Changes

There is two types of Forum organized by the Equity Committee that includes Universal Design. The first one is iwas during the Wintersemester. The Winter Forum talks about Accessibility and Universal Design in the Faculty of Engineering and aim to create awareness and further discussions. The second type is the Forum on Universal Design for Learning Principles which took place in Fall 2015.

The Winter forum will focus focused on applications of Universal Design (UD) as implemented in industry and in the fields of engineering, technology, architecture and urban planning. This discussion hopes to introduce introduced the concept and principles of Universally Designed technology, products and services. It will focus focused on three topics of UD within industry: technology interface design, industrial product design, and physical space (architectural) design and planning.

The Fall 2015 forum will focus focused on creating learning environments which are accessible, inclusive and respect the diversity of the Engineering student body. UDL is a sustainable, educational framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials, methods, and assessments as well as the policies surrounding these curricular elements with a diversity of learners in mind.  Just as physical barriers can hinder students to access the classroom in our physical environment, curricular barriers can exist in the instructional environment that can hinder learning for students with diverse learning styles. Universal Design (UD) as a concept originated in the field of architecture. UD as a concept is now widely applied in the field of education, curriculum design and the design of learning environments where it is known as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a sustainable, educational framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials, methods, and assessments as well as the policies surrounding these curricular elements with a diversity of learners in mind.