Sponsor/year: Faculty of Arts and Education, 2014.

Project leads: Dr Petra Brown, Dr Janet Watson, Dr Danielle Hitch.

Aims: Identify ways in which target units can improve inclusivity of curriculum.

Underpinning theories/literature:

• Universal Design for Learning in higher education
• Inclusive curriculum design in higher education: considerations for effective practice across and within subject areas
• Effective teaching and support of students from low socioeconomic status backgrounds
• 'Academic skills and beyond: a resource based approach to support student success in higher education'.

• Literature review: Review of literature on inclusive higher education principles and practices, needs of LSES learners, Universal Design for Learning research.
• Student data analysis: Analysis of SIPU data to identify target units with high numbers of LSES students. Chosen units were from Primary Education, Australian Studies, Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology, and the cross-coded AIX160 Introduction to University Study.
• Unit audits: Units audited against Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.
• Curriculum review: Unit curricula reviewed against guidelines for teaching the relevant discipline inclusively in Higher Education Academy Guidelines.
• Interviews: Unit chairs interviewed.
• SWOT: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis to help frame recommendations.
• Collaboration: Liaison with professional staff from Library, Student Academic and Peer Support, and Career Education to scope actions.
• Action plans: Scoped plan of action for each unit, including modifications to learning outcomes, content, teaching methods, assessments and online resources to better meet needs of students from LSES backgrounds.

• Plans acted upon: The action plans informed subsequent major inclusivity-based curriculum enhancements in three units.
• UDL piloted: Successful use of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in this project led to its later adoption as a curriculum development and evaluation framework in several other inclusive curriculum capacity building projects.
• Partnerships: Partnerships formed between unit chairs and Equity and Diversity, Library, and Student Academic and Peer Support staff led to successful collaboration on several later inclusive curriculum capacity building projects.

• Brown, P & Watson, J 2015, Inclusive curriculum design project report (PDF 5.1MB), Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University.
• Hitch, D, Brown, P, Ryan, J & Everist, R 2014, ‘Inclusive Curriculum and Capacity Building Project: Faculty of Arts and Education’, presentation to 2014 Deakin Teaching and Learning Conference (see video).
• UDL Guidelines and Examples—Educator Worksheet
• Universal Design for Learning Audit tool (DOCX 340KB)
• SWOT analysis example (DOCX 24KB)