Blind Men and the Elephant – A Picture of Relativism and Tolerance
The Blind Men and the Elephant is a famous Indian fable that tells the story of six blind sojourners that come across different parts of an elephant in their life journeys. In turn, each blind man creates his own version of reality from that limited experience and perspective. In philosophy departments throughout the world, the Blind Men and the Elephant has become the poster child for moral relativism and religious tolerance.

Blind Men and the Elephant – A Poem by John Godfrey Saxe
Here is John Godfrey Saxe’s (1816-1887) version of Blind Men and the Elephant:

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach'd the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approach'd the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," -quoth he- "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," -quoth he,-
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said- "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," -quoth he,- "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

What do you prefer, lecture? reading the text? hands on? online learning?

What is UDL?

Universal Design for Learning
is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn.

UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.
Why is UDL necessary?

Individuals bring a huge variety of skills, needs, and interests to learning. Neuroscience reveals that these differences are as varied and unique as our DNA or fingerprints. Three primary brain networks come into play: Recognition, Strategic, and Affective

What does it look like in your personal experience? Consider putting together toys, furniture, getting new appliances, new websites.

It is easier to identify and sometimes also to create in the physical environment


What does it look like in the online environment? What are indicators?

100 level vs graduate
non-tradition vs. traditional
first online course vs. many
mandatory class vs elective
Learning Disability statistics applied to your class--at 11%, if you have 20 students you've probably got at least 2 students with documented disabilities. Many non-traditional students do not have their needs documented.

Within our teaching, what are strategies that we can use with our students to address these three areas of WHAT, HOW, and WHY?

Often when we talk about accessibility, we talk about the actual document itself. In today's workshop, we are going to talk about a related but different form of accessibility.

In order to get to the course content and documents, we must first consider the actual entry point of our courses and documents. In online terms, this often is referred to as the "Start Here" section as well as the "Look and Feel" of the course.

Using the phrase course design, we can rephrase this as "course art." What does this mean to us as faculty? What does that mean to our students? Here is where we need to consider not only our learners, but the actual device they will be using to access our content as well as their context. Those factors greatly influence our choices.