Increasing Accessibility and Access to the Medieval through Open Textbooks

The researchers piloted an observational protocol to examine the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and checkpoint strategies used during daily instruction with a small sample of general and special education teachers. Observational research on UDL has been recommended within the literature. Researchers used the high-leverage practice of explicit instruction as the anchor for the design of the observation protocol. Findings indicate there is alignment between observed UDL principles and strategies employed at the lesson level and teachers’ self-reports of the UDL principles and strategies employed. Findings also suggest that teachers are using several UDL principles within their daily instruction and that there is overlap among UDL checkpoint strategies and aligned UDL principles. Essential UDL principles that pre-service and in-service teachers are expected to deliver at the lesson level can be prioritised to ensure a developmental approach to the implementation of UDL. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to analyze actual application of UDL(universal design for learning) principles in preliminary special education teachers‘ lesson plans applying for elementary school classes including students with visual impairments. The lesson plans were analyzed by Korean UDL Instruction Analysis Checklist and UDL Practical Application Matrix to analyze satisfaction rates and practical application by UDL principle. The results of this study are as follows. First, the satisfaction rate of UDL principles guidelines was 50.80% in 7 lesson plans. Among the 3 UDL principles, the satisfaction rate was the highest at 53.57% in the principle of engagement, followed by 50.00% in the principle of representation and 48.83% in the principle of behavior and expression. Second, preliminary Special Education Teachers used keywords for each UDL principle at 37.26% in the principle of participation, 35.29% in the principle of action and expression, and 27.45% in the principle of representation. At a time when preliminary special education teachers need to develop teaching skills based on UDL for all learners, including the visually impaired, the results of this study can be used as basic data.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles suggest that providing learners multiple means for engagement, representation, and action and expression will help learners become purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed (CAST, 2018). The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges and opportunities of adopting UDL principles for online course design using the decision-making process as the theoretical framework as defined by the Diffusion of Innovation theory (Rogers, 2003). Seven online faculty were interviewed regarding the challenges and opportunities that hindered or helped their decision to adopt the UDL principles in online course design. Additionally, three faculty participants volunteered course materials as examples of how they applied UDL principles. Results highlight ways institutions of higher education can promote faculty adoption of UDL principles for online course design.

Librarians have a role in working with faculty to provide low-cost alternatives to textbooks. Open educational resources (OER) are an alternative to textbooks in college courses, but there can be barriers to using OER. Are students successful in OER courses? Do faculty see librarians as collaborators in designing courses using OER? What are some alternatives to OER that libraries and library consortia can take advantage of to make college more affordable for students? The following articles address these issues, and the work of the following authors can benefit all types of academic librarians as they contemplate their role in the OER world.

This paper discusses the role of open educational resources (OER) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning. Usually the media used in OER are video lessons, presentations, some open textbooks, etc. But how does this paradigm apply to interactive learning environments? Can users have permissions to engage in the 5R activities (Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute) both to the course content and to the platform for the course? The authors present a model for creation of educational virtual environments. The designed methodology is applied in development of various Computer Graphics-related university courses - Educational Languages and Environments, Geometry of Motion, and Fundamentals of Computer Graphics. There are presented three use cases for open educational virtual environments as illustration of the proposed methodology - Suica, Mecho and Meiro. For each of these environments are presented directions for 5R activities for both the course content and the educational virtual environment. The approbation of this innovative eLearning tools at bachelor's degree level shows improvement in students' comprehension of the course material and performance during the courses. The OER have a significant impact on the co-creative activities of the students.

Studies into student finances have found that pursuing higher education can create a financial burden for students. Educational resources, including textbooks, are one of the most significant upfront costs for university students. Student surveys have found that the cost of purchasing commercial textbooks can lead some university students to go hungry, drop courses and even drop out of programs altogether. An increasing number of Australian universities are exploring publishing open textbooks, a subset of open educational resources (OER), as a strategy to increase participation and improve student outcomes. This doctoral research project is the first comprehensive national study of open textbook publishing programs at Australian universities, contributing new knowledge to Australian open education, publishing and library and information science research. This includes examining the impact of the capacity-building program, the Council of Australasian University Librarians (CAUL) OER Collective, on Australian open textbook publishing programs. For this study, I employed a pragmatic, mixed methods approach as a practitioner-researcher to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on open textbook publishing practices and experiences at 30 of the 43 Australian universities. I analysed this data using statistical and thematic analysis to identify trends and themes in why Australian universities are publishing open textbooks, how they are publishing them, some of the challenges they face when publishing and opportunities for improving the conditions for open textbook publishing in Australia. This research found that while open textbook publishing is driven by a passion for improving higher education, sustainability is a challenge due to resourcing constraints, including time, staffing and funding. I use these findings to make eight evidence-based recommendations for how Australian practitioners, university managements, peak bodies such as CAUL and policymakers can build and support more sustainable open textbook publishing programs at Australian universities.

A skillful magician always considers the audience’s perspectives, then refines their magic performance to create a sense of wonder in the minds of their audience. Similarly, an effective teacher considers the needs and identities of their students and customizes their pedagogy to the needs of their students. This teacher-educator reflective narrative illuminates our use of magic tricks as a vehicle for pre-service teachers to learn about Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in a middle-grades disciplinary literacies teacher education course in a large research-intensive university in the Southeast United States. The process of learning and doing magic also serves as an analogy to contextualize the student’s learning of CSP and UDL principles. We show other teacher educators how CSP and UDL can be embodied and modeled in teacher education classrooms for all students through magic by (1) illustrating the magic-based learning activities designed collaboratively by the authors, a literacy teacher educator, and a magician, (2) sharing reflections of our PSTs and ourselves in these pedagogical moves, and (3) offering suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students to become creative and empathetic teachers for the myriad forms of diversity of the students they will eventually teach.

Can library science move forward as gatekeepers, creators, and consumers of computable biomedical knowledge or CBK (Williams, et al., 2020)? Yes. This research goes back to library skills to help information scientists and knowledge managers “get it.” Reviewing a pilot class for LIS professionals, we are developing online, sustainable open educational resource (OER) materials for global users. A community of practice will efficiently deliver biomedical applications for researchers, LIS professionals, healthcare providers, and patients. Our brave goal grew from an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant to put library and information professionals in the fore-front designing and maintaining effective medical repositories while collaborating with authors. Access to data is essential to establishing effective Learning Health Systems (LHSs). The vision is to improve healthcare where underutilization of appropriate and overutilization of inappropriate care lead to rising costs, less safety, and health disparities (Friedman, et al., 2017). The “mobilizing CBK” movement from Michigan’s Medical School LHS department is providing infrastructure, metadata, and networks to writing developers worldwide so access to research knowledge supports health-related decisions. Pre- and post-assessments of pilot training by medical providers, health library directors, and LIS educators provided quantitative and qualitative data to design the OER. Fearlessly applying “open pedagogy,” we will support copyright laws but create and share practices that sidestep proprietary entanglements as librarians in Arizona researched (Casey & Daly, 2021). We are developing an “open textbook” with learning modules like publish in open access, avoid bias, review systematically, redefine librarian’s role, and NLM tools.

It is common to read about the public’s complaint regarding the high costs of a college education. While many point to the high cost of tuition, the cost of textbooks and instructional materials can also be prohibitive. There is a new movement in higher education to provide instructional materials free-of-cost. The primary investigators found no open textbooks available for Teacher Education and Special Education, and relied on various websites that had appropriate content at no cost to students. Results of this study showed that students were able to achieve their goals in these classes and were overwhelmingly positive when it came to taking courses that used Open Education Resources.

Although Open Educational Resources (OERs) can help reduce costs and maximize access to instructional materials, academics face significant problems in identifying good OER textbooks. This can be traced, in part, to the low quality of many OER directories. This study evaluated more than 350 potentially relevant resources, identifying 95 multidisciplinary and 23 subject-limited OER directories that include a relatively high proportion of free textbooks rather than other OERs (syllabi, assessment materials, etc.). Comparative information is presented for each of the 118 directories, with special attention to those with high recall, high precision, explicit and meaningful selection criteria, and consistently good textbook quality. The results focus on the characteristics of the OER directories, the extent to which they support the discovery of textbooks, the particular directories that are likely to be most useful, and the ways in which the most useful directories are systematically different from the others. There are at least 24 high-quality OER directories, but three—the Open Textbook Library, the B.C. Open Collection, and LibreTexts Commons—are especially useful. By devoting more attention to directories such as these, we can overcome the greatest barrier to the adoption of OER textbooks—the difficulty of identifying titles that can replace conventional texts.

The study examined the trends in the adoption and implementation of Open Education Resources (OER) in higher education institutions (HEIs) by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 911 publications between 2004 and 2022 from the Dimensions database. The VOSviewer1.6.19 software was used to establish visualization networks on the most influential authors, countries and universities. Further analysis was made to establish publications with higher citations, co-authorship collaborations and the co-occurrence of keywords. The results indicate a steady growth of research articles on OER due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The developed countries had a higher rate of research publications and stronger collaboration patterns in OER than the African countries. The analysis of citation score indicates that the “International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education” and “Journal of Interactive Media in Education” were the most popular journals on the topic. The results indicate that the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Spain had the highest links in terms of co-authorship collaboration. In contrast, African countries such as Uganda, Cameroon and Tunisia had very minimal links in terms of co-authorship on the topic. The analysis of keywords occurrence revealed several opportunities for adopting and implementing OER in HEIs which include easy accessibility of digital content and inquiry-based learning. Most of the identified limitations of the implementation of OER in HEIs in sub-Saharan African countries were the high costs of commercial e-textbooks and inadequate funding. Limited knowledge of the institutionalization of OER, institutional low capacity to adopt OER and lack of policies as well as awareness were identified as other factors constraining the effective implementation of OER. This bibliometric analysis provides insights on limitations for effective implementation and institutionalization of OER in HEIs in African countries and paves the way for future research direction on the topic.

BackgroundEnsuring equitable access to education is a fundamental goal in health professions training, particularly in simulation-based learning, where realistic clinical scenarios prepare learners for real-world practice. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) offers a robust framework for creating instructional strategies, materials, and environments that are accessible and effective for all learners.Main bodyIn this article, we provide practical guidance and actionable strategies for incorporating UDL principles into simulation-based activities. Engaging in simulation-based education requires a leap of faith and a willingness to embrace vulnerability, as learners must immerse themselves in authentic scenarios. By integrating UDL principles, educators can create a supportive environment that reduces barriers, fosters psychological safety, and ensures that all participants feel empowered to take these risks and fully engage in the learning process. This framework supports opportunities for every learner to partake in meaningful and challenging experiential learning, ultimately preparing them for successful clinical practice.ConclusionFrom scenario design to debriefing techniques, this article offers insights and recommendations grounded in evidence-based practices, thereby empowering educators to optimize the effectiveness and accessibility of their simulation programs. By embracing UDL principles, educators in health professions education can create simulation experiences that cater to the diverse needs of learners, ensuring that all participants have the opportunity to thrive and succeed in their learning journeys.

The integration of universal design learning principles and methodologies into pedagogical practices has gained significant attention in recent years. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that emphasizes creating accessible and inclusive educational experiences to accommodate all students, including diverse learners. This study explores the implementation of UDL principles in teaching mathematics in inclusive classrooms in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to identify how a teacher uses lesson plans according to UDL and to identify the challenges when applying UDL frameworks to make lesson plans. The phenomenological research design, belonging to the qualitative approach was used as the research methodology. The sample was selected under non-random sampling. Observations and interviews were used to collect data. Data analysis was conducted using narrative analysis and thematic analysis. The study highlights that the teacher did her best to represent three core principles of UDL: (1) providing multiple means of representation, (2) providing multiple means of action and expression, and (3) providing multiple means of engagement. Furthermore, the research identifies challenges in adopting UDL practices, including resource constraints, lack of awareness among educators, and limited professional development opportunities. Addressing these barriers is critical to successfully integrating UDL principles into mainstream education systems.

This article defines universal design for learning (UDL) and presents examples of how universally designed technology hardware and software applications benefit students with disabilities who are majoring in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) majors. When digital technologies are developed without incorporating accessible design features, persons with disabilities cannot access required information to interact with the information society. However, when accessible technology and instruction are provided using UDL principles, research indicates that many students benefit with increased achievement. Learning through universally designed and accessible technology is essential for students with disabilities who, without access, would not gain the skills needed to complete their degrees and access employment and a life of self-sufficiency. UDL strategies enhance learning for all students, including students with disabilities who are majoring in STEM, which are among the most rigorous academic disciplines, but also among the most financially rewarding careers.

This chapter presents a new paradigm for sustainable data-driven language learning systems design in higher education that draws on qualitative reflections spanning a decade (2012–2022) with stakeholders from an ongoing global research study with the FLAX (Flexible Language Acquisition) and F-Lingo projects at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa New Zealand (Fitzgerald (2019) A new paradigm for open data-driven language learning systems design in higher education; König et al. (2022) Smart CALL). Design considerations are presented for remixing domain-specific open access content into Open Educational Resources (OER) for academic English language provision across formal and non-formal higher education contexts. Primary stakeholders in the research collaboration include the following three groups: (1) Knowledge organisations that provide open access to academic content—libraries and archives, including the British Library and the Oxford Text Archive, universities in collaboration with MOOC providers and the CORE (COnnecting REpositories) open access aggregation service at the UK Open University; (2) Researchers who mine and remix academic content into corpora and open data-driven language learning systems—converging from the fields of open education, computer science and applied corpus linguistics; (3) Knowledge users who re-use and remix academic content into OER—English for Academic Purposes (EAP) practitioners from university language centres. Automated content analysis was carried out on a corpus of interview and focus discussion data with the three stakeholder groups in this research. We discuss themes arising from the research data that reflect the different stakeholders’ experiences of remixing open access research content that has been produced within the academy for re-use as open educational content for teaching and learning features of academic language within open data-driven language learning systems. These open learning systems have been specifically designed to scale with OER expansion and traction in mind for their sustainable uptake both within and beyond the brick and mortar of the traditional university. The new paradigm presented in this chapter challenges, as the OER movement must, established business models and deeply embedded cultural or institutional norms that present obstacles to OER expansion and traction and the sustainability of the movement. One persistent challenge concerns the lack of open education policy across the higher education sector for full open access (for use, modification, adaptation) via Creative Commons licensing to content produced within the academy. Thus, while this research has theoretical and practical implications in applied linguistics, computer science, language teaching and learning and open education, more generally, it also has significant cultural, business model and policy implications for higher education.KeywordsData-driven learningDesign-based researchEnglish for academic purposes (EAP)Higher educationMassive open online courses (MOOCs)Open accessOpen educational practicesOpen educational resources (OER)Systems design