Peer Review

Beyond Compliance to Universal Design of OER

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Aug 12, 2026 by Faculty Development

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is a 27-slide presentaton argues for a move away from accommodation for legal reasons and instead to focus on Universal Design for Learning and open education in order to create more equitable learning spaces for diverse students.

The creator argues that Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps us build resources that maximize student access, engagement, and learning. Focusing on UDL also places accessibility guidelines in a context that aids us in achieving those goals. From describing complex graphics to providing multiple modalities for content, UDL offers a framework that supports us in creating resources which best serve our students. Open Educational Pedagogy (OEP) can take us to the next level by empowering students to participate in content creation that solidifies their learning and critical thinking; it also improves our OER for future students.

Type of Material:

Presentation

Recommended Uses:

The presentation provides some practical value for faculty interested in alt text generation, but the provided instructions don't fully demonstrate how to apply the recommendations. The most impactful contribution of this presentation is the listing of the variety of assignments that faculty can design to engage students in content co-creation. While there isn't enough information for instructors to develop their own assignments, there is enough to inspire to look deeper and explore options. This presentation is more like an introduction to professional development for faculty than the actual workshop one would expect.

Technical Requirements:

The content can be accessed through any web browser.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The presentation offers explorers an overview of the CAST framework with the associated expectations.

The included open practices provide a great assortment of assignments that faculty can use to co-create knowledge with students.

The presentation provides additional resources if a cursory reviewer wishes to explore a topic more deeply.

Target Student Population:

The content is most suitable for faculty and teachers/instructors in training.

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

UDL and open pedagogy.

Some awareness of accessibility requirements would definitely benefit the reader. Because the explanations are minimal, those familiar with the CAST framework and open pedagogy stand to benefit a lot more from this resource.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Provides a concise overview of UDL
Shows how open pedagogy can be employed to support implementation of UDL

The content is optimized for inspirational quality more than delivering on practical applications. The concept of individual design through the availability of the 5R option in OER and its exploration through the CAST rubric is sound and well informed. The information is accurate and the connected applications very concise.The content and additional resources are appropriately attributed.

Concerns:

Faculty looking for practical takeaways will not get the specificity they need to implement after review of the slides, but they will have a starting point and maybe an inspired idea.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

It is concise

It introduces both concepts

It can help someone who already knows UDL and open pedagogy how to perhaps prepare a workshop about them together

The content validates faculty beliefs about meeting students where they are, and not averaging. The slides also present a strong current framwork for accessible education with basic implementations. The biggest strength of this presentation is as an idea generator for assignment design for faculty.

Concerns:

The faculty who benefit the most are those with already solid technology expertise, familiarity with open practices who can visualize how to take an idea and turn it into an assignment. Novice instructors may be inspired, but the barrier to implementation may be too high.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The presentation is easy to navigate and the slides are clearly organized. The instructions are engaging and inspiring when one is familiar with the presented content.
Concerns:: Faculty who are newer to OER, accessibility or are unfamiliar with CAST will need additional information to fully immerse in the content and not be confused by the gaps that their knowledge is expected to fill.

Other Issues and Comments:: It is a low-tech presentation format that is easily accessible. I wasn't able to access the alt text, which would be tragic for a presentation on accessibility.
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