Accessible Learning Labs

Institutions, governance and change

Where accessibility is decided before anything is designed - procurement, planning, faculty development - and what makes a published commitment turn into changed practice.

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Section 1 of four

How this landscape is organized

This is the accessibility work of a learning design practice, gathered in one place. It draws on two branches: Accessibility, which concerns access at the level of an individual person and the obligation an institution holds toward them, and Universal Design for Learning, which concerns designing for the predictable range of learners before any individual request is made. The two are related but not the same, and the arrangement here keeps them distinct while showing where they meet.

Resources are arranged in seven groups by what they are for, rather than by which branch they grow on. A group therefore holds resources from both branches where the question they answer is shared. Each resource names its home branch so the distinction is never lost. Groups are given in alphabetical order.

Every resource states the bodies of knowledge it rests on and cites its sources by number to the reference list in Section 4. Where a resource is still in development, it is marked as such: the grounding and sources are settled, and the written resource is not yet published.

Two kinds of relationship are given for each resource. Most related is calculated from sources and themes held in common, and surfaces resources that answer similar questions from different groups. Connected resources are the direct relationships recorded on the map — the resources a reader is likely to need alongside this one.

Section 2 of four

What is here

4 resources in this group — 3 from Accessibility and 1 from Universal Design for Learning. Resources from other groups are named where they are closely related; the full landscape carries all thirty-five.

Visit the Institutions, governance and change page · All seven groups in one page

Section 3 of four

Every resource, in full

Sources are written out in full here as well as numbered, so that following a reference is never necessary to understand an entry.

Institutions, governance and change

Where accessibility is decided before anything is designed - procurement, planning, faculty development - and what makes a published commitment turn into changed practice.

Accessible Procurement and Vendor Accountability

The decisions made before anything is built

In development

An inaccessible platform, once purchased, sets the ceiling on everything designed inside it. This resource covers reading an accessibility conformance report critically rather than accepting it at face value, using recognised standards as procurement criteria, writing remediation commitments into agreements, and piloting with disabled users before signature.

Group. Institutions, governance and change

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. EN 301 549; WCAG 2.2; VPAT and accessibility conformance reports

Themes. Standards, Policy, Access

Sources

  • Reference 25: ETSI/CEN/CENELEC (2021). EN 301 549 V3.2.1: Accessibility Requirements for ICT Products and Services. Harmonised European Standard.
  • Reference 26: Information Technology Industry Council. Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) and Accessibility Conformance Reports.
  • Reference 15: W3C (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. W3C Recommendation.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Faculty Development That Changes Accessible Practice

From awareness to what instructors actually do

In development

Institutions have offered accessibility and inclusive design workshops for years, often with limited change in daily teaching practice. This resource diagnoses whether the gap is capability, opportunity, or motivation, then designs accordingly — point-of-need supports, discipline-specific exemplars, and department-embedded work — with any content on legal obligation delivered alongside the accommodation office rather than independently of it.

Group. Institutions, governance and change

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. COM-B and the Behaviour Change Wheel (Michie et al.); adult learning; UDL

Themes. Capacity, Change, Access

Sources

  • Reference 27: Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). “The Behaviour Change Wheel: A New Method for Characterising and Designing Behaviour Change Interventions.” Implementation Science, 6:42.
  • Reference 28: Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The Adult Learner (8th ed.). Routledge.
  • Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Institutional Accessibility Planning as a Change Program

From a published plan to demonstrable change

In development

Statutory obligation produces an accessibility plan, a committee, and a feedback mechanism; it does not by itself produce sequencing, ownership, or capability. This resource brings systems design and change management to accessibility governance, and is written for a contributing role on an institutional plan rather than for authorship of an institution’s accessibility position.

Group. Institutions, governance and change

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. Accessible Canada Act; Accessible British Columbia Act; change management; systems thinking

Themes. Policy, Systems, Change

Sources

  • Reference 29: Accessible Canada Act, S.C. 2019, c. 10.
  • Reference 30: Accessible British Columbia Act, S.B.C. 2021, c. 19. Province of British Columbia.
  • Reference 31: Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.
  • Reference 32: Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Closing the Knowing–Doing Gap

From understanding to changed practice

Published resource

Designing for the distance between what learners understand and what they actually do — the transfer problem seen through an inclusive lens. It shares its machinery with reflection at the experience level and with change at the systems level.

Group. Institutions, governance and change

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Well established

Grounding. Transfer research; Universal Design for Learning

Themes. Transfer

Sources

  • Reference 33: Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2000). The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action. Harvard Business School Press.
  • Reference 34: Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (Expanded ed.). National Academy Press.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Connected resources

Section 4 of four

References and resources

The theory, law, and standards these resources are rooted in, listed once and cited by number above. Peer-reviewed, statutory, and institutional sources link directly. Books, reports, and legislation are cited in full so they can be found in any library catalogue or official register.

  1. Universal Design for Learning2. CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
    https://udlguidelines.cast.org
  2. Accessibility standards15. W3C (2023). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. W3C Recommendation.
    https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
  3. Accessibility standards25. ETSI/CEN/CENELEC (2021). EN 301 549 V3.2.1: Accessibility Requirements for ICT Products and Services. Harmonised European Standard.
    https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/03.02.01_60/en_301549v030201p.pdf
  4. Accessibility standards26. Information Technology Industry Council. Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) and Accessibility Conformance Reports.
    https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat
  5. Behaviour change27. Michie, S., van Stralen, M. M., & West, R. (2011). “The Behaviour Change Wheel: A New Method for Characterising and Designing Behaviour Change Interventions.” Implementation Science, 6:42.
    https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42
  6. Adult learning28. Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The Adult Learner (8th ed.). Routledge.
  7. Accessibility law29. Accessible Canada Act, S.C. 2019, c. 10.
    https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/a-0.6/
  8. Accessibility law30. Accessible British Columbia Act, S.B.C. 2021, c. 19. Province of British Columbia.
  9. Change management31. Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.
  10. Organizational learning32. Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday.
  11. Knowing–doing gap33. Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2000). The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action. Harvard Business School Press.
  12. Learning sciences34. Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (Expanded ed.). National Academy Press.
    https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/9853/how-people-learn-brain-mind-experience-and-school

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Every resource on this page reflects applied work carried out with learners, design teams, and partner organizations, and is grounded in the scholarship listed above. An interactive version of this map presents the same content as a navigable diagram.