The Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence is pleased to announce the next THiNK Seminar:

Universal Design for Learning

Wednesday 15 September 2021, 3-4.30pm

Dr Kevin Merry - National Teaching Fellow, De Montfort University

Abstract

De Montfort University (DMU) has one of the most diverse student populations in UK Higher Education. For example, 54% of students come from a Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, and there are more than 3000 international students representing >130 countries from around the world. Furthermore, approximately 20% of students possess a declared disability. As such, a long-standing institutional priority for DMU has been the need to ensure an accessible and inclusive learning experience for its diverse community of learners. Subsequently, in 2015, DMU adopted Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as its institution-wide approach to learning, teaching, and assessment in response to its exceptional level of learner diversity. UDL is an approach that incorporates a variety of options to allow it to be accessible and inclusive for diverse groups of learners possessing a wide variety of learning needs and preferences. In this talk, Dr Kevin Merry, will discuss the journey that the institution has been on, shedding some light on how DMU has enabled the University-wide adoption of UDL learning and teaching practices as a means of ensuring accessibility and inclusivity. Specifically, Kevin will discuss the context of the move toward UDL, as well as some of the key drivers and levers which have enabled the embedding of UDL as part of a wider change in learning and teaching culture.

About Kevin

Kevin Merry is the lead for academic development at DMU and a DMU Teacher Fellow. An award-winning teacher, Kevin has received accolades for his pioneering approach to online learning via flipped classroom approaches and has become internationally renowned for his work on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Specifically, Kevin has developed a unique approach to embedding UDL into modules and courses using his own 'Cheese-Sandwich' pedagogy which fuses Bloom's Learning for Mastery approach and Constructive Alignment alongside the principles of UDL. The result is a technology enhanced learning experience within which learners are supported to become purposeful and motivated, knowledgeable, and resourceful and strategic and goal oriented - the true 'expert learner'.

This virtual seminar will take place in the KIITE - THiNK Network and Seminars Team in the channel Seminar - Dr Kevin Merry (15-Sep-2021) at the scheduled date and time. Please join our team. 

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