The Universal Design of Learning Symposium took place in Arapahoe Community College’s Summit Room on Nov. 1, 2024 at 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event took the collaboration of ACC’s Dean of Educational Partnerships, Vicki Aycock and various other members from different departments – including but not limited to the Center for Innovation and Learning (CITL) and Student Affairs.
This Symposium was the second of its kind, the first one being in September, both events with the goal to bring awareness to the Universal Design of Learning (UDL) to anyone interested: staff, faculty and students. After introductions and a few words from guest speaker: Donald Walker, a series of various workshops were held to help attendees continuously think of new ways to alter their interactions and approaches to what ACC and all colleges are centered around – students.
UDL, or the Universal Design of Learning, is – as attendee English Department Chair, Scott Guenthner puts it – something that community colleges have always tried to center their curriculum around because of them being open-access institutions, even if there hasn’t been an established term for it.
“I think UDL is the modern iteration of the same conversation community colleges have been having for a long time,” Guenthner said.
ACC, like all community colleges, is referred to as ‘open-access’, meaning the institution doesn’t have selective admissions; all are welcome to a post-secondary education, and all people coming will have different backgrounds in education, different experiences.
Vice President of Student Affairs, Lisa Matye Edwards makes the comparison between a community college instructor and a kindergarten teacher in regards to the types of students who come into their classrooms.
“They’re coming from all these different places and levels of experiences,” Edwards said.
With the variety of students that are attending, finding an approach for all staff and faculty to follow may prove difficult, and that’s where UDL comes in.
Trying to follow UDL’s guidelines can be an overwhelming task, so participants were encouraged to try and think of one thing they could do to incorporate UDL into their classroom, such as “considering perceptions of people, cultures, and languages”. Both guest speaker Donald Walker and lead organizer Vicki Aycock articulate how this process may be simple, but will yield positive results.
“What was one simple thing you can do, taking these practices… and how can we start adding on just one more thing as you go?” Aycock said.
