Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Institute

Saskatchewan Polytechnic and Learning and Teaching proudly welcome you to the third annual UDL Institute. Join us in building a culture of belonging, as we bring greetings from Treaty 4 and 6 territories and the homeland of the Métis.

Presented by:

• Tasha Maddison, lead, UDL committee
• Elder Rick Daniels

About the presenters:

• Elder Rick Daniels is originally from the Mistawasis Nehiyawak First Nation. He is a residential school survivor, having attended St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, SK from kindergarten to grade five. His father worked on the railroad and the family moved frequently after Elder Rick left residential school. They moved to Saskatoon in 1962, and Elder Rick has lived there ever since. Elder Rick attended St. Paul’s High School for grades nine and ten, then quit school to work. At age 25 he started to work in the electrical trade, attending training in Moose Jaw and working mostly in Saskatoon for about 11 years. After working on different jobs after leaving the electrical trade, Elder Rick was encouraged by friends to go to university. He attended First Nations University of Canada and completed his Bachelor of Social Work degree and Arts degree in 1991. Elder Rick took a job with SIAST (Kelsey) in 1992, which is now Saskatchewan Polytechnic. He worked as an educational counsellor in the Basic Education program for 22 years, retiring in 2014. About two years later he was asked to do some work for Sask Polytech, which led to more requests for different programs. He continues to be involved with Sask Polytech and loves it.

“Nothing about us without us” is a prominent disability-rights slogan asserting that people with disabilities should be included in decisions that affect them. The Students as Partners framework represents a pedagogical shift away from entrenched instructor-led models toward collaborative processes grounded in reciprocity and shared responsibility.

Dr. Melissa Hills will discuss her first experience partnering with two undergraduate students (Lauren Tkalcik and Sam Dancey) with disabilities as Scholarship of Teaching and Learning co-investigators and co-creators of a Universally Designed biology laboratory curriculum. At the conclusion of this project, Melissa, Lauren and Sam engaged in systematic reflection to evaluate their collaboration and examine how their experiences with disability and neurodivergence influenced their participation.

Dr. Hills will also share recommendations for building successful partnerships. Her work underscores the value of involving students with disabilities as partners in the development of inclusive curricula.

Presented by:

• Dr. Melissa Hills, professor, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada

About the presenter:

• Dr. Melissa Hills is a molecular biologist and professor at MacEwan University, an undergraduate learner-focused institution. She is passionate about student-centered and inclusive pedagogies, including Universal Design for Learning. Dr. Hills brings her own experience as a neurodivergent educator (with ADHD) to her Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, working with students who are disabled and/or neurodivergent as partners in research and inclusive curriculum design. She was recently awarded a Distinguished Teaching Award (2024) and a Teaching Leadership Award (2025). Dr. Hills is currently a chancellor’s research chair and the group lead of MacEwan’s Research Group on Inclusive Experiential Learning.

We'll take a 15 minute break. Meet back at 11:30 a.m.

Indigenous pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning both contribute powerfully to building a culture of belonging by centring relationships, respect, and learner identity as foundational to meaningful learning. Indigenous pedagogy emphasizes learning as relational and holistic, grounded in community, lived experience, and connection to land, culture, and story. UDL similarly recognizes that learners come with diverse strengths, needs, and ways of engaging, and that learning environments must be intentionally designed to welcome this diversity. Together, these approaches shift learning spaces away from compliance and assimilation toward environments where learners feel seen, valued, and safe to participate as their full selves. 

This conversation will explore what combining UDL and Indigenous Ways of Knowing (and Learning) looks like and how educators can create conditions where belonging is embedded into the design of learning rather than added as an afterthought. Participants will hear how learning environments built this way, belonging becomes a shared experience supporting all learners to build connection, confidence and mutual respect. 

Presented by:

• Liz Stone

We'll take a 30 minute break. Meet back at 1 p.m.

This session will investigate our cultural assumptions about teaching. We will identify what cultural strengths in teaching are and, through the lens of learner variability, explore design principles to open up our courses to other cultural forms of learning that will invite more student belonging. With the stalwart support of the UDL guidelines, we will offer a new lens to redesign educational environments based on our cultural strengths to make sure to include the variety of adult learners we have today.

Presented by:

• Lillian Nave, faculty and educational development specialist for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Student Success at Appalachian State University, North Carolina, USA

About the presenter:

• Lillian Nave is the faculty and educational development specialist for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Student Success (CETLSS, pronounced like beatles) at AppState’s Hickory campus in North Carolina, and is the creator and host of the Think UDL podcast which has over 100,000 global downloads. On campus and through the podcast, she supports faculty who design and implement more accessible and engaging learning environments for their students. She enjoys speaking, writing and presenting about faculty development, inclusive pedagogy, and cultural competence nationally and internationally, or wherever people will listen to her podcast!

Join us for a special message and sharing opportunities as we close the 2026 UDL Institute and prepare for next year.

Presented by:

• Tasha Maddison, lead, UDL Committee