Choose Your Own Biology Assessment with Mike Widjaja and Osu Lilje

Welcome to Ep 166: Choose Your Own Biology Assessment with Mike Widjaja and Osu Lilje. Mike Widjaja and Osu Lilje are both Education Focused Academics in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney. Mike teaches in large first-year biology units, with a focus on inclusive, student-centred assessment design. His work explores how structured choice, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and authentic assessment can enhance student engagement, belonging, and agency at scale. Mike has led the development of innovative approaches such as “Choose Your Own Assessments” and integrates educational technology to support student learning. Osu Lilje coordinates large first-year biology units serving 1,500+ students annually, focusing on AI-enhanced feedback, academic integrity, and equitable learning support. Her work explores how custom-built AI tools and rubric-aligned feedback can support scientific writing development and reduce barriers to help-seeking for international students. Osu co-founded the Science Educators Community of Practice (SECoP) and has led development of the Scientific Writing Assessment bot. She was recently awarded the Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. In today’s conversation, we discuss how Mike and Osu updated an entry level biology assignment in a large enrollment course to offer students choice and flexibility in topics and delivery. And when they presented this topic at ADCET’s UDL Symposium (which I highly, highly recommend), during the actual session they offered to the group if their work should be presented as a podcast or poster or in some other fashion and then did exactly what the group wanted. It was an excellent way to demonstrate how engaged participants can be when given ownership of a task. You’ll learn quite a few ways to make your assessments better and how to improve group work from this conversation.

Welcome to Ep 165: Drama in Education with Louise Heeran Flynn. Dr Louise Heeran Flynn is an Assistant Professor in Teacher Education at the School of Education, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. She has recently published an article in the journal IJUDUDL which stands for International Journal of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. The article, “Breaking the Code – Using the (In)CLUDE framework to support the implementation of Universal Design for Learning 3.0 in the classroom through the use of Drama in Education,” delineates easy to use and creative ways to use principles learned in drama education that can be applied to any course whether in the humanities, arts and sciences or social sciences. And what I really appreciated in the article, which is linked in the resource section of this episode, is a helpful color coordinated chart of the UDL guidelines with a co-listed drama in education technique that correlates to each UDL consideration. And then she provides a useful acronym (In)CLUDE which asks each instructor to consider the Where, Who, What, Why and How of each learning environment and learning goal to implement these strategies. Start with the C=Context (Where and who?), L=Learning outcomes, U=UDL Guidelines, D=Drama in Education, E=Enact or put into action. Louise is also a fabulous storyteller and truly it is the stories that carry this conversation so I know you will enjoy this chat and be able to take away at least one more strategy in your teaching repertoire after hearing what is possible.

Welcome to Ep 164: Creative and Expressive Learning Pathways with Jill Weidknecht Van Horne. Jill Weidknecht Van Horne, PhD, is my friend and colleague and is an Associate Professor and the Program Director of the Professional School Counseling Program at Appalachian State University. She is also the past president of the European Branch of the American Counseling Association and past vice-president of the North Carolina Association for Play Therapy. Her equine therapy class has been featured on our local PBS affiliate UNC-TV and I have a link to that video and her newly released book for which she is an editor writing under the name Jill Weidknecht in the resources. The book is Treatment Planning, Writing, and Documentation in Creative and Expressive Arts Therapies: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals. In our conversation, we discuss the connections between UDL and expressive and creative arts therapies and consider how her work in play therapy and equine-assisted therapy provides an empathetic lens for her to better understand learner variability and the various pathways for learning in her students. Thank you for listening to the Think UDL podcast!

Welcome to Ep 163: Low Tech, No Tech Accessibility Considerations with Sarah Silverman. Sarah Silverman, PhD is an independent faculty developer and instructor of Disability Studies. As an autistic educator, she has a personal stake in Neurodiversity as well as extensive college teaching and faculty development experience. Her interests include accessible and feminist pedagogy, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the history of the neurodiversity movement. Her book Classroom Mindscapes: An Introduction to Neurodiversity for Educators is forthcoming from the University of Oklahoma Press in September. In this conversation, Sarah and I discuss options for faculty members who are considering low tech, no tech, or more analog classroom activities or educational environments. We talk about access friction and decisions that might need to be considered in order to meet the needs of current students with competing access and technology needs. Sarah has been recently working on this topic and will have an upcoming workshop on this on July 21st. If you are listening to this podcast before or after that date in 2026, you’ll be able to find the sign-up or the results of that session in this episode’s resource section just before the transcript on ThinkUDL.org. You’ll also be able to find the other resources we mention throughout the conversation there.

Aloha and welcome to Episode 162: Sensory Spaces with Hazel Gedikli, Holly Manaseri, and Manca Sustarsic. All three of my guests are from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Hazel Gedikli is the Interim Director of the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Support, or OFDAS, as you will hear my guests reference it in today’s podcast. Holly Manaseri and Manca Sustarsic are both Faculty Members at the Center on Disability Studies. Today we will discuss the Sensory Room Initiative, a grant funded venture from OFDAS and the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, which created a sensory room for faculty, staff and students along with the research about its effectiveness. You’ll learn everything you need to know about how to start your own and why it could be important to your campus. 

Welcome to Episode 161: Making Math More Human with Thomas Colclough. Dr. Tom Colclough is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Center for Knowledge, Technology, and Society at the University of California, Irvine. He earned a bachelor’s of science degree in Mathematics and Philosophy with Specialism in Logic and Foundations from the University of Warwick (“Worrick”!), UK, and then a doctorate in Philosophy from the department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at UCI. This background will be very important to our conversation as you’ll see in a few moments. In this conversation, Tom and I discuss the various trauma-informed practices such as safety, choice, empowerment, trustworthiness, and collaboration and how they can be applied in higher ed math courses. There are specific design choices that can be used to combat negative and restrictive mindsets that some students bring into math classes. And once these affective parts of the learning process are addressed logically and systematically, students can find greater success where they often previously found frustration. You’ll also see many connections with the UDL guidelines throughout this conversation with specific emphasis on multiple means of engagement.

Welcome to Ep 160 of the Think UDL podcast: Teaching Physics is Not A Solo Sport with Melissa Eblen-Zayas. Melissa Eblen-Zayas is Professor of Physics at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and a previous Director of Carleton’s Pearlman Learning and Teaching Center. In this conversation we talk about what it means to be an effective teacher of Physics and how to lean into disciplinary identity, being a Physics Professor, to teach Physics better. There is much crossover from UDL that Melissa is able to pinpoint, apply, and share with others that is helpful for not only Physics professors but all other faculty who want to improve their teaching in their discipline. She also introduces the EP3, Effective Practices for Physics Programs, which is created by Physics professors FOR Physics professors to help not only in their teaching, but recruitment and curriculum design, and anything and everything that helps a college level Physics program succeed. But mostly, we talk about taking down barriers for students so that they can more effectively learn, and in this case, learn Physics!

Welcome to Episode 159 of the Think UDL podcast: Playful Pedagogy with Lindsey Hamilton. Lindsey Hamilton is the Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. A Neuroscientist by training, she entered into the field of Teaching and Learning and has been bringing not just the research and proven methods to teaching and learning to her faculty, but also the fun! In today’s episode we discuss how play, joy, and positive emotions can help us learn, and therefore can help our students learn if we employ a playful pedagogy. Play is serious business! And it can be seen as a little rebellious, too. And we know from UDL that the affective or emotional parts of learning are an important part of engagement. So please join us for a fun and engaging conversation where we talk about the benefits of a playful pedagogy!

Welcome to Episode 158 of the Think UDL podcast: Humans in the AI Loop with Eric Moore and Kevin Mallary. Dr. Eric Moore is the Director of Learning Design and Technology and Kevin Mallary is an Instructional Design Specialist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Both Eric and Kevin are Assistant Professors by courtesy at the John Hopkins University School of Education. Eric and Kevin have been doing some great work at the intersection of UDL and AI and have some sage advice on creating safeguards and guardrails as you approach using AI in adult education. In this conversation, we discuss the need for always centering the human perspective and keeping the humans in the AI loop at multiple intervals, and how to do that through PLCs, or Professional Learning Communities. You’ll find more information in the resource section just before the transcript on this episode’s webpage at ThinkUDL.org.  

Welcome to Episode 157 of the Think UDL podcast: Perfect Intersection with David Pyle. David Pyle is an artist, educator, writer, and entrepreneur who has spent his career at the intersection of art-making, business, and learning. Currently, he serves as a Continuing Appointment Instructor in the Arts Management and Green+Gold programs at Colorado State University, where he teaches courses like Law and the Arts, Community Engagement and the Arts, and The Perfect Intersection: Art-Making as a Way to Learn (and Do) Anything. Trained in music, painting, chemistry, and education, he spent more than three decades in marketing, communications and leadership roles with some of the most iconic brands in the artist materials world. His book, What Every Artist Needs to Know About Paints and Colors (Krause, 2000), reflects his lifelong curiosity about how creativity, science, and art-making converge. In 2020, he launched Pyle Creative Studio, where he now supports community art-making initiatives and develops content and community-building strategies with creative businesses. At heart, David is passionate about helping people explore the intersections between art-making, science and other disciplines to shape the world around them. In today’s conversation we discuss visual thinking, art-making as a way to learn to do anything, storytelling and surprises! You’ll find the resources mentioned in this conversation in the resource section just before the transcript on ThinkUDL.org. As always, thank you for listening to the Think UDL podcast!