ADCET UDL Symposium: University Pathway Teachers’ Adoption of Universal Design for Learning - An Observational Case Study

In-person presentation

Cautious, proactive and systematic planning and adoption of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework are essential to removing barriers for students to gain access to, participate in and benefit from learning.

Higher education institutions which embraced UDL have reported improved outcomes for all students. In other words, the implementation of UDL is indispensable for achieving inclusion in higher education.

However, in Australia, only a small number of tertiary institutions were found to have policies or guidelines surrounding the implementation of UDL. Not only so, research studies about the adoption of UDL to design and deliver teaching and learning experiences in higher education are very limited. Even less is known about the adoption of practices informed by UDL by higher education teachers, especially those working in university pathway programs which offer alternative entry pathways to universities for students who do not enter university through the traditional ATAR pathway.

This study aimed to fill the gap by conducting lesson observations of two teachers teaching in a university pathway college in Sydney, New South Wales. A total of 24 hours of lesson observations were conducted after the teachers attended a 2-hour in-house professional development session on UDL. The data were analysed using the UDL Observation Measurement Tool (UDL-OMT) by Basham et al. (2020). 

Implications of the findings, as well as their alignment with UDL 3.0, were discussed in the presentation.

Presenter

Nelson Lo (FHEA) is a doctoral candidate and sessional academic at the Sydney School of Education and Social Work in the University of Sydney. He has extensive experience working as a teacher, course coordinator and academic advisor in university pathway settings, where he closely works with students with disabilities and students from EAL/D backgrounds. Nelson also had a background in secondary school and TAFE teaching.

(June 2025)