ADCET UDL Symposium: Intentional Redesign of an Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory Program

In-person presentation

This presentation showcased the redesign of a University of Sydney chemistry undergraduate laboratory program undertaken by students in three 3rd year units. Students worked through a series of guided laboratory tasks then designed, completed and reported on their own experiment. Multiple small stakes assessments lead into two larger assessments.

Issues identified previously were a condensed structure, rushed assignments, delayed feedback and a confusing LMS (Canvas) site. In response, the program and LMS site were intentionally redesigned with reference to the UDL Guidelines 3.0.

The presentation showcased positive changes that are transferable to other contexts. We acknowledge that this comprehensive redesign took a large collaborative effort but emphasise that just one aspect of one change could be applied in a ‘Plus 1’ approach.

Assessment redesign

Changes included:

• Much of the assessment being completed in the laboratory, where staff are available for immediate support and feedback (consideration 8.2)
• Timely feedback on assessment tasks with an emphasis on formative learning (consideration 8.5) 
• Clear, multi-format communication about goals, expectations, logistics and relevance of tasks (considerations 1.2 and 7.2).
• A scaffolded build up to students designing, managing and presenting their own experimental work (considerations 6.2 and 6.4).

Canvas redesign

Changes included:

• Attention to accessibility (consideration 4.2).
  E.g., using Canvas accessibility checker, chunking blocks of text, clear delineation of buttons and tables, using clear language
  Video content captioned and a transcript provided (consideration 1.2).
• Improved site structure and navigation (considerations 4.1 and 7.4).
  More intuitive movement through the site
  Site navigation video provided
  Multiple possible ways of navigating the content 
  Canvas Sections utilised so individual students see only content relevant to them

Impact

• Survey and Canvas usage data was used to measure impact.

Presenter

Dr Sue Hemsley is an Educational Designer in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. She reached this destination via undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Veterinary Science, then academia, followed by a sideways move into an educational support/design role with the Centre for Veterinary Education, all at the University of Sydney. She commenced her current role in 2022. Sue has a particular interest in UDL and is leading the School of Chemistry’s efforts to realise its strategic goal of ‘Embracing Universal Design for Learning’ by collaboratively embedding UDL principles to support inclusive, accessible education across the School.

(June 2026)