to other contexts or groups.
This is at its core a capacity building programme which can be replicable in other universities. The Digital Badge itself is an open resource and can be adapted with attribution. It is designed to be easily transferable across contexts and for different groups.
The FPs have formed a community of practice which has led to the cross pollination of ideas and resources – different colleagues from different disciplines having the opportunity to engage which would not have existed before and the opportunity to reflect on their T&L.
The programme is designed to give FPs a platform to champion inclusive practices.
Universal Design. Start small with an interested group of colleagues.