Ok so it's not a book report. Actually I don't think I've written a book report since 5th grade (ah but that last one was a goodie; it was a Beverly Cleary book and who can ever go wrong with Beverly Cleary aka my generation's Judy Bloom) but it's not really a book review because I can't be objective-- I love the whole universal design thing and I think the people at DO-IT rock and they are the editors (yeah, yeah I get the DO-IT thing and no I'm not going to explain it; you will have to click on it.)

Hmmm I am being more than a little bitchy today. Sorry I've been developing and refining data templates and stupidly told Tom since there were only 8 it would be easier for me to do it manually than for him to generate software to do it automatically. All I have to say is STUPID ME.

Anyway back to universal design. For any and all in higher education, you gotta read Universal Design in Higher Education: From Principles to Practice. It's good, really good. I know it is a whole book and most of us don't have time to read a whole book that isn't in our area; but if you are teaching students, it is in your area. Even if you don't read the whole thing, check out pieces like Table 9.2 on Universal Course Design Instructional Strategies which gives ideas that take less than 15 mins to implement and others that take 15-60 mins. For example under "Universally Designed Videos/Pictures/Audios" for the former they suggest "show all video presentations with closed captioning on". For the later they suggest "search for video clips on the Internet (use keywords such as "MPEG" or "video clips" in your search)."

Yes I've already suggested that they make these tips and suggestions available on line and hopefully they will. In the meantime, just buy the book and if you don't want to read the whole thing, flip through it.