Online Resources
The online resources listed on this page are all free to the public and will be useful for those looking for open-access UDL resources. All of the websites listed have been updated since 2009 and are accredited within the UDL community.
The list is ordered alphabetically.
Microsoft Accessibility Guide for Educators
It is important to include the Microsoft Accessibility Guide for Educators page in this bibliography because to actually implement UDL principles one will need to change the settings on their computer, so this page will help with frequently asked questions. This page does not give any other information about UDL and should not be used for research.
AccessSTEM a subsidiary of DO-IT and helps K-12 teachers, postsecondary educators, and employers make classroom and employment opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) accessible to individuals with disabilities, and provides a place to share promising practices. This website is more specific than the overarching DO-IT website and has exciting pages like Success Stories where people with disabilities share experiences about colleges and careers. The Minigrant Project page displays promising practices supported through seed grants offered in the past.
CAST: Center for Applied Special Technology
CAST is another go to website for UDL topics. The nonprofit research and development organization founded in 1984 works to expand learning experiences for all individuals through UDL. The page About UDL does a wonderful job of explaining and demonstrating what UDL is and why it is necessary. The website is very readable and provides many active links and instructional videos. Six online learning tools are located under the Learning Tools tab and help with reading to online research for all. On CAST one can even take an online class to collaborate with others and learn how to apply UDL to practice. This website would be a great resource for educators, parents, students, and researchers.
Design for All Institute of India
Design for All is a handy resource for grant writers who would like to learn about how universal design is promoted in India. The intent is to educate individuals and influence public policy so that environments, products, services and interfaces are designed to meet the needs of people belonging to all ages and abilities.Design for All Institute of India says they are a self financed, non-profit voluntary organization which seeks corporate and public partnership in order to carry forward its very ambitious agenda of pro-actively building bridges of social inclusion between the design community and all other groups whose activities can be positively influenced by a coherent application of design methodology. The website is updated frequently and features a number of articles related to universal design. The newsletter on the website is the best one between all the sites in this bibliography because of the strong content and modern design. Again, grant writers would find the articles in their monthly newsletter useful for in-depth research.
DO-IT: Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology
DO-IT provides resources for students with disabilities, K-12 educators, postsecondary faculty and administrators, librarians, employers, parents, and mentors. They would like to increase the success of people with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers, and do that by promoting the application of universal design and freely distributing publications and videos that can be used in presentations, exhibits and the classroom. This resource is a go to for all things universal design because many of the websites featured on this page are subsidiaries of this program. Students, Educators and Veterans all have their own pages on this site, so it is easily accessible, but might overwhelm some users. The events tab features current events across the country where there is a strong focus on technology, postsecondary education, and careers. DO-IT is represented at many of these events. A hot topics box on the left hand side of the webpage smoothly navigates users to a page dedicated to explaining universal design principals.
Equity and Excellence in Higher Education: Universal Course Design (UCD)
UCD is a set of strategies and practices that make courses more accessible for students. UCD addresses the diversity of students’ learning styles in today’s college classroom. It provides concrete strategies to vary the development of course curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teaching environment so all students have equal access to a course. The website is helpful for those who want to use their Online File Validator to test Power Point or Word documents for accessible design features. To create a accessible syllabi educators can use the UCD Tool. 31 Universal Course Design Tutorials on the website will be extremely useful for educators.
IDEA: Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access
The IDeA Center’s website is clean and concise. IDeA is dedicated to making environments and products more usable, safer and healthier in response to the needs of an increasingly diverse population. The most useful feature on this website is the Current Project page that will be useful for grant writers who are looking for projects to base their research off of. IDeA has been around since 1984 and has been a leading site for research, design, service, education and dissemination activities related to universal design.
National Center on Secondary Education and Transition
NCSET is a great resource for secondary education students and educators who are looking for resources, technical assistance, and information dissemination on transitioning for the future. NCSET is headquartered at the Institute on Community Integration in the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development. The twice monthly E-News, email newsletter (current issue April 2014) announces national resources, events, funding opportunities, and more to subscribers. The E-News is a great resource that helps the organization connect with users on a semi-monthly basis. If a patron is looking for regular updates the E-News will provide announcements, resources, links, events, and funding opportunities for secondary education and transition.
National Center On Universal Design for Learning
The UDL Center founded in 2009 says they support the effective implementation of UDL by connecting stakeholders in the field and providing resources and information about the following: UDL basics, advocacy, implementation, research, community, and resources. An exciting feature on this website is UDL Connect where users can share UDL information and resources. Also, the UDL Center calls for its users to take action to incorporate UDL into public policy at local, state, and national level. If a patron is beginning their searches on UDL this website should be the first place they go because it has a plethora of valuable information all in one place.
NCWD/Youth: National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability
NCWD’s website has a lot of information for parents, educators, and students. The information featured will be most useful for parents and educators looking for up to date information about transitioning students with disabilities to the workforce. Intersection, NCWD’s monthly newsletter is a distinct resource to this website. The information posted focuses less on UDL and more on what happens after traditional learning is over.
The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers
AccessComputing is a unique place that takes UDL even further and provides resources for students with disabilities who would like to successfully pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in computing fields. The website says, they work to increase the capacity of postsecondary institutions and other organizations to fully include students with disabilities in computing courses and programs. They support students across the United States by providing advice, resources, mentoring opportunities, professional contacts, and funding for tutoring, internships, and computing conferences. For educators and employers they offer workshops to build awareness of universal design and accommodation strategies, and to aid in recruiting and supporting students with disabilities through the development of inclusive programs and education on promising practices. The website has several videos and webinars that are useful for students looking to get more information on this subject.
The Center for Universal Design in Education
CUDE is a subsidiary of the DO-IT program at the University of Washington. It focuses on developing and collecting resources to help educators apply universal design to instructions, student services, information technology and physical spaces. The Center is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation. CUDE’s website provides an introduction to Universal Design in education and goes the extra mile by including two separate pages for postsecondary and elementary/secondary education. Users will find the Universal Design for Your Project checklist useful for creating project outlines that are accessible for all users.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
WIA specializes in developing strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web more accessible to those with disabilities. The websites give its users before and after demonstrations of inaccessible websites that have been fixed to eliminate accessibility barriers. It also has a lot of valuable information about how to tailor a presentation for EVERYONE in the audience. One of the most interesting features on this website are the sample emails and instructions on how to tell an organization their website is inaccessible. The navigation box on the left hand side of the webpage is very easy to read and logically separates the pages on the website. One of the most useful features on this website is the Easy Checks – A First Review of Web Accessibility that helps to easily assess the accessibility of a web page.