UDL Case Study: Creating a More Inclusive Syllabus

RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf logo

This case study was a collaboration between CAST and Dr. Linda Bryant from the Rochester Institute of Technology National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Dr. Bryant is Director of the NTID Learning Consortium (NLC) and Online Learning Initiatives at NTID. The primary mission of the NLC is to support students’ learning and academic success at NTID, and the NTID Office of Online Initiatives offers comprehensive training and support to NTID instructors and tutors interested in developing online coursework. Dr. Bryant is also a Co-Principal Investigator for DeafTEC, a National Science Foundation ATE Resource Center (Award #2301149).

Dr. Bryant participated in a workshop with CAST Disability and Digital Inclusion lead Luis Perez at the ATE PI Conference in the fall of 2023. Following the workshop, she expressed an interest in conducting an accessibility review of the syllabus template provided to NTID instructors through the NLC. 

A syllabus is a key component of a course. It is more than just a list of course requirements and policies. It is also a way to communicate your teaching philosophy, learning goals, and expectations to your students. A well-designed syllabus can foster an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students, especially those who come from diverse backgrounds and have different needs.

Starting with a Template

NTID provides instructors with a syllabus template to ensure consistency across courses, a recommended best practice. Luis Perez reviewed this template for accessibility and suggested a few minor changes to make it even more accessible to students:

  • The course title needed to be assigned a level one heading (H1) style instead of a Title style. Since there is no “Title” tag in PDF and other formats, using the Title style in the source Microsoft Word document would create some issues with the heading structure of the exported PDF document shared with students. The best practice is to use a single level one heading (H1) per document, then use level two headings (H2) for sections, level three headings (H3) for subsections and so on.   
  • The addition of a table of contents based on the heading structure at the beginning of the syllabus document was recommended. As the syllabus grows the table of contents will be helpful for screen reader users by providing a way for them to quickly navigate to specific sections of the syllabus. A table of contents may also be helpful for students with attention issues, by helping them quickly find the information they are looking for while they are thinking about it before there is the potential for them to be distracted by irrelevant details. 
  • The link color (light blue) had to be adjusted to meet color contrast requirements. Since this issue is not always identified by the built-in Microsoft Office accessibility checker, the free Color Contrast Checker from TPGi was used to check for color contrast until a darker shade of blue that passed color contrast requirements was identified. 

Review of UDL Concepts

Following the syllabus template accessibility review, Dr. Bryant and Luis Perez set up a time for instructors to receive professional development on Universal Design for Learning. Watch the video for a review of the big ideas of Universal Design for Learning along with a reflection from the NTID staff:

  • Janine Butler, Associate Professor, Department of Liberal Studies
  • Kathleen Brady, Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Studies
  • Bonnie Bastian, Senior Speech/Language Professional, Communication Studies and Services

Key takeaways from the video:

  • The barriers are in the environment, not learners. Learners do not need to be fixed. If they are not learning, we should look at the curriculum and its design to see why that is the case and make adjustments as necessary.
  • Variability is the norm in every environment, whether students have been identified as having a disability or not. Each of our brains is unique and requires different options for motivation, perception, processing of information, and expressing what we know.
  • The goal with UDL is learner agency, defined as learners mastering the art of learning for themselves by better understanding how they learn best and being able to express it to others and self-advocate. 
  • We don’t want to “provide access to boredom.” In addition to making learning accessible, we want to make it meaningful and authentic by relating it to concerns that matter to learners and engage them with learning. 

Tips to Make Your Syllabus More Accessible and Inclusive

  1. Use a warm and welcoming tone. Write your syllabus in the first person and use cooperative language such as “we” and “our”. Avoid using cold or harsh language that may discourage or intimidate students. For example, instead of saying “Late work will be penalized by 50%”, you can say “Late work is still eligible for 50% partial credit”.
  2. Consider creating an introductory video that welcomes students to the course in a more personal way (especially if you are teaching an online course). In the video, explain the connections between what they will learn in the course and broader career outcomes to emphasize relevance. Share your passion for the subject and your own learning journey, including how you’ve overcome any obstacles in order to model resilience for your students. 
  3. Center around student learning by focusing on what the students can learn and do in the course, rather than what the course will teach or cover. Use specific and measurable learning objectives that describe the skills and knowledge students will acquire. 
  4. Use accessible design. Make sure your syllabus is easy to read and navigate on different devices and platforms. Visit Creating Accessible Documents on the AEM Center website for additional information on creating accessible documents. 
  5. Anticipate and accommodate the diverse needs and circumstances of your students and provide options for attendance, participation, deadlines, extensions, grading, feedback, etc. that are fair and consistent for all students. 
  6. Include statements that encourage students to seek help from you or other resources when needed, and that express your willingness to work with them to ensure their success.
  7. Include an accessibility statement that explains any steps you’ve taken to ensure course content is more accessible. For example, explain to students how to turn on the captions in your videos, how to show the alternative text for images in presentation slides, etc. 
  8. Link to helpful technology resources students can use to address challenges with reading and writing that could present barriers to their learning. An example of such a resource is the Personalizing the Reading Experience page on the AEM Center website. 
  9. Acknowledge the diversity of your students. Affirm their identities, experiences, perspectives, and contributions, and your commitment to creating an inclusive and respectful learning community that values diversity and equity.
  10. Solicit student feedback. Invite your students to share their thoughts and suggestions on the syllabus and the course design. You can use surveys, polls, discussions, or other methods to collect feedback from your students before or during the course. Use the feedback to revise or improve your syllabus and course design as needed.

NTID instructors shared these additional ideas for making the syllabus and the course environment more inclusive:

  • Even if you have to provide an approved list of course objectives, consider providing a “plain language” version of those same objectives with a focus on what learners will get out of the course (e.g., at the end of the course I will be able to…)
  • Consider providing a less text-heavy version of the syllabus to account for language variability. For example, Bonnie explained that she creates a slide deck from her syllabus that summarizes key information and includes relevant visuals.  
  • Leverage built-in tools such as Microsoft’s Immersive Reader by sharing the syllabus as an accessible Microsoft Word document. This document can be shared along with the PDF version of the syllabus that can be printed by those who prefer a paper copy. 

Additional Resources

About NTID

RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf logo

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) is one of the nine colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and is home to the world’s first and largest technological college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The purpose of the NTID is to promote the employment of persons who are deaf by providing technical and professional education for the nation's young people who are deaf. NTID offers a variety of technical programs at the certificate, diploma, and associate degree levels, and NTID students may also participate in approximately 200 education programs available through RIT, which offers advanced technological courses of study at the undergraduate and graduate degree levels. 

Disclaimer

AccessATE is funded by the National Science Foundation under DUE#1836721. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.