Creating Inclusive Learning: The Toolkit Trainers Have Been Waiting For

How do we ensure learning is inclusive and accessible for everyone?

That question is at the heart of our latest resource, Create Inclusive Learning for All: A Practitioner’s UDL Toolkit. Packed with tools, checklists, guidelines, and lesson planners, this new toolkit is designed to help trainers create learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners, including those with disabilities. Voices with firsthand experience as learners with disabilities contribute to this toolkit, offering unique insights and practical advice.

Years ago, my wonderful editor at Wiley, Martin Delahoussaye, called me up and said, “Surely trainers have developed their own little tools and tricks for getting work done. Let’s put them all in a book.” And that we did. Arranged around steps in instructional design, the original From Analysis to Evaluation: Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Trainers is a big shiny book full of just that: worksheets, templates, lesson planning guides, matrices, flowcharts, and the like. Short on pontification and big on application, the book was a big hit way back when, and I still have people occasionally send a photo of a much-loved dog-eared copy. Back then, when everything was on paper, the book was huge and expensive, and a promised “eVersion” just never happened.

Flash forward to the day Mark Britz, then with the Learning Guild, suggested reissuing the 15th-anniversary edition. We were just coming through the pandemic, and many much-put-upon schoolteachers were looking toward corporate learning as a relief. They were, though, in need of some help not provided in teacher prep programs. It did seem like a perfect time to reissue the book. The folks at woman-owned InSync Training, founded by virtual training pioneer Jennifer Hofmann, stepped up to help with production and distribution. From Analysis to Evaluation was released in mid-2024 in the long-awaited e-version.

As the original content was generally tech-agnostic, it remained largely evergreen, and we were able to get through production to publication quickly. Problem: Due to its age, we found a few holes in need of filling.

The most important: the old content lacked much in the way of discussion about accessibility and inclusion, issues that just were not being discussed much back then.

We promised to correct that with the publication of an addition, and in December launched Create Inclusive Learning for All: A Practitioner’s UDL Toolkit to fill that empty space. Contributions are again from stellar, credible voices in the field who were most generous with their time and materials. Tools offer support for all areas of design and delivery, from audience/population assessments to frameworks for practice to delivery in physical and virtual classrooms to tools for helping teach others about accessibility and inclusion.

Both volumes are available for purchase from InSync Training:

• The new all-digital edition of From Analysis to Evaluation: Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Trainers is available here: https://www.insynctraining.com/analysis-to-evaluation-book
• Create Inclusive Learning for All: A Practitioner’s UDL Toolkit is available here: https://www.insynctraining.com/inclusive-learning-toolkit

This is the second installment in the continuing Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Trainers series. We’d love to hear from you! What types of toolkits would you find most valuable in the future? Share your ideas and suggestions with us as we plan for upcoming releases. Watch for more in 2025!