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Getting Started with UDL: Plus One Design

Getting Started with UDL

Plus One Design: Designing for Inclusive Teaching

As part of our Summer 2024 NASNTI-sponsored professional development, CETL's mission is to help ECU faculty incorporate a Plus One approach into their courses and assessments by providing students with just one more way to show understanding and learning.

 

 

 

Plus One Design

What does "Plus One" mean?

The Plus One Approach is a simple, incremental way to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into your teaching. Instead of overhauling your entire course, you start by adding one more option for students. This extra option provides flexibility and helps eliminate potential barriers in the learning process. By making these small, gradual changes, you can create a more inclusive learning environment.

The Plus One approach, created by Behling and Tobin (2018), "is a process for reflecting on how you are teaching and to add one more option for students to provide flexibility and remove potential barriers or “pinch points” in the learning process" (University of Limerick, Center for Transformative Learning). You can learn the basic framework about the "Plus One Approach" from Thomas Tobin himself in the video linked above!

 

Implementing the Plus One Approach

Steps to Get Started

 

1. Identify a “pinch point” in your teaching
  • Where do your students always have lots of questions?
  • Where do your students often misinterpret assignments or exams?
  • Where do your students always ask for explanations in a different way than you provide?
 
2. Brainstorm just “one more thing” you could add to assist students in their learning
  • Provide one more way your students can access or view content. Example: If your students often have difficulties with a particular process or skill, create or post a video or screencast of the process so they can review it themselves.
  • Devise one more way you can engage your students. Example: If your students often find it challenging to relate to a particular aspect of the programme or module connect the course content explicitly to real-world experiences. Invite past students to show your learners how they have used what they have learned from your course in their own careers.
  • Give your students one more option to demonstrate what they have learned. Example: If you set an assignment which asks only for a written response, consider offering more options for students to submit their response, such as through video, audio, or annotated PowerPoints.
  • Provide one more way for students to communicate with you and each other. Example: If your office hours are on campus only, provide an online option so that students who cannot make it to campus can reach you.

 

By gradually adding in “Plus Ones” to your teaching, learning and assessment design, you will discover what works for your students and your practice will become incrementally more inclusive.

Key questions to ask
  • What flexible ways can I use to engage my learners?
  • What flexible ways can I use to present the learning content?
  • What flexible ways can I provide for learners to demonstrate their knowledge?
  • How much can I involve the learners in the process of teaching and learning?
  • What barriers exist in my course (either through my observation or learners’ requests to be accommodated)?

(adapted and quoted from University of Limerick's Centre for Transformative Learning "Getting Started - The Plus One Approach")

 

In Short

Identify an interaction/activity between you and your students and add one other alternative.

(quoted from University of Auckland, TeachWell Digital "Getting Started: Plus One Approach")

 

 

Plus One Design Examples

The following examples of Plus One Design come from your fellow East Central faculty members and from other professors in the world.

Dr. Jennifer Lancaster - Plus One Visual Interactive - ThingLink: Athletic Training Facility Safety

Click here to view the accessible version of this interactive content
Dr. Sarah Peters - Plus One Assessment - Audio Podcast Project
 
Extended Reading & Viewing