Knowledge accessibility and Universal Design. An exploratory study with university teachers and students

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present a research about accessibility in higher education and, specifically, about the dimensions that can serve as facilitators or barriers. Concerning knowledge, as the focus of this paper, its accessibility implies to be understandable, available and usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible. Increasing accessibility means increasing participation and promoting flexibility in the identification of multiple ways for knowledge access. These words – participation, flexibility, pluralism – are at the basis of Universal Design (CAST, 2011). The study has been realized with a group of teachers and their students of some courses in Padova University and it aims to be a pilot study for developing a reflection about these issues in higher education. The
specific aim is to explore the role of teachers’ values and practices in promoting access to knowledge, trying to understand which elements serve as facilitators or barriers (beliefs and values, practices, methods, assessment procedures). Results will be presented in relation to Universal Design principles.