The impact of professional development training on faculty’s integration of universal design for learning in daily teaching practices

Abstract

Even though Inclusive Education (IE) is required both legally and socially, it is often not implemented in the day-to-day teaching practice of faculty in higher education (HE) institutions. Professional development (PD) training is considered an important means to address this discrepancy, however, its impact on the long-term implementation of IE is unclear. This exploratory study is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the impact of three factors – PD training design, participant characteristics and organisational culture – on faculty’s subjective learning gains and the sustained integration of universal design for learning (UDL). Utilising a quasi-experimental design, we administered a survey to faculty members who had engaged in various PD trainings related to UDL at a prominent Norwegian university. Our findings indicate that HE institutions should establish two conditions to support faculty in the implementation of UDL in their teaching practice: extended training rather than brief sessions and creating platforms for ongoing discussions on UDL even beyond the training.