IAETE

Experts Discuss Universal Design for Technology-Based Assessment

In March of 2005, the Institute for the Advancement of Emerging Technologies in Education (IAETE) at Edvantia held an online panel discussion on universal design for technology-based assessment as part of its ongoing Soapbox series. Universal design is a process that ensures that a newly created product is useful to the broadest possible array of people, particularly those with disabilities. Often, designing for specific disabilities proves beneficial for all. The sloped curb corner, for example, allows wheelchairs, strollers, bicycles, and, indeed, any pedestrian to move more safely from the sidewalk to the street crossing.

Participating in this weeklong, e-mail-based discussion were

Tracey Hall, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist and Instructional Designer at the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

Nathan Sparks, Assessment Specialist at the Division of Assessment and Reporting, Virginia Department of Education

Irene Spero, Vice President of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)

Lynda Van Kuren, Communications Director for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

It is clear that as states increase assessment activity, and as those assessments are created for technology-based environments, there is an opportunity to regularly involve and refine universal design in the assessment process. There is, say these experts, an opportunity to go beyond common question formats, such as multiple choice, and to offer students flexibility in how they demonstrate mastery of the standards.

In brief, panelists are asked why retrofitting assessments is more common than beginning with universal design, what an assessment might look like when the principles of universal design are applied, what some of the challenges are, what kind of professional development is needed, and where the relationship between accommodations and universal design stands.

Applied to assessment, agree the panelists, universal design would mean that all students would have a better opportunity to express what they know by using their preferred methods for receiving and expressing information.

This continuing series of Soapbox online forums captures discussion among educators, education researchers, technology industry leaders, and others interested in technology’s role in advancing education. All forum transcripts and summaries (Soapbox Digest) can be downloaded free.