Embracing Universal Design for Transformative Learning.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce participants to our journey of integrating Universal Design as a central part of a new Technological University in addressing the challenge of a consistent quality experience for all learners. Adopting and combining both the principles of universal design and universal design for learning is not to make it easier but to offer a framework of principles and guidelines to make education appropriate and challenging for everyone. Ken Robinson wrote "A vibrant school can nourish an entire community by becoming a source of hope and creative energy…Poor schools can drain the optimism from all the students and families who depend on it by diminishing their opportunities for growth and development" (1).

The relationship of personal factors and subjective well-being to the use of assistive technology devices.

PURPOSE: To describe a measure and its performance specific to the relationship of personal factors and subjective well-being (SWB) to the use of assistive technology devices (ATDs). The primary hypothesis is that responses to a 33-item personal factors scale and a 12-item SWB scale are good indicators of an individual's predisposition for using, and subsequent match with, a given ATD. METHODS: Data analyses from a number of studies using the 33-item personal factors and the 12-item SWB scales of the Assistive Technology Device Predisposition Assessment with persons of various ages and types of disabilities. RESULTS: Regardless of type of disability or age of respondent, the ATD PA personal factors and the SWB scales identified important differences in predispositions to use an ATD as well as the subsequent quality of the match of person and device. CONCLUSIONS: A quantifiable relationship exists between the ATD PA's measure of personal factors and the SWB such that it is possible to characterise an individual's predisposition to use a particular ATD. Results also show that the scales are predictive of the quality of the ATD and user match at follow-up. Rehabilitation practitioners who use the ATD PA may achieve enhanced assistive technology service delivery outcomes by using this evidence-based measure.