Summary

The concept of Universal Design, with it’s origins in architecture and urban planning, has had a prolific and profound influence on other aspects of our societal makeup.  The same underpinning principles, from which Universal Deign emerged, namely accessibility and equitable treatment for all, have also gained wide acceptance in other areas, particularly in educational philosophy and pedagogy.  As awareness of different learning styles and multiple intelligences become widely accepted, the understanding and insistence that all students have equal access to education and prescribed curricula

Classrooms are certainly looking different these days. Sure there are still rows or groups of tables or desks usually in the center of the room but, if you look along the periphery of the classroom, you will most often find counters filled with computers, printers, scanners and some unusual-looking pieces of high tech equipment. In our secondary schools, where students move from room to room, you will see students with a variety of things on their tables/desks ranging anywhere from binders and textbooks to laptop computers and even iPads. Go into a secondary school or even post-secondary library and the first thing you may notice is the lack of stacks filled with books. The stacks have been replaced with counters and work stations for computer use.