Universal Design

Our textbook defines universal design as a usable design of products and environment, accessible to all people. Expounding on that thought, the National Center on Universal Design for Learning notes that individuals bring a wide array of skills, needs, and interests to learning that are as varied and unique as our own DNA or fingerprints. (National Center on Universal Design for Learning, 2012) It is important to remember that each individual is unique and design in a manner that can be effective for all learners. With that in mind, I found searching for a good visual example of universal design related to instruction to be fairly challenging. I believe that the textbook has an excellent example of universal design that individuals can easily understand. After a long string of web searches, I finally settled on an image of proper lifting technique provided by the University of Michigan Health System and WebMD.com. I believe that the image I chose presents a simple but meaningful organizational visual that is accessible to all people that conveys the proper steps in a basic lifting sequence. For the purpose of this exercise, I modified the image to include a written description of each step to accompany the graphic.

According to OSHA.gov, back injuries afflict over 600,000 employees a year. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2013) If employees would remember to use the proper lifting technique the number of injuries would not be as large. Many times employees use the incorrect lifting technique and suffer no injury. This leads to and reinforces bad behavior. For these experience lifters, the image can easily serve as a just-in-time job aid as a constant reminder of the proper lifting technique. I think this image could be printed on stickers, flyers, and wallet cards to effectively serve as a performance support item. In this manner, the image would provide recognition of proper lifting, in its most basic form, to avoid injury. The image is straight-forward and requires no live instructor to discuss the material and it’s made up of two common/identifiable elements – a lifter (a human being) and the lifted object (box). These two elements should be easily recognized by all individuals, regardless of knowledge, skill, experience and background.

Additional Resources

National Center on Universal Design for Learning (2012). What is universal design for learning? Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/

U.S. Department of Labor. (2013). Osha technical manual. Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/otm_vii/otm_vii_1.html

Introduction Image

To introduce myself, I thought I’d do something abstract. I’m a fairly reserved individual, so I often keep a lot of things to myself. I chose to edit an image of me with my son that my wife took of us during our first family vacation. I chose to construct the image out of the most vital key words that make up who I am. Those words are: (1) Christian, (2) Husband, (3) Father, (4) Son, (5) Friend, (6) Teacher, (7) Student, (8) Musician, and (9) Perfectionist. When designing the image I began using more words to describe who I am, but then chose to limit the design to those nine items as I believe that is the core of who I am. I also dabbled with the font family and size before settled on a font that is readable but requires some examination because although I believe these items describe me, I am not overly expressive and it sometimes requires deeper examination by others. One hidden element about me lies in the color scheme I chose. I am an avid University of Kentucky basketball fan so I chose to make my image blue and white – UK colors.