Page 46 - Reimagining Higher Education : Case Studies On Designing For Inclusion, Equity, And Access In The Buka Project

J. Brunton & C. Beatty · Supporting Digital Learning Design at an Institutional Level

through the use of storyboarding and the development of learner personas
in the workshop sessions;

● UDL principles for inclusive learning, which has also been described in a

subsection above. These principles guided the inclusive and accessible
design of both module content and content delivery to provide equity of

access to learning for a diverse student body.

At the onset of the pandemic, an essential aspect of the DLDU’s approach
was the development of the DCU hybrid learning principles, which provided a

simple framework to design and develop appropriate online/blended learning

spaces and experiences. The summer of 2020 was then a time for reflection and
planning, so that the work and support provided by the DLDU could pivot from

reactive emergency response to proactive future planning. Consultations and

workshop sessions could then be provided to academic sta for continued
professional development purposes.

The aim of the workshop sessions was sta training and capacity building in
online/blended teaching, with a focus on providing a theoretical background for

learning design, and engaging sta in developing a learner persona(s) for their
module/programme. Personas are fictional characters that embrace the needs and

goals of a real user or group of students. They help generate an understanding of

students and what their key attributes are that learning designers need to know for
their designs.

Two day programme design sprints were o ered by the DLDU. These sprints
included: eight hours of tailored professional development for programme/module

team; programme learning design plan; rapid enhancement of nominated modules

by the DLDU team (where the team implemented 20 quick enhancements in line
with the DCU hybrid learning policy); and up to six hours of additional support

after the sprint. The sprint began with one to one design consultation to discuss
learning design and aid the DLDU in co-creation of content and activities, along

with tailored professional development to aid future learning design in the

programme/module.

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