Slides of my presentation as part of a panel run with Anna Santucci hosted by UCC and organized by CIRTL and James Northridge of UCC Inclusive While Universal Design for Learning (UDL) had gained in momentum across Canadian post-secondary institutions over the last decade, it has been mostly framed in terms of pedagogical best practices. This has inherently meant that it has attracted and been appealing to instructors already very focused on transformative pedagogies and accessibility. Few other strategic approaches to UDL advocacy and strategic growth have to date been explored. Yet, many efforts to deploy UDL in the further and higher education sectors have stalled or not gained full momentum on the global scale. The time has perhaps come to conceptualize the need for UDL from powerful new and innovative stances, for optimal impact and growth outcomes. An argument which is less often used to frame UDL but that carries perhaps more persuasive weight with faculty, staff, and administration is that of sustainable development. When examining current post-secondary practices with regards to accessibility, learner diversity, and inclusion, it becomes immediately and pressingly tangible that campuses can rarely afford to continue functioning efficiently with their existing models. There are three distinct ways, this session will argue, in which sustainability can and should be used as a lens to examine the need for change in relation to inclusion and accessibility: (i) first the notion of sustainable teaching practices pushes us to question how long we can continue to design for the mythical mainstream classroom, without burning out while retrofitting constantly for the diverse student population that is in fact in our lecture halls; (ii) the sustainable development lens also pushes to examine out current model of service provision in relation to accessibility and to question how long this delivery model can last without imploding; (iii) lastly, considering the hyper neo-liberal mindset that currently characterizes the neo-liberal sector, it is reasonable to wonder if institutions have a genuine likelihood of surviving and thriving if they do not respond to the ever more eloquent needs of a diverse clientele. This session will seek to examine and showcase how UDL addresses these three areas of concern related to sustainable development. The session will be followed by a 30-minute panel during which these themes will continue to be explored in a fully interactive manner with the audience. The outcomes include: - Acknowledge the impact of sustainability as a lens to promote UDL within campuses; - Explore arguments and examples that may be useful to showcase UDL within a sustainability approach in the participants’ own institutions; - Identify stakeholder relationship which must be developed and strengthened to grow UDL implementation within the sustainable development lens.

1. Can we afford not to do this? Framing the
pressing need for Universal Design for Learning
implementation through the lens of sustainable
development across campuses
UDL Panel hosted by CIRTL
University College Cork, June 6th, 2023
Frederic Fovet, PhD.

2. Land Acknowledgement
• I acknowledge that I work on
the traditional lands of the
Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc within
Secwépemc'ulucw, the
traditional and unceded
territory of the Secwépemc. I
also acknowledge that I live on
the unceded an traditional lands
of the Sylx people. I
acknowledge these
communities’ language, their
culture, their elders and
recognize their claims to land.

3. Objectives of the Session
• Acknowledge the impact of sustainability as a lens to promote UDL within
campuses;
• Explore arguments and examples that may be useful to showcase UDL within
a sustainability approach in the participants’ own institutions;
• Identify stakeholder relationship which must be developed and strengthened
to grow UDL implementation within the sustainable development lens.

4. Personal lens and methodological stance
• Practice as teacher and principal having, using
UDL in the context of social, emotional and
behavioural difficulties in the secondary sector.
• Four year as head of accessibility at McGill
University, given the mandate to widen UDL
adoption across the campus
• Have created overlap between UDL and
sustainability as discourses from the start in
2011
• Act as a consultant on UDL and inclusion to
tertiary sector institutions, and the issue of
strategic development of UDL is increasingly
pressing

5. Modelling UDL in the session format
• It can be challenging and frustrating to discuss UDL in virtual workshop sessions
which are inherently traditional and ‘sage on a stage’ in format.
• Becomes increasingly contradictory when UDL advocates present in non-UDL ways.
• UDL is not just about the classroom; these principles of inclusive design apply to all
our interactions with others (PD, conferences, campus services, HR communications,
etc.)
- Continued interaction and dialogue on social media
- Interactive panel discussion
- Time will be set aside for questions at the end; conversations can continue face to
face after the session
- Personalized interaction possible through email
- Will share by slides again through SlideShare

6. Context
• The UDL discourse and scholarship have grown steadily since 2010
• Much of this literature, however, still focuses on the pedagogical benefits of UDL
integration
• The strategic dimension of UDL implementation is often missing from discussion –
the ‘how to’
• Within this perspective, too much stress is still being placed on best practices in
teaching – as something not essential but that can be focused on when time allows
• This session will argue that in fact there is no such leisurely pace: there is an urgent
need for campuses to adopt UDL, for fear of their processes no longer being
sustainable

7. Three dimensions of reflection
• Pressing and tangible need to reflect on sustainability on three different level, using
sustainability as lens (through an ecological lens):
• Sustainability of teaching practices (which will represent the bulk of our panel
discussions today)
• Sustainability of the accessibility/ disability service provision model
• Sustainability of higher education management and governance in an era of pressing
student preoccupations

8. Sustainability
• Long gone are the days when sustainability referred to operations and energy
management.
• Sustainability in higher education is increasingly about governance, stakeholder
engagement, policy, social justice, and access
• STARS rating includes these social indicators and preoccupations as a matter of
routine (https://stars.aashe.org/ )
• Simple definition of sustainability is now: the ability to continue doing what we do
using no further resources – or less resources – than we currently use

9. Sustainability of teaching practice
• Notion of sustainable teaching practices leads us to question how long we can continue to
design for the mythical mainstream classroom, without burning out
• Constant retrofitting by instructors is tense and onerous in terms of time and resources
• Constant communication with accessibility services is disempowering for instructors and
currently does not support them effectively
• Issue of clash of perspectives between learners and faculty in terms of expectations with
regards to teaching and learning is exhausting of many instructors
• Conversations within a deficit model approach can be intrusive, stressful and challenging to
navigate
• Contributes to instructor attrition in North America
• Designing inclusively means breaking away from ‘teaching to the curve’
• Reduces the need to retrofit
• Allows powerful osmosis with other teaching philosophies (‘happy place’ of accessible
transformative pedagogy)

10. Sustainability of teaching practices
• We will be discussing this further in the panel but here are some essential questions:
• Why and to what extent does inclusive design simplify our relationship to the
learner?
• Once inclusive mindset is adopted does it mean all other reflection around
transformative pedagogies comes to an end?
• In what sense are inclusive design and UDL sustainable? Do I not need to keep
working at this?
• How do I merge and reconcile inclusive design and academic freedom/ the need to
challenge myself and others?
• Inclusive design seems sustainable, but does it not require increased resources to
start with (instructional design support)?
• How do I begin a dialogue in my community on sustainability and teaching/ inclusive
design when most people still think of sustainability in terms of environmental
science?

11. Sustainability of disability service
provision
• Adherence to the medical/ deficit model creates an overreliance on diagnostic
documentation and individualized interventions/ retrofitting
• There are factors that now gravely threaten the sustainability of such models:
• Exploding demographics
• Fragmentation of diagnoses
• Cost of large-scale retrofitting
• Litigious flavour increasingly surrounding/ threatening the model
• Learner expectations and self-advocacy

12. UDL offers a powerful framework to focus on these
three dimensions of sustainable development
• Considering the hyper neo-liberal mindset that currently characterizes the post-
secondary sector, it is reasonable to wonder if institutions have a genuine likelihood
of surviving and thriving if they do not respond to the ever more eloquent needs of a
diverse clientele.
• Importance, even for marketing reasons, of being receptive to the wider societal
changes currently reshaping social justice issues
• In a business model landscape, learners are likely to choose an institution on the
basis of its ability to address learner diversity effectively and genuinely
• Organizational sustainability is inherently connected to accessibility and inclusive
teaching and learning
• Implications obviously in terms of aligning practices and cultural mindset to the
branding message once inclusive design is adopted as a value

13. Identify stakeholder relationship which must be developed and strengthened to
grow UDL implementation within the sustainable development lens.
• Work on sustainability requires multidisciplinary collaboration with specific
stakeholders?
• How do you identify and build these relationships?
• How do you find a common dialogue around sustainability and UDL?

14. References & Resources
Chita-Tegmark, M., Gravel, J. W., Maria De Lourdes, B. S., Domings, Y., & Rose, D. H. (2012). Using the Universal Design
for Learning Framework to Support Culturally Diverse Learners. Journal of Education, 192(1), 17–22.
https://doi.org/10.1177/002205741219200104
Fovet, F. (2021) Developing an Ecological Approach to Strategic UDL Implementation in Higher Education. Journal of
Education and Learning, 10(4).
Fovet, F. (Ed.) (2021) Handbook of Research on Applying Universal Design for Learning Across Disciplines: Concepts,
Case Studies, and Practical Implementation. IGI Global
Fovet, F. (2020) Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Inclusion in the Higher Education Classroom: Tips for the
Next Decade of Implementation. Education Journal. Special Issue: Effective Teaching Practices for Addressing Diverse
Students’ Needs for Academic Success in Universities, 9(6), 163-172.
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/journal/paperinfo?journalid=196&doi=10.11648/j.edu.20200906.13
Fovet, F. (2017) Access, Universal Design and Sustainability of Teaching Practices: a Powerful Synchronicity of
Concepts at a Crucial Conjuncture for Higher Education. Indonesian Journal of Disability Studies (IJDS), 4(2), 118-129
James, K. (2018) Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Structure for Culturally Responsive Practice. Northwest
Journal of Teacher Education, 13(1), Article 4.
Kennette, L., & Wilson, N. (2019) Universal Design for Learning: What is it and how do I implement it? Transformative
Dialogues: Teaching & Learning, 12(1)
Kilpatrick, J.R.., Ehrlich, S., & Bartlett, M. (2021) Learning from COVID-19: Universal Design for Learning
Implementation Prior to and During a Pandemic. The Journal of Applied Instructional Design.
https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_10_1/universal_design_forS

15. Contact details
• Frederic Fovet (PhD.)
• Implementudl@gmail.com
• School of Education, Faculty of Education and Social Work,
Thompson Rivers University
• ffovet@tru.ca
• @Ffovet
• www.implementudl.com