Teaching Strategies to Support All Learners

Even when students feel they have the agency and power over many aspects of their education, they should not feel burdened to change the system alone. Rather, educational leaders have a duty to develop or revise institutional policies for accessibility and academic integrity that recognizes the diverse needs of students, and work to change structural inequities that reduce access to education for students living with disabilities and students from other equity-deserving groups. As part of these structural changes, educators must also adopt strategies to remove barriers in teaching and learning contexts without compromising academic standards, and engage in professional development activities to correct any misconceptions they may have around disability, accommodations, and academic integrity. Fostering a supportive teaching and learning environment necessitates that all learners be encouraged to ask questions, seek additional support, and offer feedback on the learning environment.

As described above, postsecondary students are often required to register with accessibility offices and provide documentation of their disabilities to obtain individualized accommodations (Quinlan et al., 2012). Formal accommodations must be provided by accessibility service staff and/or instructors according to postsecondary institution policies and other legal requirements in many jurisdictions. However, implementing effective pedagogy with the goal of supporting all students requires that students with disabilities not be compelled to disclose their specific challenges based on the recognition that different individuals are at different levels (Quinlan et al., 2012). Many of the strategies recommended for supporting learning for all students (see Learning Support 2) are also recommended for the purpose of promoting academic integrity (Morris, 2016).

Universal design is an approach that seeks to reduce barriers and enhance access in physical spaces for the largest number of people possible (Shapiro, 1993). In this approach, the term ‘universal’ is used in a subtly different sense from equality in that it appreciates differences in equity issues faced by different individuals or groups of people, seeks solutions that remove or reduce those inequities, and recognizes that a truly universal solution is likely impossible. Universal Instructional Design (UID) (Silver et al., 1998) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST, 2018) apply these considerations to teaching and learning frameworks used to build greater equity of access to education for all students, including those living with disabilities. UID is grounded in the notion that instruction and activities should be accessible, fair, straightforward, consistent, flexible, explicit, supportive, minimize unnecessary physical effort, and accommodating to learning needs and teaching methods (Palmer & Caputo, 2002). UDL considers core principles of flexibility and student choice in instructional design and delivery across three areas: (a) Engagement: providing options to foster student interest, effort, persistence, and self-regulated learning; (b) Representation: providing options for perception and comprehension of information (e.g., language and symbol); and (c) Action and Expression: providing options for physical action, expression and communication, planning, and goal setting (CAST, 2018). Both UID and UDL encourage instructors to move beyond individual accommodation towards teaching and learning practices that promote fair, inclusive, and respectful learning environments.