Providing accommodations and applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are ways in which health science instructors meet the needs of increasing student diversity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of UDL and accommodations in Team-Based Learning (TBL) and to identify successful strategies, benefits, and barriers to incorporating inclusive design into curricula.
A mixed-methods survey was developed by TBL practitioners and was distributed globally to practitioners of TBL. Open-ended questions assessed motivations, successes and barriers, and examples of effective and ineffective strategies for providing UDL and accommodations. Data analysis is in progress; means and standard deviations will be computed on Likert-scale items and results will be compared with qualitative responses, which will be analyzed using the constant comparative method.
Across the 86 respondents, 35% had used TBL for 2–5 years, 29% for over 10 years, 26% for 6–10 years, and 11% for less than a year. Nearly half of the respondents had training in UDL (49%) and provided accommodations in TBL (56%). Respondents were most aware of time accommodations (96%), followed by reduced distraction testing (69%) and separate testing (67%). Findings revealed substantial variability in the implementation of accommodations and perceived barriers. The most commonly offered accommodations were for the individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) and UDL strategies were applied to the pre-work. Preliminary thematic analysis revealed several barriers to providing accommodations, such as uncertainty surrounding how to modify team-based activities, lack of institutional support, time constraints for implementation, and ensuring fair and equitable accommodations.
The results of this study provided insight into the application of accommodations and UDL strategies to TBL. Flexible options for pre-work and iRAT accommodations were commonly applied strategies that may help scaffold the use of additional accommodations and UDL strategies in TBL and other student-centered activities.
