Universal Design and providing inclusive feedback
In many cases, the design decisions advocated by Universal Design turn out to be better for everyone; highly accessible resources are easier for everyone to use, which frees up time, effort and cognitive resources to be used elsewhere.
Here are some ideas that occur across different Universal Design implementations, that can be relevant in the context of feedback:
1. Present content in multiple media - so that students who struggle to process information in one format or another will not always be forced to use that format.
Cognitive load theory tells us that multi-modal information can in general be understood and remembered much more efficiently than mono-modal.
This is a good reason to offer some feedback in the form of audio recordings (or audio-visual - a screen-capture of you working through a student's essay, highlighting important points and audibly commenting on them, for instance).
2. Offer flexibility wherever possible - so that learners can adapt resources to their own abilities.
When using written feedback, try to offer it in electronic form, in editable documents, so that learners can alter font sizes and colours, and use text-to-speech readers.
3. Make resources (including feedback) as simple and intuitive to use as possible - thinking also about the mechanical, physical, perceptual and cognitive abilities required to get to the feedback.
Can the page displaying the feedback be zoomed in, or the font-size changed?
What about the colour?
4. Present instructions or action-affordances without using cultural idioms - in particular where you want the learner to do something, try to avoid expressing instructions or options in idiomatic language or imagery.
Turns of phrase or metaphors that are embedded in a culture or subculture will be harder for an international audience to interpret; this matters most when they have to respond to or act on the phrases in question.
5. Give learners clear, appealing opportunities to express themselves - which may include asking for support, or making recommendations about how to make your practice and resources more inclusive.