Universal Learning Design - ULD 2020


ICCHP is proud to announce the cooperation with the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs of the Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic in organising a (set of) special thematic sessions / special track on Universal Learning Design (ULD) as part of 2020 ICCHP conference.
With this cooperation ICCHP will put a stronger emphasis on inclusive eLearning as well as provide a platform for a more interdisciplinary discussion. In 2020, ULD will comprise Science papers as well as ICCHP forum papers and presentations. If you wish to give a paper at this year´s edition of ULD, you need first to register for ICCHP and submit either a Science paper (published with Springer LNCS) or a Forum paper (published in the 1st digital edition of our ICCHP open access compendium “Future Perspectives of AT, eAccessibility and eInclusion”).
ULD calls for contributions addressing issues of inclusive education and education for inclusion. Appropriate STS (e.g. "Accessibility – Challenges and Opportunities in Education Sector" or a dedicated ULD STS) and other STSs and sessions announced covering related topics will be grouped and presented within one final, comprehensive ULD Track to facilitate the most efficient and holistic view and experience.

Independently from what publication channel you finally choose, registration to ICCHP by at least one author per contribution is mandatory!

ULD Mission Statement

The philosophy underpinning the Universal Learning Design topic was driven by the need to seek and reach an agreement on what we shall understand by the terms “education for all” or “universal learning design” and what objectives educational institutions and/or service centres can achieve in this field. Therefore, the Universal Learning Design Track is regarded as an opportunity for presenting principles of universal accessibility and sharing experience among professionals who provide for the general accessibility of tertiary education in Europe as well as other parts of the world. The Universal Learning Design Track is hence intended particularly for representatives of teams developing special IT and for service centres staff, who deal with the practical matters and thus technically, technologically, and organizationally provide for accessible education.

Teachers, psychologists, and experts from other fields are also welcome to take part. As such, the Universal Learning Design Track provides a platform for teachers, organizations, and institutions interested in participating in seminars and round tables to deliver their contributions in respective thematic sessions and present their teaching methods and didactic or service technologies.

The People behind ULD

The main people behind ULD conferences and of the 2020 ULD activities at ICCHP 2020 are our partners from the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic (in short, the Teiresias Centre). The Teiresias Centre is a special-purpose department servicing the whole Masaryk University (MU).

Its task is to make studies at MU as accessible as possible for students with disabilities, such as sensory and physical impairments, and other difficulties. It was originally founded in 2000 as a service department for blind and visually impaired students (hence its short name, the Teiresias Centre, which is a reference to the mythological blind prophet).
Since 2003, it has been extending its activities to services for students with hearing and motor impairments, and, most recently, learning and psychological difficulties.

Today, the Teiresias Centre primarily serves as:

  • a teaching centre with a wide range of courses supplementing and/or substituting standard classes,
  • a methodical and counselling centre for MU students and staff as well as similar special-purpose departments at other Czech universities and high schools,
  • a research institution developing original technological solutions,
  • an interpreting and speech-to-text reporting centre,
  • and last but not least, a Braille publisher and a national digital library.