Access by Design: Designing for Belonging
Inclusive education requires that all learners can access learning, not only in theory, but within everyday classroom experiences. This course explores how educators can recognize and design for diverse access needs across engagement, understanding, participation, contribution, and choice. Participants will learn to identify how access is experienced, reduce environmental and instructional barriers, and design meaningful entry points that support learners in entering, engaging in, and sustaining learning over time.
Inside the Story: Prologue
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As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Prologue: The Words She Keeps Inside
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Amina enters Ms. Patel’s classroom carrying more understanding than anyone realizes. She watches carefully, follows routines by observing others, and completes what she can, but her quietness leads adults and peers to underestimate how much she knows.
More Than One Way to Understand | Prologue: Working Beside, Not Together
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Liam works alongside peers but remains separate from shared learning, while Ava quietly complies without fully engaging, both positioned at the edges in different ways.
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Prologue: Too Much Energy, Not Enough Space
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Mateo moves constantly and is frequently corrected, while Leila quietly complies without fully engaging, both present but not meaningfully participating in the learning experience.
The Group That Never Quite Works | Prologue: Some Voices Carry, Others Fade
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Group work is a regular routine, but participation follows familiar patterns, with some voices consistently leading while others remain at the edges.
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Prologue: Ready, But Not Starting
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Elias listens but struggles to begin tasks, while Priya completes work under increasing internal pressure, both present but not fully supported in how they enter learning.
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Prologue: Access Without Participation
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Jeremy moves independently through the classroom and is seen as included, while Chloe quietly remains on the edge of group work, both present but not fully participating in collaborative learning.
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Prologue: Engaged or Off Task
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Nia is deeply engaged when learning connects to her interests but disengages quickly when it does not, while Ben completes tasks quietly without real investment, revealing two different forms of limited access.
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Prologue: Missing, But Not Gone
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Students with chronic health conditions are often absent or fatigued, while others are present but quietly overwhelmed, revealing that participation is not simply about being in the room.
Whose Story Is This | Prologue: A Lesson That Works, But Not for Everyone
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The unit appears successful on the surface, but some students remain quiet and disconnected, revealing that engagement is uneven beneath visible participation.
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Prologue: Some Voices Are Supported, Others Are Missed
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Students who use AAC rely on adult mediation, while others with less visible language challenges contribute very little, revealing that communication is present but not fully shared.
When Reading Gets in the Way | Prologue: Reading Without Understanding
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Jordan avoids reading but engages in discussion, while Emma reads fluently without deep understanding, revealing uneven access to meaning.
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Prologue: Busy, But Not Balanced
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The classroom is active and group work appears successful, but participation is uneven, with some students consistently contributing less than others.
When Support Becomes Separation | Prologue: Supported, But Separate
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Noah receives consistent support but works separately from peers, while Maya participates in shared tasks but remains disconnected from the group.
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Prologue: Following Without Fully Joining
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Samir follows along with support but rarely initiates participation, while Lucas relies on visual cues but struggles to manage multi-step directions.
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Prologue: Hearing, But Not Fully Following
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Maya listens carefully but misses parts of fast-paced discussions, while Jonah also struggles to keep up, revealing that listening does not always lead to understanding.
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Prologue: Quiet, But Not Comfortable
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Ella avoids speaking and becomes anxious when called on, while Ryan participates only when certain, revealing that participation feels risky for both students.
Access is not something we add at the end. It is something we design from the beginning.
When we design learning so more students can understand, participate, and contribute, we create classrooms where more learners can belong.
Access includes supporting learners to understand, navigate, and make meaningful decisions within learning environments over time.
Course Content
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This course blends story and practice. You will move back and forth between a narrative story and short Learning Interludes that help you reflect on inclusive education and apply ideas to real contexts.
Click on any of the links on the naviagagion menu above to open the readings, videos, and materials for that part of the course.
How the Course Flows
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The course follows a consistent rhythm: Prologue → Learning Interlude 1 → Chapter 1 → Learning Interlude 2 → Chapter 2 → Learning Interlude 3 → Chapter 3 → Learning Interlude 4 → Chapter 4 → Learning Interlude 5 → Epilogue → Learning Interlude 6
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Each story chapter shows inclusive practice unfolding in context. Each Learning Interlude pauses the story to help you notice key ideas, explore them more deeply, and consider how they show up in your own work.
What Is a Learning Interlude?
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Each Learning Interlude includes three Learning Links. A Learning Link is a short learning moment that includes:
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A brief video introducing a key concept
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A follow-up activity to support application and reflection
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After each Learning Link, you’ll find individual and group activity options. Choose what is most useful for your role, goals, and setting. You are not expected to complete everything.
Supporting Materials
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Throughout the course, you’ll also find:
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Printable tools and templates
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Reflection prompts to support sense-making
If you are facilitating this course with a group, Facilitator Notes are included at the start of each Learning Interlude to support pacing, discussion, and shared learning.
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This course is designed to support learning at a sustainable pace. The goal is not to rush toward solutions, but to create space for noticing, reflection, and growth, individually and together.
Narrative Companions
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The stories included here are complete on their own. They do not require explanation in order to be meaningful.
Some readers, however, may find that the story lingers. It may raise questions about participation, understanding, or belonging that do not resolve easily. Rather than moving quickly toward answers, the companions that follow are offered as ways of staying with what has been opened.
The companions are organized around five aspects of access. They are not meant to be read in order, and none are required. You are invited to enter where you feel drawn.
The first set of companions attends to engagement. These explore the conditions that shape whether learners can enter and remain in learning, including regulation, safety, connection, identity, and purpose. They invite attention to what learners are experiencing before and during learning.
The second set focuses on understanding. These companions explore how meaning is made visible through clarity, representation, language, and modeling. They support thinking about how learners come to make sense of what they are learning.
The third set focuses on participation. These companions examine how learners enter and move through the learning process, including entry points, task structure, and sustained engagement. They attend to how learning is made doable.
The fourth set focuses on contribution. These companions explore how learners express, share, and influence learning through communication and multiple forms of expression. They invite attention to whose ideas are visible and heard.
The fifth set focuses on choice. These companions attend to how learners make and act on decisions within learning, including how options are structured and how decision-making is supported over time.
You may read one companion or many, or none at all. The purpose of these texts is not to resolve the story, but to accompany it. The aim is to help readers remain attentive to access, participation, and the conditions that shape how learners come to understand, engage, and contribute.
Learning Interlude 1
What is Access? Where Learning Begins
Occurs After Prologue → Before Chapter 1
Learning Interlude Information
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Interlude Focus: Access is a design responsibility that shapes who can understand, participate, and contribute within the full process of learning, grounded in conditions that support engagement and how learning actually happens.
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📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
A downloadable guide that includes key facilitation insights, along with support for each Practice Lens and Entry Point to guide planning, facilitating, reflection, and discussion.
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🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
1. Understand Access as a Design Responsibility
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Access shapes who can understand, participate, and contribute
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Access is not a learner issue, but a design issue
2. Notice Participation and Engagement Differently
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Learners may be present but not meaningfully participating
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What appears as disengagement often reflects barriers in design
3. Recognize the Role of Engagement Conditions in Learning
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Engagement is shaped by conditions (regulation, safety, connection, identity, purpose)
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Learning begins with what learners experience and attend to
4. Understand Learning as a Process
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Learning unfolds through a dynamic cycle (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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Access influences both entering and staying in this process
5. Recognize Variability and the Need for Support
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Learners engage in different ways and at different times
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Some learners may need support to make and act on choices
Practice Lenses for Exploring Learning Interlude Concepts
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These lenses offer different ways to explore and apply ideas within this interlude. You can engage with one or several, depending on your context and interest.
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When moving through the full course, you may find it helpful to explore the lenses in the order presented, as each one builds on the last.
Practice Lens: Noticing Participation
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Access shapes who can understand, participate, and contribute
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Learners may be present but not meaningfully participating
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What looks like disengagement is often a signal of design barriers
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Attention and conditions shape how learners enter learning
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Participants are invited to engage with one or more entry points below.
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🧍 Individual Entry Points: These entry points support personal reflection and application. They are designed for independent exploration and can be revisited over time.
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Noticing Who Can Participate (📄PDF): In a recent learning experience, who was able to participate fully? Who was not?
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Looking Beneath Presence (📄PDF): Think of a learner who is consistently present but not fully engaged. What might be limiting access?
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Noticing Entry into Learning (📄PDF): How do learners first enter a task? Who begins easily? Who hesitates?
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What Are Learners Attending To? (📄PDF): During learning, what are students noticing and focusing on? What may be drawing attention away?
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Noticing Choice and Engagement (📄PDF): When options are provided, who engages with them? Who does not? What might be influencing this?
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🤝 Collaborative Entry Points: These entry points support shared thinking, dialogue, and collective design.
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Sharing What We Notice (📄PDF): Share examples of when learners were present but not meaningfully participating.
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Learner or Design? (📄PDF): When challenges arise, do we locate the barrier within the learner or within the design?
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Looking for Patterns (📄PDF): What patterns do you notice across learners in your context?
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Attention and Environment in Practice (📄PDF): How might sensory and environmental factors be shaping what learners notice and attend to?
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Choice as Access (📄PDF): How might offering options increase access for some learners and create barriers for others?
Practice Lens: Dimensions of Access and Conditions of Engagement
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Access is experienced through understanding, participation, and contribution
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These are shaped by conditions of engagement
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Conditions influence attention, decision-making, and participation
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Before adjusting instruction, consider which condition may be limiting acces
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Participants are invited to engage with one or more entry points below.
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🧍 Individual Entry Points: These entry points support personal reflection and application. They are designed for independent exploration and can be revisited over time.
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Four Conditions Reflection (📄PDF): Which condition was strongest? Which was missing?
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Access Mapping (📄PDF): Choose one student and consider their experience across all four conditions.
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Missed Access (📄PDF): Recall a time when a student struggled. Which condition may have been missing?
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Attention and Conditions (📄PDF): Which conditions most influence students’ ability to focus and remain engaged?
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Conditions First Reflection (📄PDF): Which condition of engagement might be most influencing a learner’s ability to participate or make choices?
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🤝 Collaborative Entry Points: These entry points support shared thinking, dialogue, and collective design.
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Sorting Examples (📄PDF): Sort classroom scenarios into the four conditions.
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Where Is the Barrier? (📄PDF): Discuss which condition is most often overlooked in your context.
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Comparing Perspectives (📄PDF): How might different staff see access differently?
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Conditions and Attention (📄PDF): How do conditions of engagement influence what students notice and attend to?
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Start With Conditions (📄PDF): In shared scenarios, which condition would you address first? Why?
Practice Lens: Access as a Continuum
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Access exists on a continuum of support
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The goal remains the same while support changes
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Flexible design benefits all learners, while some require additional layers
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Access includes both entering and staying in learning
Participants are invited to engage with one or more entry points below.
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🧍 Individual Entry Points: These entry points support personal reflection and application. They are designed for independent exploration and can be revisited over time.
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Continuum Reflection (📄PDF): Think of a task. How might access increase across levels?
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One Student Lens (📄PDF): Choose one learner and consider how support could increase.
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Small Shift (📄PDF): Identify one simple way to increase access tomorrow.
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Sustained Access Reflection (📄PDF): Where might students enter a task but fall out of the learning process?
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Choice and Continuum (📄PDF): How might support for decision-making increase across flexible → structured → collaborative levels?
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🤝 Collaborative Entry Points: These entry points support shared thinking, dialogue, and collective design.
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Continuum Mapping (📄PDF): Take a task and map flexible → structured → intensive.
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Rethinking Support (📄PDF): Discuss how support can increase without lowering expectations.
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Shared Strategies (📄PDF): Share examples of increasing access in your classrooms.
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Staying in Learning (📄PDF): What helps students remain engaged across a lesson, not just at the start?
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Designing for Choice (📄PDF): How can we offer flexibility while still supporting learners to make meaningful decisions?
Practice Lens: Learning in Motion
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Learning begins with sensory experience and attention
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Learning unfolds through a dynamic, non-linear cycle
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Communication is part of how thinking develops
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Learners may need support to make decisions throughout the process
Participants are invited to engage with one or more entry points below.
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🧍 Individual Entry Points: These entry points support personal reflection and application. They are designed for independent exploration and can be revisited over time.
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Learning Cycle Reflection (📄PDF): Where do your students most often enter the learning process?
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Attention Check (📄PDF): What helps students notice and focus in your classroom?
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Where Learning Breaks Down (📄PDF): At which stage (sense, attend, explore, develop, communicate) do students struggle most?
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Choice in the Learning Cycle (📄PDF): At which stages of the learning process are learners expected to make decisions? How are they supported?
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🤝 Collaborative Entry Points: These entry points support shared thinking, dialogue, and collective design.
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Mapping the Learning Cycle (📄PDF): Apply the learning cycle to a shared lesson
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Multiple Entry Points (📄PDF): How might different learners enter the learning process in different ways?
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Design for the Whole Cycle (📄PDF): How can we support learners across all stages of learning?
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Supporting Decisions (📄PDF): How can we support learners in making choices at different stages of the learning cycle?
What We Carry Forward
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As you move forward, the following resources are here to support your thinking and practice. You are not expected to use all of them. Choose what feels most relevant in your context.
🧰 Tools & Templates
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Access Reflection Tool (📄PDF)
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Four Conditions of Access Template (📄PDF)
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Access Continuum Planning Tool (📄PDF)
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Learning in Motion Cycle Tool (📄PDF)
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Attention and Sensory Reflection Tool (📄PDF)
📚 Reference List
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Research on inclusive instructional design (📄PDF)
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Participation and engagement literature (📄PDF)
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Neuroscience of learning and attention (📄PDF)
🌱 Gentle Action Invitation
Over the coming week, notice one learning task in your classroom. Ask yourself:
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Who can understand?
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Who can participate?
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Who can contribute?
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What conditions are shaping engagement?
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What are students experiencing through their senses?
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What are students attending to?
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Where are students entering the learning process?
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Where might they be falling out?
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How are students supported to make choices within this learning experience?
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Who is able to make decisions independently, and who may need support?
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Who might be left out?
Do not redesign anything yet. Just notice.
Inside the Story: Chapter 1
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As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Chapter 1: Quiet Does Not Mean Empty
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Ms. Patel begins noticing that Amina understands far more than her spoken English suggests, especially during math and science. At the same time, she notices Daniel also participating very little, which raises a broader question about who the classroom is actually designed for.
More Than One Way to Understand | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Group That Never Quite Works | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Whose Story Is This | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Reading Gets in the Way | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Support Becomes Separation | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Chapter 1: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Interlude 2
Designing Entry Points: Opening Access to Learning
Occurs After Chapter 1 → Before Chapter 2
Learning Interlude Information
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Interlude Focus: Participation begins with entry, and designing clear, supported starting points and strong conditions of engagement and learning determines who is able to begin and remain in the learning process.
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📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
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🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
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Understand participation as a designed entry into learning
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Recognize that difficulty starting is often an access barrier
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Identify ways to design clear, supported entry points
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Apply the access dimensions to the start of a task
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Begin to design entry using the access continuum
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Recognize how conditions of engagement influence a learner’s ability to begin
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Identify how executive function demands (e.g., starting, planning, sequencing) are embedded in entry
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Recognize that entry begins with what learners experience through their senses and what they attend to
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Understand that entry is not a single moment, but the beginning of participation in the learning cycle (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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Identify how sensory and attention factors influence who is able to begin learning
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Recognize that strong entry supports both starting and staying engaged in learning
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Recognize that learners may need support to understand, select, and act on available entry options
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Understand that designing entry includes supporting learners to make decisions about how to begin
Learning Link 2.1: Entry Determines Participation
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Entry is the first and most critical access point in any learning task
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Difficulty starting is often a signal of access barriers, not motivation
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Learners need clarity, a manageable first step, and supportive conditions to begin
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Entry is shaped by both task design and conditions of engagement
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Entry begins with sensory experience and attention—what learners notice, focus on, and respond to
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If learners cannot attend to the learning experience, they cannot enter it
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Entry is the first point of access into the learning cycle, not separate from it
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Strong entry supports learners in beginning and continuing participation
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When multiple entry options are provided, learners may need support to notice and choose a starting point
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Difficulty starting may reflect not only unclear tasks, but also difficulty deciding how to begin
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 2.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Start Point Reflection (📄PDF): Think of a recent lesson. How did students enter the task?
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Who Starts Easily? (📄PDF): Think of the students you work with. Which students start right away? Which hesitate? Why?
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First Step Analysis (📄PDF): What is the actual first step in your task? Is it clear?
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Attention Check (📄PDF): What are students noticing at the start of the task? What may be pulling attention away?
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Choice at Entry (📄PDF): When multiple ways to begin are offered, which students are able to choose a starting point? Which are not?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 2.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Entry Patterns (📄PDF): Share patterns you notice in how students begin tasks.
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Barrier or Design (📄PDF): Is difficulty starting about the learner or the task design?
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Reframing Hesitation (📄PDF): How might hesitation be a signal of missing access?
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Sensory and Attention Factors (📄PDF): How might the environment be shaping who is able to begin?
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Entry and Decision Making (📄PDF): How might difficulty starting be connected to challenges with making decisions?
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Learning Link 2.2: Designing Entry Through Dimensions and Conditions
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Entry improves when understanding, participation, and contribution are considered together
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Learners are more likely to begin when conditions support engagement
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Executive function demands (starting, planning, sequencing) must be made visible
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Small design changes at the start of a task can significantly increase participation
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Entry is strengthened when both conditions of engagement and conditions for learning are intentionally designed
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Clarity of goals, vocabulary, and processes supports learners in knowing how to begin
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Communication and modeling make the learning process visible and accessible
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Entry design should support learners in moving into exploration, not just completing a first step
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Before adjusting the task, consider which condition of engagement may be limiting a learner’s ability to begin (regulation, safety, connection, identity, or purpose)
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Clear entry design includes supporting learners to understand available options and how to begin
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Modeling and communication can support learners in making decisions about how to engage
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 2.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Entry Mapping (📄PDF): Take a lesson and map the four conditions at the start.
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Missed Entry (📄PDF): Think of a student who struggles to begin. Which condition is missing?
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Redesign the First Step (📄PDF): Adjust the first step of a task to improve access.
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Clarity Check (📄PDF): Consider a lesson that you are currently teaching. Are the goal, vocabulary, and process clear to all learners at the start?
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Supported Choice Reflection (📄PDF): When options are provided, how are learners supported to choose between them?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 2.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Four Conditions Sort (📄PDF): Sort entry strategies into the four conditions.
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Compare Designs (📄PDF): Compare two tasks (one with strong entry, one without).
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Design Conversations (📄PDF): How can teams plan entry points together?
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Making Learning Visible (📄PDF): How can we make the learning process clearer at the start?
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Design for Decision Making (📄PDF): How can we support learners to choose how they begin without overwhelming them?
Learning Link 2.3: Sensory and Attention Access
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Entry begins with what learners experience through their senses
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Sensory overload or lack of clarity can prevent learners from entering learning
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Attention determines what becomes learning
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Designing for attention includes environment, clarity, relevance, and pacing
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Attention influences not only whether learners begin, but also how they select and engage with entry options
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Reducing sensory overload can support learners in noticing available choices and deciding how to begin
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 2.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Sensory Scan (📄PDF): What might learners be experiencing through their senses at the start of a lesson?
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Attention Reflection (📄PDF): What helps students focus? What disrupts attention?
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Environmental Shift (📄PDF): What is one small change you could make to improve attention at the start?
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Noticing and Choosing (📄PDF): Are learners able to clearly see and understand the options available at the start?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 2.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Environment and Entry (📄PDF): How does classroom setup impact entry into learning?
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Attention Patterns (📄PDF): What patterns do you notice in who attends and who does not?
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Design for Noticing (📄PDF): How can we design tasks so key ideas stand out?
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Clarity of Options (📄PDF): How can we design entry so that choices are visible, clear, and manageable?
Learning Link 2.4: Entry on a Continuum
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Entry can be designed across flexible, structured, and collaborative levels
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Flexible entry offers options, while structured entry provides clearer guidance
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Some learners require layered or co-designed supports to begin
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Increasing support strengthens access without changing the learning goal
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Entry supports learners in joining the learning cycle, not just completing a first step
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Different learners may enter the learning process in different ways
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Stronger entry design reduces the likelihood that learners fall out of the learning process early
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Flexible entry often includes choice, while structured entry may include guided or limited options
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Some learners benefit from reduced or scaffolded choices to support decision-making
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Supporting choice-making is part of increasing access, not reducing independence
📝 Individual Learning Activity 2.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Continuum Planning (📄PDF): Take one task and design 3 levels of entry.
-
One Student Lens (📄PDF): How might one learner enter differently across levels?
-
Tomorrow's Shift (📄PDF): What is one way you could improve entry tomorrow?
-
Entry to Engagement (📄PDF): How does your entry support learners in staying engaged beyond the first step?
-
Choice Across the Continuum (📄PDF): How might decision-making be supported differently across flexible, structured, and collaborative levels?
🤝 Group Learning Activity 2.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Entry Redesign (📄PDF): Redesign a shared task across the continuum.
-
Small Shifts, Big Impacts (📄PDF): Share examples of small changes that improved participation.
-
Equity Through Entry (📄PDF): How does entry design impact equity in learning?
-
Staying in the Cycle (📄PDF): How can entry support learners in continuing through exploration and idea development?
-
Balancing Choice with Clarity (📄PDF): How can we offer meaningful options without overwhelming learners?
What We Carry Forward
-
🧰 Tools & Templates:
-
Entry Point Planning Template (📄PDF)
-
Four Conditions Entry Map (📄PDF)
-
Access Continuum Entry Tool (📄PDF)
-
Sensory Attention Scan Tool (📄PDF)
-
Learning Cycle Entry Map (📄PDF)
-
📚 Reference List (📄PDF)
-
Universal Design for Learning (UDL 3.0)
-
Research on task initiation and engagement
-
Inclusive instructional design literature
-
Neuroscience of attention and sensory processing
-
🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: This week choose one learning task and redesign the first two minutes of the lesson. Ask:
-
Is the first step clear?
-
Can all students begin?
-
What conditions are shaping who starts and who hesitates?
-
What are students experiencing through their senses?
-
What are students attending to?
-
How are students entering the learning process?
-
Are they able to move into exploration?
-
-
Are students able to understand and choose how to begin? Who may need support to make that decision?
-
What support might be needed?
Try it. Notice what changes.
Inside the Story: Chapter 2
-
As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Chapter 2: Giving Students a Way In
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
As Ms. Patel experiments with visuals, sentence frames, modeled examples, and structured partner talk, more students are able to enter learning with confidence. Amina begins participating in small but meaningful ways, and Daniel also starts contributing more when the first step is clearer.
More Than One Way to Understand | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Group That Never Quite Works | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Whose Story Is This | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Reading Gets in the Way | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Support Becomes Separation | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Chapter 2: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Interlude 3
Tools for Access: Expanding What is Possible
Occurs After Chapter 2 → Before Chapter 3
Learning Interlude Information
-
Interlude Focus: Tools are intentional design elements that shape how learning becomes accessible by supporting the learning process, strengthening conditions for learning, and expanding opportunities for understanding, participation, and contribution.
-
📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
-
🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
-
Identify tools that support understanding, participation, and contribution
-
Recognize that tools can be used at different levels of intensity
-
Match tools to specific access dimensions
-
Understand that tools support all learners, not just some
-
Begin selecting tools intentionally based on access needs
-
Recognize how tools can support conditions of engagement (regulation, safety, connection, identity, purpose)
-
Identify how tools make executive function demands visible and supported
-
Understand that tools are design responses that support access within the learning process, not add-ons for individual students
-
Recognize how tools support different stages of learning (sense, attend, explore, develop, communicate)
-
Identify how tools strengthen conditions for learning such as clarity, communication, modeling, time, and expectations
-
Recognize that tools support sustained engagement across the learning cycle, not just entry into tasks
-
Recognize that tools can support learners in making and evaluating choices within the learning process
-
Understand that some learners require explicit support to use tools independently and intentionally
Learning Link 3.1: Tools as Access, Not Add-Ons
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Tools are part of learning design, not additional supports for some learners
-
The same tool can support multiple dimensions of access
-
Tools shape both task access and conditions of engagement
-
Challenges in learning often reflect unsupported processes, not lack of ability
-
Tools shape how learners experience the learning process, not just how they complete tasks
-
Tools support how learners attend, explore, develop ideas, and communicate thinking
-
When processes are not visible or supported, learners may disengage or fall out of the learning cycle
-
Tools can support learners in deciding how to engage, what to focus on, and how to begin
-
Without support, the presence of tools or options does not guarantee that learners will use them effectively
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 3.1 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Tool Reflection (📄PDF): What tools do you already use? Who benefits from them?
-
Missed Tools (📄PDF): Think of a lesson where students struggled. What tool might have helped?
-
Reframing Tools (📄PDF): How does thinking of tools as “design” change your perspective?
-
Learning Process Lens (📄PDF): Which parts of the learning cycle (sense, attend, explore, develop, communicate) are currently supported by tools? Which are not?
-
Tool Use and Choice (📄PDF): Which students are able to independently choose and use tools? Which may need support?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 3.1 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Tool Inventory (📄PDF): Share tools currently used in your classrooms.
-
Who Benefits (📄PDF): Discuss how tools intended for some students often help many.
-
Rethinking Support (📄PDF): When do we tend to add tools? What if we planned them from the start?
-
Tools and the Learning Process (📄PDF): How do tools support different stages of learning?
-
Accessing Tools (📄PDF): What helps learners recognize when and how to use a tool?
Learning Link 3.2: Tools Across Dimensions and Conditions
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Tools support understanding, participation, and contribution in different ways
-
Many tools also support conditions such as regulation, safety, and connection
-
Tools make executive function processes visible and supported
-
Intentional tool use increases access across the entire learning experience
-
Tools also strengthen conditions for learning, including clarity, communication, modeling, time, and expectations
-
Tools can support attention by helping learners notice what matters and focus on key ideas
-
The same tool may support multiple stages of the learning process and multiple dimensions of access
-
Before selecting tools, consider which condition of engagement may be limiting access (regulation, safety, connection, identity, or purpose)
-
Tools can support learners in understanding and navigating available options
-
Explicit teaching and modeling may be needed for learners to use tools effectively
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 3.2 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Tool Mapping (📄PDF): Map tools you use to the four conditions.
-
One Tool, Multiple Uses (📄PDF): Choose one tool and identify how it supports multiple areas.
-
Missing Condition (📄PDF): Which condition do you least support with tools?
-
Conditions for Learning Mapping (📄PDF): Which tools support clarity, communication, modeling, and time in your classroom?
-
Teaching Tool Use (📄PDF): How are learners taught when and how to use tools, rather than just being given access to them?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 3.2 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Sorting Activity (📄PDF): Sort tools into the four conditions.
-
Debate the Category (📄PDF): Which tools could belong in more than one category?
-
Balancing Support (📄PDF): Which condition is most emphasized in your school? Which is missing?
-
Making Thinking Visible (📄PDF): How do tools help learners see and understand the learning process?
-
Conditions First (📄PDF): Are tools being used to address the right condition of engagement, or is something else needed first?
Learning Link 3.3: Communication as a Driver of Learning
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Communication is not only a way to show learning, but a way learning develops
-
Learners build understanding through expressing, discussing, and interacting
-
Access to communication includes AAC, visual language, written language, and multimodal expression
-
Without communication access, learners may be present but unable to participate fully in the learning process
-
Communication tools can also support learners in expressing preferences, making choices, and directing their learning
-
Without access to communication, learners may not be able to participate in decision-making about their learning
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 3.2 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Communication Reflection (📄PDF): How do learners currently express and develop their thinking?
-
Expression Options (📄PDF): What options exist for learners to communicate ideas?
-
Missing Voices (📄PDF): Who may not currently have a way to contribute?
-
Voice and Choice (📄PDF): How do learners currently communicate preferences, needs, or decisions in your classroom?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 3.2 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Communication Mapping (📄PDF): Map how communication is supported across a lesson
-
Multiple Modalities (📄PDF): How can learners express thinking in different ways?
-
Voice and Access (📄PDF): How does communication influence participation and contribution?
-
Communication and Decision Making (📄PDF): How does communication access influence a learner’s ability to make choices?
Learning Link 3.4: Tools on a Continuum
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Tools can be used flexibly, structurally, or collaboratively depending on need
-
The same tool can be scaled to increase support
-
Layering tools increases access without changing the learning goal
-
Tools are most effective when planned and adjusted based on learner experience
-
Tools support sustained engagement across the learning process, not just task completion
-
Layering tools helps learners remain in the learning cycle rather than falling out of it
-
Different learners may need different levels of support at different points in the learning process
-
Flexible use of tools often includes learner choice, while structured use may include guided or limited options
-
Some learners benefit from scaffolded or reduced choices when using tools
-
Supporting tool use includes supporting decision-making, not just access to tools
📝 Individual Learning Activity 3.4 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Continuum Mapping (📄PDF): Take one tool and map it across levels.
-
Scaling Support (📄PDF): How could you increase the use of a tool for a specific learner?
-
Tomorrow's Tool (📄PDF): What is one tool you could introduce or expand tomorrow?
-
Sustained Access Tool (📄PDF): How does this tool support learners beyond the first step of a task?
-
Tools Across the Continuum (📄PDF): How might support for using tools and making decisions increase across levels?
🤝 Group Learning Activity 3.4 (Choose One, None, or More)
-
Tool Continuum Design (📄PDF): Choose a tool and design flexible → structured → intensive use.
-
Shared Practice (📄PDF): Share examples of tools used at different levels.
-
Design for All (📄PDF): How can tools be introduced so all students benefit?
-
Staying in the Learning (📄PDF): How do tools support learners in continuing through exploration and idea development?
-
Guiding Tool Use (📄PDF): How can we support learners to use tools without creating dependence or overwhelm?
What We Carry Forward
-
🧰 Tools & Templates:
-
Access Tools Mapping Chart (📄PDF)
-
Four Conditions Tool Planner (📄PDF)
-
Tool Continuum Design Template (📄PDF)
-
Learning Process Map Tool (📄PDF)
-
Communication and Expression Planning Tool (📄PDF)
-
📚 Reference List (📄PDF)
-
Universal Design for Learning (UDL 3.0)
-
Research on scaffolding and representation
-
AAC and communication supports literature
-
Neuroscience of learning, language and communication
-
🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Choose one tool you already use. Ask:
-
Which access condition does it support?
-
How does it influence conditions of engagement?
-
Which part of the learning process does it support (sense, attend, explore, develop, communicate)?
-
How does it support attention, clarity, or communication?
-
-
How could I use it more intentionally?
-
How could I scall it across the continuum?
-
Are learners able to choose and use tools independently? Who may need support to make these decisions?
Try one small adjustment.
Inside the Story: Chapter 3
-
As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Chapter 3: More Than One Way to Show Thinking
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
The class begins using drawing, gestures, labeled diagrams, oral rehearsal, and shared discussion tools to express understanding. Amina’s thinking becomes more visible, and other students who had depended on verbal speed begin to show what they know in new ways as well.
More Than One Way to Understand | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Group That Never Quite Works | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Whose Story Is This | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Reading Gets in the Way | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Support Becomes Separation | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Chapter 3: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Interlude 4
Co-creating Access: Designing With, Not For
Occurs After Chapter 3 → Before Chapter 4
Learning Interlude Information
-
Itnerlude Focus: Access is strengthened through co-creation, where learner voice and collaboration shape learning design, the conditions that support engagement, and how learners move through the learning process over time.
-
📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
-
🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
-
Understand access as something that can be co-created with learners and others
-
Recognize the importance of student voice in access design
-
Identify ways to collaborate with families and support teams
-
Apply the access dimensions in collaborative planning
-
Recognize how co-creation increases engagement, agency, and belonging
-
Understand how co-creation strengthens conditions of engagement, especially connection, identity, and purpose
-
Shift from designing supports for learners to designing conditions with learners
-
Recognize that learners can help identify where they enter and where they fall out of the learning process
-
Understand how co-creation can strengthen conditions for learning such as clarity, communication, and modeling
-
Recognize that communication is central to co-creation and supports both engagement and learning
-
Use co-creation to support sustained participation across the learning cycle
-
Recognize that co-creation supports learners in developing their ability to make and evaluate choices about their learning
-
Understand that some learners may need support to communicate preferences, make decisions, and participate in co-creation
Learning Link 4.1: Why Co-Creation Matters
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Learners have insight into what supports or limits their access
-
Co-creation increases engagement, accuracy of supports, and ownership
-
Designing with learners strengthens connection, identity, and purpose
-
Access improves when learners are partners in the design process
-
Learners can identify where they are able to enter the learning process and where they begin to disengage
-
Co-creation helps educators understand how learners experience sensation, attention, and participation
-
Communication is the foundation of co-creation and allows learners to express how they learn best
-
Co-creation supports sustained engagement, not just initial participation
-
Learners can share how they make decisions and what supports them in choosing how to engage
-
Co-creation helps educators understand not only what supports access, but how learners navigate choices within learning
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 4.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Assumption Check (📄PDF): Think of a student you support. What decisions have you made without their input?
-
Voice Reflection (📄PDF): When do students have opportunities to share what helps them learn?
-
Reframing Support (📄PDF): How might your role shift from “provider” to “partner”?
-
Learning Experience Reflection (📄PDF): Where might this learner enter the learning process? Where might they fall out?
-
Design Reflection (📄PDF): How does this learner currently make choices about their learning? What supports might they need?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 4.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Designing With Versus For (📄PDF): Compare examples of teacher-led vs. co-created access.
-
Missed Voices (📄PDF): Who is often left out of access planning?
-
Impact of Voice (📄PDF): How does student input change outcomes?
-
Learning Process Mapping (📄PDF): How might different learners experience the learning cycle differently?
-
Understanding Choice (📄PDF): How might different learners approach decision-making in learning?
Learning Link 4.2: Co-Creating Across Dimensions and Conditions
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Learners can help identify what supports understanding, participation, and contribution
-
Co-creation surfaces conditions that influence engagement
-
Questions can reveal barriers related to identity, safety, and purpose
-
Designing with learners leads to more responsive and effective access
-
Learners can help identify what supports attention, clarity, and communication within the learning process
-
Co-creation makes conditions for learning visible, including clarity of goals, vocabulary, and processes
-
Learners can help identify what supports them in moving from exploration to idea development and communication
-
Co-creation strengthens both engagement and learning by aligning design with lived experience
-
Co-creation can reveal how learners understand and navigate choices within the learning process
-
Before making changes, consider which condition of engagement may be limiting a learner’s ability to participate in co-creation (regulation, safety, connection, identity, or purpose)
-
Learners may need support to understand options and participate in decision-making conversations
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 4.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Student Lens (📄PDF): Choose a learner. What might they say about each condition?
-
Conversation Planning (📄PDF): Plan 2–3 questions you could ask a student.
-
Reflection on Practice (📄PDF): When have you already co-created access without naming it?
-
Learning Cycle Questions (📄PDF): What questions could you ask to understand how a learner experiences each stage of learning (sense, attend, explore, develop, communicate)?
-
Supported Choice Quetions (📄PDF): What questions could help a learner express preferences or make decisions?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 4.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Question Design (📄PDF): Create questions for each access condition.
-
Role Play (📄PDF): Practice a short conversation with a student about access.
-
Perspective Sharing (📄PDF): How might different learners respond differently?
-
Designing for Clarity and Communication (📄PDF): How can co-creation help improve clarity and communication in lessons?
-
Designing for Participation (📄PDF): How can we ensure all learners can participate in co-creation, not just those who communicate easily?
Learning Link 4.3: Communication as Co-Creation
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Communication is central to co-creation and allows learners to influence learning design
-
Learners need multiple ways to express their thinking, preferences, and experiences
-
AAC and multimodal communication expand who can participate in co-creation
-
When communication access is limited, co-creation is also limited
-
Communication supports learners in expressing preferences, making decisions, and directing their learning
-
Without accessible communication, learners may not be able to participate in choice-making or co-creation
-
📝 Individual Learning Activity 4.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Communication Access Reflection (📄PDF): How do learners currently communicate their needs and ideas?
-
Expression Options (📄PDF): What options exist for learners to share their perspectives?
-
Who Is Missing? (📄PDF): Which learners may not currently have access to co-creation?
-
Communication Choice (📄PDF): How do learners currently communicate decisions or preferences? Who may need additional support?
-
🤝 Group Learning Activity 4.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Communication Mapping (📄PDF): How is communication supported across your classroom or school?
-
Expanding Voice (📄PDF): How can we create more ways for learners to participate in co-creation?
-
Inclusive Co-Creation (📄PDF): How do we ensure all learners can contribute?
-
Expanding Communication for Choice (📄PDF): How can communication supports increase learners’ ability to participate in decisions?
Learning Link 4.4: Co-Creation on a Continuum
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
-
-
Co-creation ranges from informal feedback to structured collaboration
-
Some learners require deeper, ongoing collaboration to support access
-
As co-creation increases, access becomes more precise and meaningful
-
Collaboration strengthens both learning design and conditions of engagement
-
Co-creation supports learners in entering and remaining in the learning process
-
Different learners may require different levels of collaboration to support access
-
Deeper co-creation leads to more sustained engagement across the learning cycle
-
Co-creation includes increasing levels of learner involvement in decision-making
-
Some learners may need scaffolded or supported opportunities to participate in co-creation
-
Supporting co-creation includes supporting learners to make meaningful contributions and choices
📝 Individual Learning Activity 4.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Continuum Reflection (📄PDF): Where does your current practice sit?
-
Next Step Planning (📄PDF): What is one way to increase co-creation?
-
One Student Plan (📄PDF): How could you involve one student more intentionally?
-
Sustained Engagement Reflection (📄PDF): How might co-creation support a learner in staying engaged over time?
-
Choice and Co-Creation (📄PDF): How might learners be supported to take a more active role in decision-making?
🤝 Group Learning Activity 4.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
-
Co-Creation Mapping (📄PDF): Map current practices across the continuum.
-
Shared Strategies (📄PDF): What are effective ways to gather student voice?
-
Team Planning (📄PDF): How can teams collaborate more intentionally?
-
Design for the Learning Cycle (📄PDF): How can co-creation support learners across all stages of learning
-
Supporting Participation (📄PDF): How can we support learners to participate in co-creation without overwhelming them?
What We Carry Forward
-
🧰 Tools & Templates:
-
Student Voice Question Bank (📄PDF)
-
Co-Creation Planning Template (📄PDF)
-
Access Conversation Guide (📄PDF)
-
Collaborative Planning Map (📄PDF)
-
Learning Cycle Co-Creation Tool (📄PDF)
-
Communication for Co-Creation Planning (📄PDF)
-
📚 Reference List (📄PDF)
-
Student voice and agency research
-
Collaborative planning frameworks
-
Inclusive education and family engagement literature
-
Research on communication, participation and learning
-
🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: This week choose one student and ask one question about their learning
experience:
-
What helps you get started?
-
What makes this easier or harder?
-
When do you feel most like yourself in learning?
-
What makes this feel worth doing?
-
Where do feel most able to participate?
-
When is it hardest to stay engaged?
-
What helps you understand and share your ideas?
-
-
How are you currently able to make choices about their learning?
-
What support might you need to participate more fully in decision-making?
Listen without changing anything. Notice what you learn.
Inside the Story: Chapter 4
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As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Chapter 4: When the Room Slows Down
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Ms. Patel starts to redesign discussion and collaboration so that participation is less dependent on speed and confidence. As turn taking, wait time, and shared language routines become more intentional, Amina and Daniel both take up more space in the life of the classroom.
More Than One Way to Understand | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Group That Never Quite Works | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Whose Story Is This | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Reading Gets in the Way | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Support Becomes Separation | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Chapter 4: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Interlude 5
Designing for All: Access as Everyday Practice
Occurs After Chapter 4 → Before Epilogue
Learning Interlude Information
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Interlude Focus: Inclusive design integrates access across conditions of engagement, conditions for learning, and the full learning process, creating multiple pathways into and through the same learning for all learners.
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📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
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🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
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Understand access as something that can be designed proactively for all learners
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Apply the access dimensions across a full lesson or environment
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Recognize patterns of unintended barriers in classroom design
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Use the access continuum to strengthen classroom-wide design
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Begin to shift from individual fixes to universal design thinking
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Intentionally design for conditions of engagement (regulation, safety, connection, identity, purpose)
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Recognize that strong conditions of engagement reduce barriers across all dimensions of access
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Design for how learning happens across the full cycle (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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Integrate conditions for learning such as clarity, communication, modeling, time, and expectations into design
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Recognize that access must be designed to support sustained engagement, not just entry into learning
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Understand that variability is expected and design must provide multiple ways for learners to engage across the learning process
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Design learning environments that support learners in making and evaluating choices across the learning process
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Recognize that flexible design requires intentional support for decision-making, not just the presence of options
Learning Link 5.1: From Individual Support to Inclusive Design
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Traditional approaches add support after difficulty arises
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Inclusive design builds access into learning from the beginning
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Designing for all creates multiple pathways into the same learning goal
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Conditions of engagement must be designed alongside instructional tasks
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Inclusive design supports learners not only in entering learning, but in remaining engaged throughout the learning process
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Design must consider how learners experience sensation, attention, and early engagement
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Barriers often emerge when parts of the learning process are unsupported, not because of learner ability
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Inclusive design includes supporting learners in navigating options and making decisions within the learning environment
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Before adjusting instruction, consider which condition of engagement may be limiting access (regulation, safety, connection, identity, or purpose)
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 5.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Design Reflection (📄PDF): Think of a recent lesson. Was access planned or added later?
-What barriers might be built into your current design?
Barrier Check (📄PDF): Think of a recent lesson. What barriers might be built into your current design?
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Shift in Thinking (📄PDF): What would it mean to plan access from the beginning?
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Learning Process Reflection (📄PDF): At what points in the learning cycle might students struggle or disengage?
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Designing for Choice (📄PDF): Where are learners expected to make decisions in this lesson? How are they supported?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 5.1 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Before and After (📄PDF): Compare a lesson before and after access is built in.
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Barrier Mapping (📄PDF): Identify common barriers in shared classroom experiences.
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Design Conversation (📄PDF): What does “designing for all” look like in your context?
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Where Learning Falls Out (📄PDF): Where do learners tend to disengage across a lesson? Why?
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Conditions First (📄PDF): When barriers arise, which condition of engagement should be addressed before redesigning the task?
Learning Link 5.2: Designing Across Dimensions and Conditions
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Strong design includes understanding, participation, and contribution
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Conditions of engagement shape whether learners can access these dimensions
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Designing for regulation, safety, connection, identity, and purpose improves access
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When all are present, more learners can engage meaningfully
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Strong design also includes conditions for learning such as clarity of goals, vocabulary, and processes
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Communication and modeling help make the learning process visible and accessible
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Design must support attention and help learners focus on what matters
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Access is strengthened when both engagement and learning conditions are intentionally designed together
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Designing for participation includes supporting learners to understand, evaluate, and act on available options
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Clear communication and modeling help learners make informed decisions within the learning environment
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 5.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Lesson Mapping (📄PDF): Map a lesson across the four conditions.
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Missing Condition (📄PDF): Which condition is least visible in your design?
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Redesign Task (📄PDF): Adjust one part of a lesson to strengthen access.
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Communication and Clarity Check (📄PDF): Are goals, vocabulary, and processes visible and accessible?
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Choice and Clarity (📄PDF): Are learners able to understand the options available and how to choose between them?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 5.2 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Four Conditions Audit (📄PDF): Evaluate a shared lesson using all four conditions.
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Design Comparison (📄PDF): Compare two classroom designs. What’s different?
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Balancing Access (📄PDF): Which conditions are generally emphasized or overlooked?
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Making Learning Visible (📄PDF): How do we ensure learners understand what they are learning how to engage?
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Supporting Decision-Making (📄PDF): How can we design lessons that support learners in making choices without overwhelming them?
Learning Link 5.3: Designing for the Learning Process
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Inclusive design must support all stages of the learning process (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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Learners may enter the learning cycle at different points and move through it in different ways
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Design should support attention, exploration, idea development, and communication
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Strong design reduces the likelihood that learners fall out of the learning process
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Learners may need support in deciding how to engage at different stages of the learning process
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Decision-making occurs throughout the learning cycle, not just at the beginning
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 5.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Learning Cycle Design (📄PDF): How does your lesson support each stage of the learning process?
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Entry into Engagement (📄PDF): How does your design support learners beyond the first step?
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Where Support is Needed (📄PDF): Which stage of the learning process needs the most support?
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Choice Across the Cycle (📄PDF): At which stages are learners expected to make decisions? How are they supported?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 5.3 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Design Across the Cycle (📄PDF): Map a shared lesson across all stages of learning
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Multiple Pathways (📄PDF): How might different learners move through the learning process differently?
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Strengthening the Cycle (📄PDF): How can we support learners at each stage?
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Decision Points (📄PDF): Where do learners make choices in a lesson, and how can we support those moments?
Learning Link 5.4: Designing on a Continuum
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Inclusive design includes flexible, structured, and collaborative layers
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Flexible design benefits all learners, while additional layers increase access
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Intensive supports remain important but are needed less often with strong design
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Access is strengthened by layering supports without lowering expectations
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Layering supports helps learners remain engaged across the learning process, not just complete tasks
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Different learners may require different levels of support at different points in the learning cycle
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Strong design anticipates variability rather than reacting to difficulty
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Flexible design often includes offering choice, while structured design may include guided or limited options
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Some learners benefit from scaffolded choices to support decision-making
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Supporting choice is part of increasing access, not reducing expectations
📝 Individual Learning Activity 5.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Continuum Design (📄PDF): Design a lesson across flexible → structured → intensive.
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Scaling Access (📄PDF): How does your classroom currently support different levels?
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Next Step Planning (📄PDF): What is one way to strengthen access for all learners?
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Sustained Access Design (📄PDF): How does your design support learners in staying engaged over time?
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Choice on a Continuum (📄PDF): How might decision-making be supported differently across flexible, structured, and collaborative levels?
🤝 Group Learning Activity 5.4 (Choose None, One, or More)
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Shared Design Challenge (📄PDF): Redesign a lesson as a team using the continuum.
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Layering Support (📄PDF): How can we build layers without overcomplicating?
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Design for All Discussion (📄PDF): What shifts are needed in our school to support this?
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Design for Variability (📄PDF): How can we design for different ways of engaging in learning?
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Balancing Flexibility and Support (📄PDF): How can we offer meaningful options while ensuring all learners can engage with them?
What We Carry Forward
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🧰 Tools & Templates:
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Inclusive Design Template (📄PDF)
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Four Conditions Planning Tool (📄PDF)
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Access Continuum Lesson Planner (📄PDF)
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Classroom Barrier Scan Tool (📄PDF)
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Learning Process Design Map (📄PDF)
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Clarity and Communication Planning Tool (📄PDF)
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📚 Reference List (📄PDF)
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Universal Design for Learning (UDL 3.0)
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Research on inclusive instructional design
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Classroom environment and engagement literature
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Neuroscience of learning, attention and variability
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🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: This week choose one lesson you teach regularly and plan it using:
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all access dimensions
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intentional conditions of engagement
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conditions of learning (clarity, communication, modeling, time)
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support across the learning process (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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at least one flexible and one structured support
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consideration for making and supporting choice
Try it and observe who participates differently, how conditions influence engagement, where learners enter the learning process, where they remain engaged or fall out, how learners are supported to make and evaluate choices within this lesson, who may need additional support to navigate options, and what changes?
Inside the Story: Epilogue
-
As you move through this course, we encourage you to return to the story you selected during the “Inside the Story” sections. Each chapter aligns with the learning interludes and offers a vivid, contextualized look at inclusive design in action. Feel free to explore additional stories if you're curious how the same principles play out in different contexts. Short overviews of the chapter are included here to help you discern if you want to explore other stories.
Finding Words in a New Place | Epilogue: Heard in More Than One Way
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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By the end of the year, Amina is still learning English, but she is no longer seen mainly through what she cannot yet say. The classroom has changed enough that her ideas, and the ideas of others who once stayed quiet, are now expected and recognized.
More Than One Way to Understand | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Busy Looks Like Behaviour | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Group That Never Quite Works | Epilogue: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Too Much, Too Fast, Too Quiet | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Getting There Is Not the Same as Belonging | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Interest Becomes the Only Way In | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Planning for Students Who Are Not Always There | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Whose Story Is This | Epilogue: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
A Classroom That Talks Differently | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Reading Gets in the Way | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
The Students Who Disappear in Groups | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Support Becomes Separation | Epilogue: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Without Seeing What Others See | Epilogue: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Listening Is Not the Same as Hearing | Epilogue: Title
-
(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
-
Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
When Participation Feels Like Risk | Epilogue: Title
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(📄Read | 🎧Listen | 🎬Watch )
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Brief summary (1-2 sentences).
Learning Interlude 6
Taking It Forward: Making Access Part of Practice
Occurs After Prologue
Learning Interlude Information
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Interlude Focus: Sustainable change happens through small, intentional shifts that embed access into everyday planning by designing for conditions of engagement, conditions for learning, and the full learning process.
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📎 Facilitator Notes (📄PDF)
-
🌟 Success Criteria
Participants will have opportunities to
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Identify one area of access (understanding, participation, contribution, or conditions of engagement) to strengthen
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Apply the access dimensions to ongoing practice
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Use the access continuum to plan next steps
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Develop a simple, sustainable plan for implementation
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Recognize that access is built through consistent, small changes over time
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Prioritize conditions of engagement as a starting point for improving access
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Recognize that strengthening conditions often improves multiple dimensions of access at once
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Apply the full framework, including the learning process (sense → attend → explore → develop → communicate)
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Use the framework to identify where learners enter and where they fall out of the learning process
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Integrate conditions for learning such as clarity, communication, modeling, and time into everyday planning
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Focus on sustaining engagement across learning, not just supporting entry into tasks
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Support learners in making and evaluating choices as part of everyday learning design
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Recognize that sustaining access includes supporting learners to navigate options and make decisions over time
Learning Link 6.1: From Ideas to Practice
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Access is an ongoing practice, not a completed task
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Small, intentional shifts can create meaningful change
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Starting with conditions of engagement often has the greatest impact
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Observing learner experience helps guide next steps
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Observation should include how learners experience sensation, attention, and early engagement
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Access improves when we notice where learners are able to enter and where they disengage
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Small shifts can support learners in staying in the learning process over time
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Before making instructional changes, consider which condition of engagement may be limiting access (regulation, safety, connection, identity, or purpose)
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Observation should include how learners make decisions and engage with available options
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 6.1 (Choose None, One or More)
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Focus Area (📄PDF): Which access condition do you want to strengthen first?
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Small Shift Reflection (📄PDF): What is one small change you could make this week?
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Starting Point (📄PDF): Where does your current practice sit on the continuum?
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Learning Process Reflection (📄PDF): Where are learners most engaged in your lessons? Where do they tend to disengage?
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Choice Reflection (📄PDF): How are learners currently making decisions within your classroom? Who may need additional support?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 6.1 (Choose None, One or More)
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Sharing Next Steps (📄PDF): Share one small shift you plan to try.
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Realistic Planning (📄PDF): What is manageable within your current context?
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Encouragement Circles (📄PDF): How can we support each other in trying something new?
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Where Learners Fall Out (📄PDF): What patterns do we notice across classrooms or teams?
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Patterns in Choice (📄PDF): What patterns do we notice in how learners make decisions across classrooms or contexts?
Learning Link 6.2: Using Dimensions and Conditions in Everyday Planning
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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The framework can guide planning across all contexts and subjects
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Considering understanding, participation, and contribution improves access
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Checking conditions of engagement helps explain patterns of engagement
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Planning shifts from delivering content to designing learner experience
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Planning should also include conditions for learning such as clarity, communication, modeling, and time
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Design should support how learners move through the learning process, not just what they produce
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Attention and sensory experience should be considered at the start of planning
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Planning should include how learners will be supported to understand, evaluate, and act on available options
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Choice-making should be intentionally supported through clarity, modeling, and communication
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📝 Individual Learning Activity 6.2 (Choose None, One or More)
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Lesson Planning (📄PDF): Apply the four questions to an upcoming lesson.
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Quick Check Tool (📄PDF): How could you use these questions regularly?
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Missing Piece Reflection (📄PDF): Which condition do you most often overlook?
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Learning Cycle Planning (📄PDF): How does your lesson support sense, attend, explore, develop, and communicate?
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Planning for Choice (📄PDF): Where in your lesson will learners make decisions, and how will you support those moments?
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🤝 Group Learning Activity 6.2 (Choose None, One or More)
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Planning Together (📄PDF): Use the four conditions to co-plan a lesson.
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Comparing Approaches (📄PDF): How might different teachers answer these questions?
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Building Consistency (📄PDF): How can teams use this language together?
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Designing for the Whole Process (📄PDF): How can teams plan for the full learning cycle?
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Designing for Decision Making (📄PDF): How can teams consistently support learners in making choices across classrooms?
Learning Link 6.3: Sustaining Change Over Time
🎬 Video | 📄Power Point Slides
🌟 Key Ideas Covered
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Sustainable change happens through consistent, small adjustments
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Shared language and collaboration support long-term impact
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Strengthening conditions reduces the need for reactive supports
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The goal is progress over time, not perfection
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Sustained access means designing for learners to remain engaged across the learning process over time
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As design improves, fewer learners fall out of the learning cycle
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Teams can use shared frameworks to build consistency and reduce variability in access
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Sustained access includes supporting learners to become more confident and independent in making decisions over time
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As learners develop decision-making skills, they are better able to navigate flexible learning environments
📝 Individual Learning Activity 6.3 (Choose None, One or More)
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Reflection Over Time (📄PDF): How has your thinking about access changed?
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Growth Planning (📄PDF): What is your next step after your first shift?
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Looking Ahead (📄PDF): What might this look like in your classroom in 3 months?
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Sustained Access Reflection (📄PDF): How might your design support learners more consistently over time?
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Growth in Choice (📄PDF): How might learners develop greater independence in making decisions over time?
🤝 Group Learning Activity 6.3 (Choose None, One or More)
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Team Commitments (📄PDF): What can your team commit to trying?
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Sustaining the Work (📄PDF): What structures help maintain change?
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Shared Language (📄PDF): How can we keep using this framework consistently?
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Collective Design (📄PDF): How can teams design for access together across classrooms?
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Building Agency (📄PDF): How can we support learners to become more confident decision-makers across classrooms?
What We Carry Forward
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🧰 Tools & Templates:
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Four Conditions Planning Card (📄PDF)
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Access Continuum Reflection Tool (📄PDF)
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Weekly Access Check Template (📄PDF)
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Small Shift Planning Guide (📄PDF)
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Learning Process Reflection Tool (📄PDF)
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Clarity and Communication Planning Card (📄PDF)
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📚 Reference List (📄PDF)
-
Universal Design for Learning (UDL 3.0)
-
Research on sustained instructional change
-
Inclusive classroom practice literature
-
Neuroscience of learning, attention and variability
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🌱 Gentle Action Invitation: Over the coming week choose one lesson or routine and use the four questions:
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How will students understand?
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How will students participate?
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How will students contribute?
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What conditions are shaping engagement?
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What are students experiencing through their senses?
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What are students attending to?
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How are students moving through the learning process?
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Where might they disengage?
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How are learners supported to make and evaluate choices within this lesson or routine?
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Who may need additional support to navigate available options over time?
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Who might still be left out?
Make one small shift and notice what changes.
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