Designing for variability

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, followed by the three engagements that draw on them.

Every resource states the bodies of knowledge it rests on and cites its sources by number to the reference list in Section 4. Every resource on this page is practised; where it is marked as in development, the grounding and sources are settled and the written resource is not yet published.

This landscape zooms into two branches of the learning design practice mapped at andrearobin.com, where the trunk is Groundwork, the learning design method. The contributions here that do not appear on that map are made possible by Fieldwork, the research method practised at Accessible Learning Labs.

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

7 resources in this group — 1 from Accessibility and 6 from Universal Design for Learning.

Visit the Designing for variability page · All seven groups and the engagements 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.

Designing for the predictable range of learners. Distinct from disability, and kept distinct here: variability is a design premise, disability is a relationship between a person and an environment.

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale

The thesis the other UDL work inherits

Published resource

Designing from the outset for the full, predictable range of human variability, so the environment fits diverse learners rather than a mythical average one. It is the worldview that grounds every other contribution on this branch.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Well established

Grounding. Universal Design for Learning (CAST; Rose & Meyer)

Practised in. A research university's student employment program (3,000 students); a national technology education provider (1,700 learners)

Themes. Variability, Scale

Sources

Reference 1: Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. ASCD.
Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Onboarding Across Wide Experience Ranges — Variability · 1 shared source
Engaging Voluntary & Cautious Adult Learners — Variability · 1 shared source
Scaling Personalization Without Scaling Cost — Scale · 1 shared source
Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables — Variability · 1 shared source
From Accommodation to Proactive Inclusive Design — Variability · 1 shared source

Connected resources

From Accommodation to Proactive Inclusive Design — Rights and obligation

Engaging Voluntary & Cautious Adult Learners

The engagement principle in practice

Practised · resource in development

Designing multiple pathways into motivation for learners who arrive with very different reasons for being there, including those who would rather not be. Where engagement is not solved, little downstream can land.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Emerging

Grounding. UDL engagement principle; adult learning

Themes. Motivation, Variability

Sources

Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
Reference 3: Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being.” American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Variability · 1 shared source
Onboarding Across Wide Experience Ranges — Variability · 1 shared source
Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables — Variability · 1 shared source
From Accommodation to Proactive Inclusive Design — Variability · 1 shared source
Scaling Personalization Without Scaling Cost — 1 shared source

Connected resources

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Designing for variability

Onboarding Across Wide Experience Ranges

Multiple entry points and pathways

Practised · resource in development

Designing entry so newcomers and experienced practitioners can each begin where they are, without boring the one or losing the other. It is a representation-principle problem common to every sector.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Emerging

Grounding. UDL representation principle

Practised in. Onboarding toolkits in a research university's student employment program

Themes. Variability, Access

Sources

Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Variability · 1 shared source
From Accommodation to Proactive Inclusive Design — Access, Variability · 1 shared source
Engaging Voluntary & Cautious Adult Learners — Variability · 1 shared source
Making Accessibility More Than Compliance — Access · 1 shared source
Accessibility Review — Access · 1 shared source

Connected resources

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Designing for variability

Scaling Personalization Without Scaling Cost

The production economics of flexibility

Practised · resource in development

Making multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression economically feasible at scale, increasingly with AI-assisted production. It is the meta-capability that makes the rest affordable to deliver.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Emerging

Grounding. Learning technology; AI-assisted design

Themes. Scale, Iteration

Sources

Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
Reference 4: Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Scale · 1 shared source
Onboarding Across Wide Experience Ranges — 1 shared source
Engaging Voluntary & Cautious Adult Learners — 1 shared source
Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables — 1 shared source
Accessibility Review — 1 shared source

Connected resources

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Designing for variability

Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables

Where a time limit is measured, and where it is inherited

Practised · resource in development

Time limits, deadline policy, pacing and cumulative workload across a program, treated as design decisions. A time limit is either part of what an assessment measures or an inherited convention, and the two call for different responses. Generous time as a design choice does not reach every case, so extended time as an individual accommodation remains necessary alongside it.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Emerging

Grounding. UDL Guidelines (CAST); validity theory (Messick); episodic disability framework

Practised in. A national technology education provider; flexible pacing at a national research laboratory

Themes. Variability, Assessment, Accommodation

Sources

Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0
Reference 37: Messick, S. (1995). “Validity of Psychological Assessment: Validation of Inferences from Persons’ Responses and Performances as Scientific Inquiry into Score Meaning.” American Psychologist, 50(9), 741–749.
Reference 43: O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Eliminating Construct-Irrelevant Barriers in Assessment — Assessment · 2 shared sources
Access in Intensive, Time-Compressed Programs — Variability · 2 shared sources
Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Variability · 1 shared source
Designing for Episodic and Fluctuating Conditions — Accommodation · 1 shared source
Assessment Access and Validity Review — Accommodation, Assessment · 2 shared sources

Connected resources

Designing for Learner Variability at Scale — Designing for variability
Eliminating Construct-Irrelevant Barriers in Assessment — Rights and obligation
Designing for Episodic and Fluctuating Conditions — Accommodation in practice

Access in Intensive, Time-Compressed Programs

When the schedule is the barrier

Practised · resource in development

Bootcamps, residencies, and accelerated credentials compress learning into weeks and assume a body and a mind that can hold that pace without interruption. This resource designs for the learners the format excludes first — asynchronous alternatives, executive-functioning scaffolds, flexible assessment timing, and explicit rules for what happens when someone cannot keep the pace — without pretending the intensity is not the point.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Universal Design for Learning · Emerging

Grounding. Time and pacing as design variables; episodic disability framework; executive function in education (Meltzer)

Practised in. A national technology education provider (1,700 learners; 600-hour programs): asynchronous options, executive-functioning scaffolds, flexible assessment timing; peer learning with asynchronous supports

Themes. Variability, Access, Wellbeing

Sources

Reference 43: O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.
Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0
Reference 70: Meltzer, L. (Ed.). (2018). Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables — Designing for variability
Designing for Episodic and Fluctuating Conditions — Accommodation in practice
Scaling Personalization Without Scaling Cost — Designing for variability
Eliminating Construct-Irrelevant Barriers in Assessment — Rights and obligation
Making Accessibility More Than Compliance — Standards and technical practice

Connected resources

Time, Pacing and Deadlines as Design Variables — Designing for variability
Designing for Episodic and Fluctuating Conditions — Accommodation in practice
Scaling Personalization Without Scaling Cost — Designing for variability

Inclusive Course & Curriculum Design

Access built into the structure of a programme

Published resource

How access is built into a course or curriculum from the start: outcomes, assessment, materials and platform, designed with Universal Design for Learning and backward design, and with the systems knowledge that lets a change outlast the people who made it. Written for faculty, designers and curriculum committees.

Group. Designing for variability

Home branch. Accessibility · Well established

Grounding. UDL; backward design; assessment equity; systems knowledge

Themes. Access, Alignment

Sources

Reference 2: CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
Reference 40: Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (Expanded 2nd ed.). ASCD.

Most related, by shared source and theme

Accessibility Review — Access · 1 shared source
Making Accessibility More Than Compliance — Access · 1 shared source
Essential Requirements and the Limits of Flexibility — Alignment · 1 shared source
Onboarding Across Wide Experience Ranges — Access · 1 shared source
Evaluating Whether Design Reduced Barriers — Access · 1 shared source

Connected resources

Accessibility Review — Standards and technical practice
Making Accessibility More Than Compliance — Standards and technical practice
Essential Requirements and the Limits of Flexibility — Rights and obligation

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.

Universal Design for Learning1. Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning. ASCD.
Universal Design for Learning2. CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0.
CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, version 3.0
Motivation3. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being.” American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic…
Learning sciences4. Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Assessment37. Messick, S. (1995). “Validity of Psychological Assessment: Validation of Inferences from Persons’ Responses and Performances as Scientific Inquiry into Score Meaning.” American Psychologist, 50(9), 741–749.
Instructional design40. Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design (Expanded 2nd ed.). ASCD.
Episodic disability43. O’Brien, K. K., Bayoumi, A. M., Strike, C., Young, N. L., & Davis, A. M. (2008). “Exploring Disability from the Perspective of Adults Living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a Conceptual Framework.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 6:76.
Learning sciences70. Meltzer, L. (Ed.). (2018). Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

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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.