Artifact 2 Reflection: Using UDL to Support Students with Disabilities in Academic Advising

My second artifact, Using UDL to Support Students with Disabilities in Academic Advising, was a

recorded PowerPoint presentation I did as the culminating project for EDLE, 76529, Leading for Social

Justice. This assignment was helpful for me as a way to dive more into the topic of UDL, which I had just

begun to explore the previous semester. In addition, it helped change how I view students with

disabilities in post-secondary education, seeing this population of students more as part of the diversity

within the university. In addition, I was able to identify some department-level changes or

considerations as well as systemic changes to address the advising experiences for students with

disabilities in post-secondary education. 

In this assignment, I could take the work done in the previous class, Contemporary Issues in

Special Education, and explore the concept in more detail and from a social justice perspective.

Considering Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, whereas, in the previous class, I was gaining knowledge

about students with disabilities and UDL, this project allowed me to gain a more in-depth

understanding, particularly the complexity and multiple dimensions of the topic. As mentioned in the

previous narrative, I came across the concept of using UDL in advising at the very end of my research

project in the previous semester. I was able to integrate it into the previous paper research but was not

able to explore it to the extent that I wanted to. This presentation provided me with that opportunity for

deeper understanding. 

One of the biggest takeaways for me was how UDL can improve not just academic performance

but also the campus climate for students with disabilities. Specifically, when we (as faculty and staff)

consider students with disabilities as part of the diversity of the campus, we can embrace the unique

gifts, experiences, and backgrounds they bring to the academy rather than focusing on the deficits or

accommodations necessary. In addition to focusing on UDL, this paper was also significant for me
because it is when I began to view students with disabilities as part of the diversity within the post-

secondary institution. By looking at this issue from a social justice lens, I could shift the problem of

practice. 

In addition, this presentation helped me think through program-level and systemic changes to

advising practice that can begin to change how we provide academic advising. Program level changes

included consideration for how we communicate with students, what we expect our students to retain

during appointments, and the physical accessibility of our spaces, just to name a few of the suggestions I

identified. Working on this project in the middle of COVID19 was helpful because we were able to think

about how our Covid practices, such as remote advising appointments and the increase of emails, could

both help and hinder the experiences for students with disabilities. In some cases, the availability of

meeting virtually provided students greater access to our office. But in other cases, it created additional

barriers brought on by technology and not being in person. While these changes were specific to my unit

and my university, I believe this is a presentation that I can adapt and present at a NACADA conference,

particularly knowing that there is little research on UDL in academic advising. The suggestions can be

adapted to a variety of institutions in a presentation, allowing an opportunity for others to share what

they are doing or could be doing.  

Beyond problem level changes, this presentation also presented some systemic changes that

need to happen at the university advising level, the global level for advising, and broadly in post-

secondary education. From concrete ideas to conducting an audit of all communication sent out from

advising across the university and considering the climate for students with disabilities at Kent State

University to looking broadly within the professional association about the language used and the way

that we view students with disabilities and doing more research about this in advising, this presentation

discussed a range of suggestions for further research and action. In reviewing this presentation one year
later, I can see ways I have integrated some of these topics into practice, particularly as we have

returned to in-person advising appointments but continue to offer remote advising appointments.

However, in reviewing this initial presentation, I realize there are a lot of ideas here that I want to come

back to and revisit and implement in my professional role in the coming year.