Inclusive Design

What is the Inclusive Design Badge?

The College of Sciences Inclusive Design badge recognizes courses and the COS faculty who teach them who have made a commitment to implementing inclusive best practices that accommodate diverse student needs, foster a less stressful learning environment, and help students better understand and meet faculty expectations.

How do I know what courses have the Inclusive Design Badge?

College of Sciences faculty members who have a course approved for an Inclusive Design badge are identified in the UCF Schedule of classes with the course attribute: INCLSVDSGN (see the Enrollment Information of any course details) and will display a digital badge on the course syllabus and Webcourse.

What can I expect?

If you are enrolled into a course that has been awarded an Inclusive Design badge, it means that your instructor has committed to teaching a course that embraces 13 or more of the best practices for Inclusive Design. The best practices your instructor is adopting will be explicitly identified within the course syllabus and will be applied in how the instructor conducts the course and/or how assignments are handled.

I have more questions, who can I talk to?

If you have questions or would like more information, please email the COS Dean’s Office at COSAwards@ucf.edu.

Inclusive Design Best Practices

1. Practices designed to create a welcoming environment for students with a variety of communication and learning style preferences:
   1. Students will have the ability to demonstrate their learning in multiple ways. For example, written work, projects, videos, audio files, Prezi, etc. Students may also be able to make choices among several possible equivalent assignments.
   2. Students will be able to opt to work alone during any group work assignments. Any student who chooses to work in a group will be given the option of choosing their own group or being assigned to a group.
   3. Students will have access to recorded lectures or class notes.
   4. Students will have access to all assignments with due dates the first week of the semester so students can work ahead or plan ahead.
   5. Students will have at least 5 opportunities for in-class active/interactive learning activities during the semester.
   6. Students will have options of how they can communicate with the instructor and other students including in-person, virtually, or via email/Inbox or other written communication.
2. Practices designed to create a welcoming environment for students with a variety of personal and academic needs:
   1. Students will be able to use non-electronic earplugs for testing.
   2. Students taking a class that is over 75 minutes will be provided with at least one break.
   3. The instructor will offer flexibility for students’ personal and academic need following careful consideration of its impact on the learning environment for the entire class. The method for requesting such flexibility will be clearly stated in the syllabus. Note: This is different from the course accessibility options that Student Accessibility Services provides.
   4. There will be no in-class assessments that only occur during a portion of the class period or are unannounced, such as pop quizzes. Such assessments are extremely difficult to accommodate for students who receive additional time for timed assessments. Consider replacing with online quizzes or self-graded quizzes that do not count towards the grade.
3. Creating a less-stressful environment for students:
   1. The instructor will spend 5 minutes on the first day of class discussing different learning strategies and encourages students to communicate their needs to the instructor.
   2. No single item in the class (assignment or test) will be worth more than 20% of the final grade.
   3. Students will not be required to speak or present in-person or in virtual environments. For example, students are provided the option of submitting a pre-recorded presentation in lieu of a live presentation.
   4. Students will be provided with an agenda and/or class outline for each class period. For online modules, students will be provided with an agenda for the module.
4. Helping students understand and meet faculty expectations:
   1. Students will be provided access to curated background information or relevant knowledge for the class (from earlier in the semester or from prerequisite courses). Examples of such resources are paper-writing tips, background information, math knowledge needed for the class and other relevant information or techniques/strategies.
   2. Students will be provided with granular learning objectives and a list of important concepts covered on each test. For example, module or unit study guides are provided.
   3. A rubric will be provided for each graded assignment.
   4. Students will be provided with a one-page executive summary of the syllabus with all due dates and assignments.
   5. Students will be able to resubmit some assignments to be regraded. The syllabus will clearly indicate which assignments are eligible for resubmission and under what conditions.
   6. Students will have at least weekly self-assessment opportunities such as non-graded practice assessments, non-graded concept checks etc.

To apply for an Inclusive Design badge, College of Sciences faculty members can click below: