The following resource is an excerpt from Inclusive education and UDL: A comprehensive guide adapted to include some of the resources available at IU’s campus.
Open Course Materials
Expanding course materials to reflect diversity in source and opinion prepares students for their personal and professional lives by mirroring our global community. Course materials prove to be one of the areas that students, especially the economically disadvantaged, struggle with the most. The cost of required textbooks and technology can be a huge burden and a hindrance for students when learning. When looking to cut costs on the course materials, faculties can consider the following options:
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See if relevant content can be found free online, via the Open Educational Resources;
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Make content accessible through the LMSs and available regardless of geographical and time constraints.
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Develop a full understanding of fair use and copyright policies. Usually, if only a small part of a book or resource is needed for the course, the library can actually make a digital copy available to the course.
IU Resources
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Michael Courtney (micourtn@iu.edu) is Luddy’s librarian. He shares: For books that you’d like your students to have the opportunity to use for an assignment (or anything else for that matter), if you would send me that [book] list, I can order those for the library when appropriate and when budget allows. For the most part, I can’t imagine we wouldn’t be able to acquire most things within reason.
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In addition to the OER Resources linked above, Haley Norris, the Scholarly Communication Librarian and Diversity Resident at the IU Libraries (hjnorris@iu.edu), asked that I share the following with any faculty who are interested in exploring OER course materials: Our dept hosts fellowships like the CMFP and recently co-hosted an OER Sprint with the College of Arts and Sciences. Beyond fellowships, we offer assistance to any faculty member that wants to transition to OER, affordable course materials, and/or library-licensed materials. If you or your faculty have any questions about OER, please feel free to reach out to me or send my contact information to them.
Integrating Diverse Resources
It is also important to include a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in the course materials; at the same time ensure that these materials are culturally relevant to students. Here are some suggestions on how faculties can diversify the course content:
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Utilize multimedia content in order to bring other voices into the room: Ted Talks, documentaries, podcasts, newspapers, websites, etc.
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Elicit student voices with icebreakers/ warm-up activities that allow students to reflect on their experiences (Also see https://tophat.com/blog/classroom-icebreakers/)
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Connect with different professional groups to provide examples and guest speakers for students
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Present different ways in which students can interact with the course material
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creating an academic poster, (IU Expand short course)
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online forums/ discussions, podcast, etc.
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Use a variety of names, settings, or cultural references in example scenarios or problems;
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Place the learning assignments or activities in a variety of social, professional or cultural contexts.
Creating Accessible Content
Furthermore, faculties need to be transparent about material selection and make sure to be clear with students the reason why the materials have been chosen. Supplementing the course materials with background information and multiple types of examples to facilitate learning is also important to represent different perspectives and backgrounds. Aside from covering varied topics, perspectives, and contexts, the course materials need to be curated and adjusted to address learner preferences. Some recommendations to produce accessible content are:
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Using captioned videos to support international students and learners with a slower learning pace
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Ensuring that the course materials can be accessed by a screen reader
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Vary the types of course materials (documents, audios, or videos) to cater for other learning preference
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Optimize all images used in the course by adding descriptions, or adjusting for best quality and size.
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