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Education Development Toolkit

Inclusive Teaching Approaches

On this page you will read about how you can adapt your teaching approaches to ensure you engage and meet the needs of all learners. This forms the starting point for all of the teaching approaches you will find in this section. It is for anyone who is teaching or supporting students, in any role. 

Aligned to PSF: V1, V2, A2, K2

You can develop your understanding of Inclusive Teaching Approaches by engaging with our seven related workshops on Teaching Approaches. Find out more on the Cardiff LTA CPD page. 

Supporting All Students to Fully Participate in Learning Activites

‘Inclusive learning design is design that considers the full range of human diversity with its complex intersectionality.  It is designing learning environments, experiences, activities, tasks, assessment and feedback with students’ voice and choice at its heart, so that students can grow academically, culturally and socially.’ (Rossi 2023).

 The Cardiff University Inclusive Education Enhancement Model has a series of key targets for enhancing delivery, which draw on research and sector recommendations. You could use this as a basis for reflection and plans for improvements. 

Enhancement model targets for Delivery: 

  • Across the programme there are opportunities for multiple means of engagement, whether face-to-face, online or asynchronous.​ 
  • The programme uses a variety of modes which are informed by different social and cultural perspectives, and build on students’ educational abilities, interests, experiences, and aspirations. 
  • Information, resources and materials are presented in a range of formats and regularly referred to across the programme. There are many opportunities for students to gain clarification or feedback in multiple ways. 
  • Visits and placements take into account the needs of all students and reflect the diversity of the student cohort. 
  • All virtual learning environments are fully accessible, proactive, and flexible to meet all students’ needs. Consideration is given to the accessibility of curriculum delivery. Student feedback informs the accessibility of these spaces on an annual basis. 
  • All modules provide reading lists which are mainly digitised, and have required and optional readings. 
  • Across the programme all materials are uploaded at least 48 hours in advance and recordings are available before the default 5 days. Students are provided with summarised notes of sessions that aren’t recorded. 
  • There are opportunities for students to explore and familiarise themselves with unfamiliar and new terminology and concepts are embedded in core modules across the programme. 

Using inclusive teaching approaches supports the university mission to offer ‘an excellent educational experience for students of all backgrounds and experiences, and a commitment to flexible lifelong learning that creates positive change’, which is central to Cardiff University’s Strategy, ‘Our Future, Together’. 

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Practical, Digital and Socio-cultural considerations for teaching 

The principles of Universal Design for Learning support staff to ensure that their teaching approaches meet the needs of all learners, whilst minimising the complex and multiple individual adjustments needed for large cohorts, learning in a range of varied environments.  

Fovet (2020: 164) suggests: ‘UDL is immediately attractive to HE instructors because it seems much more practical than differentiation when it comes to implementing inclusive measures in the lecture hall. It provides clear, hands-on principles for inclusive design which can be used with ease by instructors. In this sense it very much demystifies the process of proactively designing inclusively for the classroom’. 

There are a wide range of considerations for the inclusive organisation and delivery of teaching spaces: 

Ensure the physical environment is accessible. Check:
• physical access to buildings and spaces, and seating, meets all needs
• the room uses good lighting and colour contrast
• there is ease of movement around the room, for example, during physical transitions to activities.
• students’ physical needs, abilities and disabilities are taken into account when designing practical tasks and experiments. 

Ensure the digital environment is accessible (Learn more about this in our Digital Accessibility workshop, part of our CPD programme ). Check: 

  • You are following Digital Accessibility regulations when designing teaching materials, tools and assessments
    • You are using accessible platforms (check for accessibility statements)
    • Asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities are available
    • You provide multiple modes of content (e.g. text, audio, video)
    • Students have digital competence and access, particularly when using new software or apps
    • PowerPoints and other audio-visual materials are accessible (Font, background colour, use of images are supported by alt text, text is left justified)
    • Use audio-described and captioned videos
    • Verbalise long quotes on screen
    • Articulate detail in graphs and diagrams (either verbally or provide notes)
    • Check there is coherence in the way ultra pages are organised, across a module and programme
    • For online learning and assessment, be aware of time differences for international learners
    • Keep to time: don’t run over, and don’t gallop if time is short – record afterwards or cover later 

Two key practical considerations which meet the needs of many different groups of students:
• Provide PowerPoints or other audio-visual tools available 48 hours in advance
• Make recordings of sessions available 

  • Create an inclusive, collaborative culture which recognises students’ authentic selves, and enables them to see themselves represented in the curriculum. 
  • Articulate learner, academic and cultural practices which may have assumed knowledge: for example, give expectations of social learning behaviours (for example, what do we DO in small group activities) 
  • Explain any cultural references, pop culture or historical UK-centric information. 
  • Set ground rules for differences of opinion and be aware of dynamics of power and control, between students, and with yourself and other staff 
  • Use physical spaces which promote collaboration and social learning (e.g. room layout) 
  • Vary activities to support multiple means of engagement and to address attention spans. 

Student Top Tips

The power of talk: Student 1: ‘I felt more confident when lecturers encouraged questions and discussions.’

Let's meet: Student 1: 'Having one-to-one meetings with my tutor helped me identify areas for improvement.'

Student 2: ‘Feedback is where students can truly grow, especially when they know you're invested in their development. Students are smart; if they sense that you're giving feedback not just as a tick-box exercise but because you genuinely want to help them improve, they respond with more effort and engagement.’

Press record: Student 1: 'Online recorded lectures allowed me to revisit difficult topics.'

Make it flexible: Student 1: 'Multiple means of engagement offered, including doing the task slightly differently so it’s possible.'

Student 2: ‘Having experienced a blended learning environment, I feel that it is the most beneficial to as many different students as possible, owing to its flexibility and adaptability.’

There are a range of useful, discipline-specific examples of the application of UDL to teaching approaches on the UDL on Campus website (UDL on Campus 2022).  

Below are a short listen and a case study to further your application to practice: 

Globe

Case Studies: Inclusive practical experiments, simulations and virtual learning

Considerations for Inclusive Education in Experiments and Laboratory Settings (Anna Richards, Biosciences):

  1. Teaching Strategy: Demonstration and observation of a practical laboratory technique 

Student Activity:    

Read and understand a protocol, observe practical demonstration of a particular technique, take notes, stand for up to several hours, small, instructor-led group discussion to ask questions.

Barriers to Learning:

Cognitive and/or sensory processing, physical discomfort, limited visibility or access, language or communication issues

Students who may be impacted

Students with visual, auditory or cognitive impairments; Students with health conditions, particularly mobility issues, chronic pain, or disabilities; Dyslexic students;

Students with English as an additional language.

Solutions

  • Break down the protocol and technique into smaller, manageable steps. 

  • Provide pre-session reading materials that explain the theory and steps of the technique in simpler terms. 

  • Use diagrams, videos, or animations before the demonstration to visually represent complex steps. 

  • Allow for frequent breaks during long demonstrations to reduce fatigue from standing. 

  • Provide seating options for students who cannot stand for extended periods. 

  • Use visual aids, such as overhead cameras or screens, to project the demonstration clearly so everyone can see it. 

  1. Teaching Strategy: Simulations or Virtual Labs 

 Student Activity: 

Navigate the virtual environment, follow a virtual protocol or introductory exercise, collect and analyse simulated data, collaborative work in virtual teams.

Barriers to Learning:  

Technical difficulties or lack of technical proficiency; Cognitive and/or sensory processing; Motivation and Engagement due to a more abstract, less interactive session.

Students who may be impacted:

Students with visual, auditory or cognitive impairments; Students with limited access to technology; Dyslexic students; Students with English as an additional language.

Solutions:

  • Provide a pre-lab tutorial or training session on how to use the virtual lab platform (e.g. video tutorials, step-by-step guides, or interactive walkthroughs) 

  • Offer technical support during the lab session, such as a dedicated help desk or teaching assistants available to troubleshoot issues. 

  • Simplify protocols by breaking them into smaller, manageable steps, and provide visual aids or animations that explain each step of the virtual procedure. 

  • Design the virtual protocol to allow students to pause and revisit sections if they feel overwhelmed, giving them control over the pace of the exercise 

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Where next? 

Link to other toolkit pages 

Our three key areas of focus for Fostering a Sense of Belonging, Empowering Students to Fulfil their Potential and Developing Inclusive Mindsets can be found in the Inclusivity section of the Themes tab. You will also find inclusivity considerations in our ‘Teaching Resources Toolkit’, on the next page. 

Additional resources and references

Advance HE 2018. Embedding EDI in the Curriculum: A programme standard. Online. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-09/Assessing%20EDI%20in%20the%20Curriculum%20-%20Programme%20Standard.pdf  

CAST 2024. Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. Online. Available at: http://udlguidelines.cast.org   

Fovet, F. (2020) Universal Design for Learning as a Tool for Inclusion in the Higher Education Classroom: Tips for the Next Decade of Implementation. Education Journal, 9(6), 163-172  

UDL on Campus. 2022. UDL Examples. Online. Available at:  http://udloncampus.cast.org/page/udl_about  

Page Authored by: Cardiff University Learning and Teaching Academy: Dr Ceri Morris