Category: Substantive Posts

Rethinking What Accessibility Really Means

Accessibility in education is often framed as something we add after a problem shows up, an accommodation, a workaround, a special support for a few learners. Exploring and reflecting on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and inclusive design has pushed me to rethink that idea entirely. Accessibility isn’t reactive, it’s intentional. It’s about designing learning experiences from the start with the understanding that learners are diverse in how they think, process, move and engage.

When barriers exist, they’re often not about a learner’s ability, but about a mismatch between people and the environments they’re expected to learn in. When those environments are designed more thoughtfully, many barriers fade away or never appear in the first place.

Accessibility as a Foundation for Inclusion

This way of thinking connects closely to the social model of disability and the core principles of UDL: multiple means of engagement, representation and expression. What feels most affirming about UDL is how familiar it is. The strategies UDL promotes (choice, flexibility, varied ways of showing understanding) are already hallmarks of good teaching.

For example, a TEDxTalk on the power of inclusive education illustrates how classrooms can be structured so that all learners actively participate, contribute and support one another’s thinking, modeling the kind of collaborative, student-centered engagement that active learning aims to promote. When students can access content in different ways and express their learning through multiple formats, participation increases across the board. Accessibility doesn’t single students out or label them as needing something “extra.” Instead, it creates learning conditions where more students can succeed without having to ask for special support.

Designing Accessible Multimedia

Accessibility becomes especially important when learning shifts into multimedia and interactive spaces. While multimedia can be engaging and powerful, it can also create barriers if meaning is locked into a single sensory channel. One key takeaway from the Accessible Multimedia reading was that accessibility isn’t about stripping media of creativity, it’s about expanding how meaning is communicated.

Captions, transcripts and audio descriptions are often thought of as niche supports, but they benefit far more learners than we tend to realize. English language learners, students processing dense information or anyone who prefers reading along while listening all benefit. Clear layout, thoughtful pacing and reduced cognitive load also make multimedia experiences more welcoming and easier to navigate.

Inclusive Design in Practice

Inclusive design asks us to design with difference as the norm, not the exception. There is no “average” learner and once that idea is let go, lesson planning starts to shift. Rather than asking who might struggle, I find myself asking how learning can offer multiple entry points from the beginning.

This shift feels both challenging and reassuring. It challenges habits rooted in one-size-fits-all thinking, but it also aligns closely with my experiences using UDL-informed strategies in inclusive classrooms.

Beyond the Visual

Because graphic design is so visually driven, it can unintentionally exclude learners if information is communicated only through images or colour. Pairing visuals with clear text, consistent layouts, strong contrast and audio explanations makes content more accessible for learners with visual impairments and often clearer for everyone else.

Accessibility is Just Better Design

Ultimately, accessibility and UDL push educators and designers toward learning environments that are flexible, thoughtful and human-centered. When accessibility is treated as a foundation rather than an add-on, it leads to better design, design that acknowledges and supports the many ways learners engage with the world.

What Active Learning Means to Me

Active learning is often described as “getting students involved,” but this week’s reading reminded me that it’s really about how learning is designed. Students aren’t just busy, they’re actively constructing understanding through meaningful tasks. What stood out to me most in Models of Active Learning is that technology and multimedia don’t automatically make learning active. Without thoughtful design, they can easily become distractions rather than supports.

The photo above is from my final practicum, where every student in the class had the chance to collaborate and engage hands-on while creating this mural.

Multimedia Without Video Games

I don’t have personal experience with video game-based learning, but I do see many of the same learning principles reflected in everyday classroom technologies. Tools like short instructional videos, interactive slides and digital whiteboards often align with Mayer’s multimedia principles, especially signaling and segmenting. When information is broken into smaller chunks and key ideas are clearly highlighted, students are more likely to stay focused and understand what matters.

In terms of Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction, I see demonstration and application used most often. Students watch a model, then try something similar themselves; though, I have noticed that integration is often missing. Students complete tasks but aren’t always given time to reflect, explain their thinking or connect their learning to real-world contexts. That reflection piece feels essential for learning to really stick.

Designing an Authentic Problem

If I were designing a lesson using Merrill’s principles, I’d start with a real problem that students can see and care about, something like improving sustainability or inclusivity in their school. Students could begin by identifying a problem (too much waste, limited accessibility, lack of outdoor learning spaces), then explore examples through photos or short videos from other schools.

For example, the YouTube video below on inquiry-based learning shows students actively asking questions, investigating ideas and making decisions, making the concept of “doing” tangible and illustrating how collaboration and problem-solving bring learning to life. From there, students could work in groups to design a solution using drawings, simple models or digital planning tools. Multimedia would support this process rather than lead it; students might document their ideas with photos, create a short video explanation or design a digital poster to share their proposal. These tools help students communicate their thinking and reflect on their choices, which connects directly to active learning.

Alignment That Actually Makes Sense

One thing I appreciate about this course is the clear constructive alignment between readings, learning outcomes and assignments. We aren’t just reading about theory, we’re expected to apply it in reflective, meaningful ways. I’ve taken other courses where the connection between content and assessment felt unclear, which often led to surface-level learning. When backward design is done well, the learning feels purposeful rather than performative.

Enhancing Historia With Multimedia

I really liked the Historia example because it proves that active learning doesn’t need to be high-tech. Students are already making decisions, analyzing information and discussing outcomes. Thoughtful multimedia could enhance this by adding interactive maps, primary source images or short audio clips representing different historical perspectives. These additions would allow students to explore context and consequence more deeply, without changing the core inquiry-based structure.

Why “Doing” Still Matters

The reading Students Need to DO Something strongly resonated with my own K-12 experiences, where passive learning was often the norm. I think active learning isn’t more common because it requires time, flexibility and a willingness to let students take the lead. In my own teaching, even small shifts, like hands-on investigations, collaborative problem-solving or student-created representations have made a noticeable difference. This week reinforced for me that when students are actively doing, thinking and reflecting, learning becomes deeper and far more meaningful.