Teaching Note-Incorporating Universal Instructional Design in Social Work Education: A Practical Application

Universal instructional design (UID) is a framework that promotes a shift from individual remedial interventions to holistic learning models that are student-centered, accessible, and inclusive. Students with disabilities frequently report barriers that make educational experiences difficult, and recent studies report that students with disabilities experience ableism in their social work programs. UID strategies can decrease the need for students to make difficult self-disclosures to obtain academic accommodations, as learner diversity and accessibility are incorporated into all aspects of the course design and delivery. In this teaching note, we apply a UID framework adopted in social work education, illustrating how social work instructors can successfully implement UID principles into their teaching repertoires to enrich the social work education of all learners.