The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit is pleased to announce our next External Speaker.
On 16th February, 2pm-4pm, Kevin L. Merry will be running a masterclass on Universal Design for Learning and its implementation at De Montfort University.
Bookings for the event are open via the CPD Staff booking page.
You can read more about Universal Design for Learning on the CAST Site.
The workshop will take place online via Teams. A link will be sent to you before the event.
Please see below for the session description and speaker biography.
Session Description
In 2015, De Montfort University 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 masterclass, Dr Kevin Merry, will introduce the “Cheese Sandwich” approach to supporting learner mastery. The Cheese Sandwich has become the vehicle by which colleagues at DMU have begun to embed UDL into the design of their teaching sessions, modules, and programmes. Specifically, Kevin will provide a series of practical activities that will help colleagues to uncover the pedagogic foundations of the Cheese Sandwich. Furthermore, Kevin will invite colleagues to begin thinking about some of the key considerations that teachers must make when planning and designing learning experiences from a UDL perspective, and how this can be done using the systems approach of the CUTLAS method.
Finally, Kevin will finish off the session by addressing the elephant in the room – the issue of universally designed assessment. By providing guidance and practical examples from De Montfort University’s own Postgraduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE), Kevin will hopefully dispel some of the myths that exist around UDL and assessment, supporting colleagues to adopt more UDL centric ways of assessing learning.
Speaker Biography:
Kevin L. Merry is the Head of Academic Development, and an Associate Professor of Learning and Teaching at De Montfort University (DMU). Kevin is also a DMU Teacher Fellow, and Principal Fellow of Advance HE. 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). Kevin is the founder and chair of the UDL United Kingdom and Ireland HE Network (UDL-UKI). The purpose of the UDL-UKI network is to identify, promote and support the development of approaches, models, tools, and practices that enable effective UDL implementation in UK HE.
If you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us (lteu@aber.ac.uk).