Digital Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning

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Welcome to a special edition of the CATT Teaching Table Podcast, produced by the University of Buffalo's Office of Curriculum Assessment and Teaching Transformation, otherwise known as CATT, and supported by the Gentilee's Excellence in Teaching Fund.
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I'm Maggie Grady, Instructional Innovation Project Manager with CATT.
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This Teaching Table mini-series features short episodes designed to help faculty prepare for upcoming ADA Title II regulation changes, which are taking effect in April.
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Together we'll explore what these updates mean for teaching and learning at UB and share practical ways to make courses more accessible and inclusive.
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Joining me in these episodes is Sarah Guglielmi, CATT's instructional consultant for accessible and inclusive pedagogy.
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Sarah works closely with faculty to design courses that are usable, inclusive, and aligned with accessibility best practices.
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Thanks, Maggie.
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It's great to be here, and I'm looking forward to talking about how digital accessibility supports Universal Design for Learning.
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So let's start with the basics.
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What exactly is Universal Design for Learning and how does it relate to digital accessibility?
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Yeah, well, Universal Design for Learning, which is also known by the acronym UDL, it's an accessible and inclusive pedagogical approach.
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And the goal of UDL is to design learning experiences for the widest range of learners as a standard part of your course design practice.
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And whether or not you have a disability, we all learn differently and we all have unique learning needs.
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And the UDL approach supports this wide range of learner variability.
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And digital accessibility, as we've discussed in previous episodes, refers to the technical design of digital content.
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And it's designed in a way so that content can be used effectively by students with a wide range of learning needs, including those that are colorblind, hearing impaired, or visually impaired.
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Digital accessibility supports universal design for learning.
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So you mentioned that UDL supports learner variability.
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Can you give us some examples of learner variability in a college classroom?
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Yeah, sure.
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We all have preferences and how we want to take in information when we learn.
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And you'll see that with your students.
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For example, I retain information the fastest through reading and taking notes.
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If I'm in a lecture, I'm taking notes pretty much the whole time.
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And there may be a student next to me that doesn't take any notes.
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They likely retain information better by listening.
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Other students have their aha moments through reflection and discussion or by getting hands-on with a task.
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In reality, we all learn through multiple channels, but it is common to notice preferences and strengths.
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Students with disabilities can have unique challenges with either visual processing, auditory processing, or executive functioning.
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Students can also experience temporary disabilities, such as a concussion recovery, which can impair visual processing.
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For example, if you're recovering from a concussion, it's not uncommon for your vision to be compromised from for even six months to a year.
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We also have many students at UB who are non-native English speakers.
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And this is not a disability, but it does pose unique learning challenges for those students.
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And if you can take a UDL approach and design content for digital accessibility, it supports this wide range of students.
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How can faculty begin to implement UDL and digital accessibility to support the learner variability that you've mentioned?
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Yeah, faculty can start by choosing a spring 2026 course to review and follow the digital accessibility review checklist that we have on CATT's website.
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The checklist offers guidance on how to review and remediate your digital content, including your Word documents, PowerPoint files, your videos, PDFs, and other digital content.
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And with practice, you'll become familiar with digital accessibility features that support the learner variability we've been discussing.
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For example, if you improve the heading structure in your Word documents, that'll support students who use screen reader technology to better navigate and learn from your content.
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Providing proper color contrast and alternative text for images supports students with a wide range of visual impairments.
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And providing recordings with captions and transcripts can give your students who are non-native English speakers an opportunity to go back and review material at their own pace.
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All of these examples are a great way to start implementing a universal design for learning approach in your teaching practice.
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Well, those are certainly some great strategies to get started with this digital accessibility and UDL.
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Thank you for explaining how the two relate and thank you for sharing all of those strategies.
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Super helpful.
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Yeah, you're welcome.
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Digital accessibility and UDL improve the learning experience for all our students.
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And student success is definitely something we can all rally around.
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Very well said.
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Thank you for joining us and thank you for sharing with us, Sarah.
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Yeah, you're welcome.
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So next month we'll wrap up our accessibility and inclusive pedagogy series with episode 5, Beyond Compliance, Building Accessible and Inclusive Classrooms.
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We'll reflect on what it means to go beyond meeting standards and truly foster inclusion in the classroom.
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Until then, keep exploring new ways to reach and inspire your students.