January 20 – March 17, 2026
Join AEEA this winter for an online learning opportunity to expand your skills to welcome and support all learners.
Accessible by Nature: Designing Environmental Education to Support All Learners. This course uses the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all, rather than making modifications for individual students. UDL improves and optimizes teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn, giving all students equal opportunity to succeed. This course is designed to encourage you to reflect deeply on your practice to focus on how you plan and teach to support all learners. The course content and associated assignments are geared towards practicing environmental and outdoor educators, both classroom teachers and nonformal educators.
OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the principles of Universal Design for Learning
- Describe terms, techniques, tools, and resources to promote inclusivity and access to better serve diverse populations, specifically those with learning differences, physical accessibility needs, and language barriers
- Evaluate your current teaching practices/pedagogy and your setting to identify barriers to participation
- Apply the principles of Universal Design for Learning to your pedagogical practices to redesign a lesson, activity, or program.
EXPECTATIONS:
As a student of this course, it is expected that you:
- Commit the time required to complete all readings, assignments, and assessments.
- Input appropriate answers and responses in the Course Journal and handouts, or through submissions of art, poetry, video, or recorded spoken word addressing the same topics.
- Complete Modules 1-4 and their associated assignments, as well as submit the final course assessment.
- Participate in virtual discussions. These meetings are not required, but highly recommended. See meeting dates below.
DISCUSSIONS:
Three scheduled Zoom meetings are an essential part of this course. The exact day and time of the two discussion meetings will be based on the availability of registered participants. Previous courses have held discussions in the evening and during office hours, as fitting for that group.
- Introduction meeting: Tuesday, January, 7:00 – 7:30 pm
- Discussion meeting #1: week of February 16, 1 hour
- Discussion meeting #2: week of March 9, 1 hour
If you are interested in the course, but have a conflict with these dates, contact Sophia Stephenson at director@arkansasee.org.