Students studying a variety of disciplines at the University of Kentucky soon will have the opportunity to add universal design to their repertoire of skills, thanks to a new undergraduate certificate program offered by UK’s Human Development Institute (HDI) this spring.
The four-course certificate program is designed to give students a better understanding of how to apply the concepts of universal design to make environments and experiences more useful for all people, said Kathy Sheppard-Jones, HDI’s executive director.
“We want it to be practical and provide opportunities and learning experiences that the students can then take back to their home departments and apply to their own courses of study,” Sheppard-Jones said.
The program will include a foundational course on the fundamental elements of universal design, followed by basic and advanced practicum courses and one elective, which will encourage students to explore more novel applications of UD principles across a wider spectrum.
“It’s very individualized as a certificate,” Sheppard-Jones said. “The incoming students are the ones who are going to shape what the program looks like.”
The program is housed within the university’s Division of Undergraduate Education, but post-baccalaureate students will also have the opportunity to participate. Nineteen faculty members from across 12 colleges at the university have signed on to participate, and the program is open to students at the sophomore level and above from all fields of study.
The interdisciplinary aspect of the program is aimed at encouraging creative collaboration, Sheppard-Jones added. She also expects the program to teach students to approach future projects and challenges within their chosen fields with a mindset aimed at ensuring maximum accessibility from the start.
“We want people to be mindful and purposeful from the outset and not have to think about [accessibility] after the fact,” Sheppard-Jones said. “There are so many reasons to think about it from the start. It’s cheaper; it’s more efficient; and it shows a respect for the diversity of all people.”
As the baby boomer generation has aged, it has driven a new emphasis in how society approaches universal design and accessibility, Sheppard-Jones said. Kentucky, as well as the rest of the nation, has a vested interest in enabling more seniors to stay engaged within the community and age in place, and environmental accessibility has emerged as a key component, Sheppard-Jones said.
“If we talk about designing homes from a universal design perspective that are able to meet someone’s needs across one’s lifespan, then we also see more opportunity for people to have options as they are aging,” Sheppard-Jones said.
The idea for the certificate program began with a basic but comprehensive accessibility mapping project that began in 2001 on the UK campus, according to Sheppard-Jones. She said the group shared its results with UK’s administration and the university embraced the project and also wanted to more formally engage the students who were involved, she said.
Sheppard-Jones said she is not aware of any other research university like UK that is currently offering a similar certificate program in universal design.
“There has been interest in universal design and universal design for learning, but often it’s done at the more professional level,” Sheppard-Jones said. “We try to teach our faculty about incorporating principles of universal design for learning in the courses that they teach, but to be able to offer these same tools and skills to students is really valuable.”
The certificate program is set to launch its first course during the upcoming spring semester. Students who complete that course will then have the opportunity to apply for the certificate program, Sheppard-Jones said.
“We need to find more creative ways to solve [accessibility] problems,” Sheppard- Jones said. “I’m really excited to see what kind of projects our students will be coming up with. They are going to do a lot of the marketing of this program for us.”