Universal Design for Student Success
Introduction
The Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) team in Technological University Dublin invites staff from TU Dublin and other Universities in Ireland and internationally to attend a webinar we are hosting with the esteemed Universal Design expert, Thomas J. Tobin. The webinar will focus on Universal Design for Student Success, exploring how Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning and other related frameworks can help enhance student engagement and student success.
The webinar will take place from 1-2pm on Friday, 27 November 2026. You can register here.
Staff in TU Dublin are welcome to join us for lunch beforehand from 12:30pm, and for an in-person workshop and practice-sharing event from 2-3:30pm. You can register here. Full details for in-person attendees are provided at the end of this page.
Webinar Description: Universal Design for Student Success
Teaching can be challenging, these days. AI agents can convincingly respond to discussions. Learners struggle with studying and practice. Only a few students communicate with us regularly. Learners seem to lack motivation to act beyond what we grade. You’re fielding a lot more individual disability accommodations than in years past. Do your students feel like they can just watch your videos and skip the interactions portions all together? Do they stop out or drop out of their studies? Learn how to make them feel more “a part of” instead of “apart from” as they complete core TU Dublin programmes, and transfer on to further study or the workforce.
In our webinar, you’ll learn three specific access strategies that work to counter these trends and restore learner engagement in face-to-face, blended, and online courses. Whether students are studying trades, business, health professions, public service, computer science, or education, we can use their own motivations to strengthen their engagement in our course conversations and activities. You’ll leave our session with practical, use-them-tomorrow strategies for
- engaging learners and keeping them motivated;
- helping learners prepare, practice, and study;
- uncovering the “hidden levers” that encourage authentic participation; and
- designing paths to welcome learners to participate in varying ways.
Along the way, you’ll learn more about several interconnected accessible-design frameworks, including universal design (UD), universal design for learning (UDL), and the ALTITUDE Charter that helps us all create learning spaces and engagements that reach more learners.
About the Speaker
Thomas J. Tobin is an internationally recognised scholar, author, and speaker on technology-mediated education—especially copyright, teaching evaluation, academic integrity, accessibility, and universal design for learning.
He holds an English literature master’s and Ph.D., an information science master’s, and certifications in project management (PMP), online teaching (MOT), Quality Matters (QM), accessibility (CPACC), and academic leadership (Penn State). He helped found the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring.
On Ed Tech Magazine’s Influencers “Dean’s List,” honored with the Wagner Leadership Award in Distance Learning Administration, and one of Eduflow’s global Top 100 Learning Influencers, Tom serves on the boards of Advances in Online Education, InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, and the Oklahoma University Press Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series.
His books include:
- Pre-Raphaelitism in the Nineteenth-Century Press (2002).
- Worldwide Pre-Raphaelitism. (2004).
- Evaluating Online Teaching (2015).
- The Copyright Ninja (2017).
- Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: UDL in Higher Education (2018).
- Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers (2020).
- Implementing UDL in Irish Further Education and Training (2021).
- UDL at Scale: Whole-Campus Universal Design for Learning (2026).
- Evaluating College Teaching Across Modalities (forthcoming 2027).
- Peer Observation Made Practical (forthcoming 2028).
Find him on various social media and at thomasjtobin.com.
Schedule for In-Person Event
TU Dublin staff are invited to join us in-person in St Laurence's, Grangegorman, for the event, the preceding lunch and the workshop and practice-sharing event that follows. The full schedule for in-person attendees is as follows:
Friday, 27 November 2026, St Laurence's, Grangegorman
- 12:30pm: Lunch, St Laurence's, Grangegorman
- 1:00pm: Universal Design for Student Success webinar with Thomas J. Tobin
- 2:00pm: Mini-Workshop on Universal Design for Student Success
- 2:30pm: Practitioner Conversation Session for Practice Sharing
- 3:15pm: Next Steps for TU Dublin
- 3:30pm: Close
The Practitioner Conversations Session
The in-person event includes a Practitioner Conversations session from 2:30pm to 3:15pm. During this session, attendees will be seated at a table of 6-8 people. Each person will be invited to share some aspect of their practice related to Universal Design, Student Success, Student Engagement or any related topic by speaking for up to five minutes and responding to questions from others. No slides or presentation is required, just conversation. Attendees don't have to share their practice if they don't wish to do so, they can simply respond to others.
When registering, please indicate if you are willing to share some aspect of your practice in the Practitioner Conversations session.to
Contact Us
Please contact Learning Teaching Assessment (LTA) with any queries.