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Cultural and linguistic diversity is gaining momentum in the Canadian workplace. Of course, this trend has been around for a while. Workplace diversity has been increasing for decades, and there are no indicators of it slowing down in the future. Statistics Canada (2019) estimates that by 2031, 26% of the country’s population will be born outside of Canada, nearly three-quarters of which (72.5%) will speak a mother tongue other than English or French.

Diversity is an important value for the Canadian workforce. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act (1996), organizations have established specific objectives to improve the representativeness of designated groups. Many organizations are therefore committed to providing a workplace that encourages the growth and development of all individuals, regardless of their physical, cultural, or social characteristics. 

To reap benefits from this new reality, successful organizations can leverage online learning to create a more agile and inclusive workplace. However, an increasingly diverse workforce means organizations will have more groups of people with unique needs and abilities. More variability presents instructional designers with particular challenges in designing learning that addresses the needs of all learners. Fortunately, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework values diversity and encourages designers to use its guidelines to proactively design inclusive instruction and curricula to eliminate or reduce barriers and maximize learning for all (Burgstahler, 2020). 

My research will explore the impact of UDL on online learning in workplace settings. Specifically, I plan to determine how a UDL-based instructional design process can help designers make asynchronous online workplace training and learning more inclusive for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Particularly by specifying how UDL can be applied to address the unique needs of this growing—yet often underserved— learner population.

My Research Objectives
My two main research objectives, therefore, will be: (1) to propose UDL as a valuable framework for online learning in the workplace; and (2) to provide instructional designers with useful guidelines and scenario-based examples that can increase their capacity to design and develop more inclusive online learning interventions not only for culturally and linguistically diverse learners but for all.

Mapping My Audience
Considering my research objectives, I plan to disseminate my work to a broad community of individuals and groups who will find my research on inclusive online course design for the workplace valuable. My target audiences will include:

• Cohort 
• Colleagues 
• Instructional Designers 
• Educators and trainers 
• Government and non-government organizations
• Friends and family
• Others (i.e., various content users on the Web)

Dissemination Methods
My guiding method is to share my research primarily in open online spaces to generate the most impact. By engaging my target audiences and the general public, I aim to facilitate a dialogue between novices and experts and empower them to express their opinions, thereby enriching the conversation further. The main idea of this dissemination effort is to make my research 1) more accessible and 2) user-oriented. Given this, I will avoid more traditional forms of reporting (i.e., publishing in a journal or presenting at a conference). And, instead, share more engaging reader-friendly versions of my research in informal spaces online. Specific examples of knowledge sharing I will use to achieve my dissemination goals:

• First, I will write a blog post summarizing my research outcomes, and post it to my MALAT WordPress Blog and personal website.
• Second, I will share my research project on open knowledge-sharing platforms, like Academia.edu and Medium.com.
• Third, I will post an interesting quote and a clickable link to my research on Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Fourth, I will create an infographic of my key research findings using Canva and share it on social media (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook). 
• Fifth, I will create a short 3-5 minute video and upload it to YouTube to present an overview of my research in an easily digestible format.

Below is a plan that will serve as a tool for tracking and modifying my dissemination efforts (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.
Dissemination Methods Plan

Evaluation Methods
To evaluate the effectiveness of my dissemination effort, I will look at how many people it reached and if it reached the audiences I intended. Some tools I will employ for doing this include:

• Using web analytics to view the dates and number of times my research was viewed or downloaded
• Using social media metrics like shares, likes, and retweets, and who is re-sharing my work.

In sum, knowledge is a public good. Therefore, I am committed to making my research open and accessible to all on the Web. To put this commitment into practice, I will utilize knowledge-sharing platforms and social media to maximize the impact and dissemination of my research. Finally, I will evaluate the success of my dissemination effort using web analytics and social media metrics to determine if my intended audiences were reached.

References

Burgstahler, S. (2020). Creating inclusive learning opportunities: A universal design toolkit. Harvard Education Press, p. 47–8. https://www.washington.edu/doit/universal-design-process-principles-and-applications

Employment Equity Act (1996). Government of Canada. Retrieved from: https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/Pubs_pol/hrpubs/TB_852/over01-eng.asp

Statistics Canada (2019, January 28). Immigration and language in Canada, 2011 and 2016. Ethnicity, Language and Immigration Thematic Series. Retrieved from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/89-657-x2019001-eng.htm