Diffusing Universal Design Globally: Learnsites for Young Teens and Adult Guides

Betty Jo White, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, Professor of Housing, College of Human Ecology, Dept. of Apparel, Textiles & Interior Design, USA

O. J. Selfridge, Kansas State University, USA

With the goal of disseminating the Universal/Inclusive Design (UD) concept to the mainstream populations in the U. S. and abroad, the authors developed two educational web sites (hereafter UD Learnsites) to create UD awareness among young teenagers and their teachers and youth group leaders. The UD Learnsites project was completed via a Cooperative Agreement between the National Endowment for the Arts and Kansas State University.

The Youth Universal Design Learnsite (YLS) can prepare young teens to become Achange agents@ who help increase the UD adoption rate among their families, friends, and communities. The companion UD Guidesite (GS) will prepare teachers and leaders to help their students and after-school youth group members learn about and spread the UD word. A much higher (than the current very low) rate of UD adoption could create a more user-friendly and inclusive global society designed for All.

The Universal Design Learnsites= multi-cultural perspective is evident in the Links to, and examples and images from other nations and cultures. For global dissemination, local educators are encouraged to use the lessons as models, adapting them for relevance in their own culture via translation to their language, and using localized examples and learning activities. From international feedback, we hope to gather more and better multi-cultural images and examples.

Curriculum Applications and Learnsites= Content

The interdisciplinary UD Learnsite content is appropriate for inclusion in the following middle school, junior high, and selected senior high school curricula: Social Studies (Communities/Civics); Art (Design Principles); Consumer and Family Sciences (Housing Design); Vocational Technical (Building Trades); and Technology Education (problem-based learning that uses principles of math, science, and technology).

Potential after-school UD Learnsite participants include 4-H clubs, Boy and Girl Scout troops, church youth groups, Girls and Boys Clubs, YMCA and YWCA members, and Youth Community Service Programs (e.g., teen Habitat for Humanity volunteers).

The UD Guidesite contains substantive Universal Design background information, detailed overviews of each lesson, learning activity descriptions, and student assessment suggestions. Its sections are designed to prepare Guides adequately without taking a UD course or doing in-depth research. The GS sections are lettered to distinguish them from the (non-correlated) YLS lesson numbers.

The ten UD Guidesite section titles are: A) Goals and objectives; B) UD definitions; C) Assumptions about youth as potential change agents; D) An evolutionary history of UD; E) How youth can disseminate UD; F) The UD Principles; G) Interactive web learning methods; H) The multi-cultural overlay; I) Lesson overviews; and J) Related learning resources (full, in-depth list).

The UD Learnsite contains ten lessons from which teens and Guides may select to create an interdisciplinary Universal Design Unit that fits their curriculum and allotted time frame. Each lesson includes thought questions, example images, Links, Quotable Quotes, teen-speak language, and humor. The interactive learning activities use web-based methods to engage partners, small groups, and whole classes in discussion, hands-on investigation, critical thinking, and problem-solving applications.

The UD Learnsite lesson titles are designed to >hook= teens with an idea of the content: 1) UD definitions, principles and COOL examples; 2) Meeting lifespan housing needs with UD; 3) Harry=s not the only wizard: Innovative and universal design; 4) Human factors: Will one size even fit most? 5) UD Parade of Homes and housing checklist; 6) Trading Spaces global style: UD in other cultures; 7) Beautiful UD--Usable by all; 8) Kansas City, here I come! A+ UD community service; 9) Design crimes on trial: Judy Judy presiding; and 10) Visit*Ability: UD politics with a payoff! The abridged Related Resources follow the last lesson without a number.

Net Access and the Digital Divide

We designed the two sites so that ANo youth shall be left behind@ for lack of computer access. Guides can adapt the lessons for individual computer connections, small group use, and even where Net access is limited to the teacher=s or librarian=s desk. To reduce the number of in-class on-line connections required for optimal learning, teen partners or trios may collaborate on completing their lessons in the school computer lab or library.

The sites also seek to seize the Internet=s advantage in spreading Universal and Inclusive Design worldwide while diminishing the Adigital divide@ that can discourage Net use. They may help close any gaps between: U. S. homes with school-age children but no Net connections; budget-strapped schools and equipment deficits that restrict use of the Internet; and developing countries with Net availability, but scarce web designers and facilities.

The Learnsites= Development Process

The authors spent the early months of the project web-surfing to compare site design options and identify Universal Design-related and educational web sites as possible Links. During that period, they determined that the UD Learnsite should be simple enough for 1) use with fairly basic computers and web connections, and 2) adaptation and replication by teachers and leaders without web designer resources.

As a result, the UD Learnsites do not include streaming video or other >bells and whistles= that professional web designers use to raise the WOW factor. But they do have pre-tests, puzzlers, word banks, weird Links, vocabulary builders, >write your own= captions, and images of real teens (not models) to involve and hold the learners= attention.

The authors searched the market for various UD example images, using the web, >gadget= and high tech mail order catalogs, and teen >mags.= Our junior consultants included every teen we could rope into giving an opinion or pilot-testing a few lessons. They are otherwise known as our numerous nieces and nephews, neighborhood and faculty kids, church youth groupies, local middle school students, and work study and graduate student assistants.

One 15-year-old nephew went so far as to slam into a tree while riding a (now-banned) 3-wheel scooter, breaking a leg in three places and a wrist just a month before school started in the fall. He not only has a wheelchair, but one with lots of hardware to keep his leg cast parallel to the floor and immobilize his wrist. His family got a crash course in the widespread lack of accessibility at home, school, and around their community. He became an avid student of Universal Design, happy to try out various learnsite lessons.

The UD Guidesite sections and UD Learnsite lessons were reviewed for content by several professionals, including Universal Design experts, educational web site developers, a professor/researcher of (pre-)adolescence; a rehabilitation specialist with a disability, and a former Junior High teacher cum real estate agent who now promotes UD homes. All suggestions were extremely helpful, resulting in both lesson revisions and re-arrangement, as well as overall improvement of the scripts and learning activities.

Wanted: User Feedback

The Universal Design Learnsites are now on the web for comments, further teen pilot tests, and web accessibility fine-tuning. The authors are also finalizing the permissions and credits (using the Fair Use concept and >down-stream control=). Thus, viewers may expect to see corrections and improvements to these >works in progress= in coming months.

For now, the UD Guidesite includes both sites under one URL so that teachers and leaders can move between them without leaving one site. The UD Learnsite has a separate URL especially for young teens in school classes or after-school youth groups. But Web surfers of any age are welcome to self-study UD, and may see our note to give the URL to teachers and leaders if the surfer agrees that teens would enjoy using the UD Learnsite in group settings such as classes and after-school programs.

Each UD Learnsite lesson includes an email-back form for evaluation and suggestions, and the UD Guidesite includes such a form for the entire site. The respective URLs are www.k-state.edu/udlearnsite/ for the young teens, and www.k-state.edu/udguidesite/ for the teachers and leaders.

Feel free to try the UD Learnsites, then email your ideas for improvement. Dr. White will respond as needed, but depending on the amount of feedback, the weight of her long-neglected other duties, and being on a 9-month contract, it could take some time.

Top