Glossary and Resources

Students walking on campus smiling.

 

Universal Design for Learning Resources

Websites

Peer-reviewed articles and books

  • Block, L. (2006). Universal Design in Higher Education (Special issue). Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 19(2).
  • Burgstahler, S.E., & Cory, R.C. (2008). Universal design in higher education: From principles to practice. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press
  • Funckes, C., & Kroeger, S. (2003). Implementing Universal Design in Higher Education: Moving Beyond the Built Environment. Journal on Postsecondary Education and Disability, 16(2), 78-89.
  • Gradel, K. and Edson, A. J. (2010). Putting Universal Design for Learning on the higher ed agenda. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(2).
  • Higbee, J.L. (ed.) (2003). Curriculum transformation and disability: Implementing universal design in higher education. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Roberts, K.D. et al. (2011). Universal Design for Instruction in postsecondary education: A systematic review of empirically based articles. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 24(1).
  • Rose, D. H. & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
  • Rowland, C., et al. (2010). Universal design for the digital environment: Transforming the institution. Educause Review Online, 45(6).
  • Schelley, C.L., et al. (2011). Student perceptions of faculty implementation of Universal Design for Learning. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 24(1).
  • Williams, G. (2010). Academic Resources and Universal Design. Chronicle of Higher Education.

Online Tutorials

Videos

The Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities presents a new documentary,  Hadamar: The Forgotten Holocaust, detailing Hitler's extermination of people with disabilities

On September 1, 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. On September 1, 2020, the Minnesota Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities is releasing a new documentary entitled,  Hadamar: The Forgotten Holocaust. This documentary focuses on Adolph Hitler's order to kill hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities in order to create a master race.  Deaths occurred in various hospitals including Hadamar. We gratefully acknowledge Dave Reynolds from Spokane, Washington who generously provided us with his lecture notes and PowerPoint, and to Tim Lewis from Mastcom for converting that lecture into a 16 minute documentary.

An equity focus in policy recognizes the need to eliminate disparities in educational outcomes of students from underserved and underrepresented populations. Such lens is color conscious and seeks specifically to eliminate widening postsecondary gaps for American Indian, African American, and LatinX students. Furthermore, it seeks to shift accountability to the institution rather than to the students and allows the organization to see when policies and practices that appear to be beneficial actually are creating a worsening inequality.

An equity lens is a process for analyzing or diagnosing the impact of the design and implementation of policies on under-served and marginalized individuals and groups, and to identify and potentially eliminate barriers. Such groups may include: race/ethnicity, religious expression, veteran status, nationality, including underrepresented groups and new immigrant populations, people who identify as women, age, socio-economic, people with both apparent and non-apparent disabilities, people of various gender and sexual identities and expressions, American Indians and other indigenous populations.

A protocol for policy review provides a structure for institutionalizing the considering of equity in the process of making, implementing, and assessing policy.

Resources

Guide
Applying and Equity Lens to Policy Review

Training