Implementing Universal Design for Learning: An Online Training Course for Peer Tutors to Students with Disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders

This article presents a project named “Online Training Course for Peer Tutors to Students with Disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders”, implemented by the e-learning staff of the University of Turin, Italy. Despite the fact that peer tutors are not expected to suffer from any specific condition, the training course includes content accessible to users affected by disabilities and SLDs. The main aim is to provide tutors with an inclusive environment by granting them a hands-on approach to customizable material and allowing them to learn new ways of conveying contents to tutees. An even more ambitious goal is to adopt a proactive approach to content development which can be considered as a starting point for future projects, thus bringing the University of Turin up to speed with state-of-the-art teaching material design. Therefore, due to its experimental nature in the field of content accessibility, this course represents a pilot project.