Impact of ESOL Background on Instructional Design

Instructional designers (IDs) often come from previous educational backgrounds such as instructional technologies, teachers, or academic support staff (e.g., librarians). Other times, they come from careers in health, business, or military. IDs’ backgrounds and experiences enhance their work on designing training, courses, or other related job aids and informational material. This blog describes how my background experience as an English

Keynote: Online Course Design for Active Learning within the UDL Framework

This past fall, I gave my first keynote presentation at the University of Houston (UH) to faculty and staff. Their 1-day conference, Innovative Teaching and Learning at a Distance (ITLD), focused on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Several of the co-authors for the Routledge book, Universal Access Through Inclusive Instructional Design: International Perspectives on UDL (Gronseth & Dalton, 2019),

Online Course Design for Active Learning within the UDL Framework

This is a WordCloud based on my blog post on active learning. Active Learning Defined Active learning engages students directly in the learning process through instructional activities with differing degrees of interaction that’s student-centered, whereas passive learning occurs indirectly and without interaction. The latter is often, but not always, teacher-centered. Student-centered learning emphasizes learner control and manipulation of information, so

Accessibility Policy for Postsecondary Distance Education

Note. This is specific to the Schoology learning management system and other technologies and protocols we use on our campus. This statement is based on the policy that I used at my former workplace for my instructional design graduate assistantship at the University of South Alabama’s Innovation in Learning Center. I recently added the use of headers, which was missing

Universal Design for Learning

Origin Universal design (UD) refers to the consideration of the needs of persons with disabilities in regard to physical spaces, objects, and tasks (The Center for Universal Design, 1997). This concept has since grown into an initiative for education called the universal design for learning (UDL). The original Principles of Universal Design (1997) are equitable use, the flexibility of use,

7 Things You Can Do to Make Your Online Course More Accessible

The following suggestions are recommended in meeting the Americans with Disability Act (1990) for distance education. “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability …shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance… (Section 504, 29

My Schedule for SITE 2014 in Jacksonville, FL

Four of my proposals were accepted for presentation at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) International Conference in Jacksonville, FL.  I’d love to connect with any of my readers who are also going to SITE. This will be my first time to attend SITE.  I’ll be attending all the presentations on gaming. Here’s my current schedule for

iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch Apps for Special Education by Eric Sailers

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Apps for (Special) Education

Assistive Technology Tools

Are you familiar with assistive technology? Do you have students with disabilities? Here’s a list of assistive tech tools and resources for you and your students to use: 1. Section 508 Checklist: http://webaim.org/standards/508/checklist Standards for Website content to meet the needs of persons with disabilities based on the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. 2. iSpeech: http://www.ispeech.org/ Converts text-to-speech (TTS) or speech-to-text (STT)