Our linkages with Collaborating Institutions have lead to a number of productive activities this spring.  Through our partnerships with these approximately 20 colleges and universities across the country, we have been able to collaborate in various ways to get feedback on the developing construct and Principles of UDIÓ, as well as to begin examining how this translates into instructional products for faculty use in the classroom.  The following are highlights of some of our accomplishments:

• We began orientation on the topic of UDI in two different ways to accommodate the different levels of involvement with our Collaborating Institutions.  At our collaborating sites receiving distance training (approximately 16 sites), we developed and piloted a UDI Orientation Manual consisting of readings and reflective questions. Three units cover the topics of understanding the foundation of Universal Design; applying Universal Design to instruction (UDI); and  implementing UDI in the college classroom.   Based on formative feedback from the approximately 100 participating faculty and administrators at these collaborating sites, these materials will be revised and adapted for on-line use at the Facultyware site in Fall 2001.

• Collaborating Institutions in New England that have been involved with on-site training and dialogue have assisted us in piloting a set of training modules related to the Principles of UDIÓ and information about the UDI Project.  Discussions have revolved around refinement of the Principles of UDIÓ, inclusive teaching practices already in use by exemplary faculty, and how the Principles and  practices reflecting UDI can best be presented to a broad range of faculty through the Facultyware web site.  These Power Point training modules will continue to undergo revision and refinement over time, and as individual modules are completed, they will be made available on the web site as well.

Another major task this Spring has been to continue the development of the Facultyware web site.  As a final product in Fall, 2002, Facultyware.com will host a variety of training materials and resources about UDI.  However, the body of the web site will consist of a large repository of instructional products that reflect UDI and are downloadable for faculty use. Intensive time this Spring has been spent on envisioning and piloting portions of the web site pertaining to these instructional products.

One area of concentration has been on the logistical considerations of how to provide useful instructional products on-line.  We have been exploring the range of possibilities in formatting instructional products on the Web and, as a result of dialogue with faculty at our Collaborating Institutions, are considering a variety of tools from “quick and dirty” downloadable documents to products that capture less tangible teaching considerations such as faculty reflection on how to consider student diversity in the classroom.  We are investigating how to package and capitalize on various media (i.e., documents, audio, video) so that interesting instructional products will be available in a variety of forms.  The topics of copyright and ownership issues have been challenging and particularly germane to the project since the primary source of instructional tools for Facultyware will be products submitted by faculty from across the country (see more on this process below).  Current activities involve consideration of how to index products for current and future needs so faculty users can easily locate materials of interest as the repository of instructional products grows.

Concurrent with these logistical considerations of how to package and post instructional products has been the development of the juried review process that will be used for selecting instructional products for publication on the Facultyware site. Similar to an academic journal’s process of using blind peer review to identify manuscripts meriting publication, the UDI project’s juried review process will be used to provide anonymous peer review of instructional products submitted by faculty.  The on-line juried review process is a two-step procedure for examining instructional products.  In step one, a national panel of experts in UDI assess the extent the product reflects the Principles of UDIÓ.  If the product is found to reflect one or more of the Principles, it proceeds to step two of the review.  In step 2, the general quality and usability of the instructional product is assessed by faculty at our Collaborating Institutions across the country.  Products deemed to be of high quality for faculty use will then have met both criteria for publication (reflecting UDI and representing high quality and usability for faculty) and will be published on the Facultyware web site.  Though initial products are being solicited from faculty at Collaborating Institutions, product submission packets will soon be available on-line to open product submission to faculty across the country.

Through activities with Collaborating Institutions and the ongoing development of Facultyware.com, the construct and principles of UDI have been further developed and refined this spring. We look forward to implementing the juried review of products that reflect the principles of UDI and making them available on the Web site.