Facilitating Engaging Learning Practices

Abstract

The chapter's purpose was to explore the experiences of students with disabilities during the unplanned shift to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. A description of the experiences during COVID-19 from the perspective of the institution, the faculty, and the students were presented. Two case studies were presented giving strategies that support learner engagement, lessons from COVID-19, and giving practices for universal design for learning. The literature and case studies support further needs of students with disabilities during online learning. These suggestions were applied by using inclusive teaching and universal design for learning as instructional strategies for the faculty to address the needs of students with special needs. There are a multitude of lessons learned that will further assist university professors in teaching which fosters greater learner engagement, proposes greater accessibility, and allows for greater inclusivity to all learners and various teaching contexts within the college setting.