Year: 2024 | Month: December | Volume 15 | Issue 2
Media and Educational Technology for Inclusive Learning: Integrating Universal Design Principles in Digital Pedagogy
Satyendra Kumar and Amiteshwar Ratra
DOI:10.30954/2231-458X.02.2024.5
Abstract:
The meeting point of digital media technologies and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theories marks an important frontier in current higher education practice, especially with respect to accommodating increasingly diverse learners. While there is an increase in theoretical interest in the relationship, the integration of UDL theories into media-enhanced digital pedagogical practices has been poorly theorized and empirically investigated. This conceptual research analyzes the intersection of media technologies and UDL theories in higher education practice, with special emphasis on the Indian situation, and proposes an original integration model that can aid in creating more inclusive digital learning environments for the future. Using a systematic conceptual synthesis methodology, this research critically reviews and synthesizes the peer-reviewed literature published between 2015 and June 2024 from Scopus and Web of Science-indexed journals, using the theories of UDL, media ecology, multimodal learning theory, and constructivism to develop the Media-Integrated Universal Design for Digital Pedagogy (MUDDP) framework. Three propositions emerge from the synthesis, and these include: (a) media technologies increase the possibility of representation that is vital for UDL; (b) well-designed multimodal pedagogical approach facilitates accessibility and learner engagement; and (c) infrastructural, attitudinal and curriculum barriers are the systematic constraints to UDL-compatible digital pedagogy in Global South higher education institutions. MUDDP framework offers a theoretically consistent and action-oriented model to transform higher education curriculum, teacher development programs, and institutional technology policies. The paper argues for systematic policy change towards educational technology adoption in terms of accessibility, which is perfectly consistent with India’s National Education Policy 2020. This paper offers a novel theoretical framework on the intersection between media ecology, UDL and multimodal pedagogy.
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