This webinar is part of the OLC Innovate 2025 Best-in-Track webinar series!
Today’s undergraduate students experience high levels of anxiety, which can hinder their learning. Course policies grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles can help alleviate student anxiety by supporting both cognitive and emotional aspects of learning, thus promoting learner agency. This webinar will present findings from several semesters of student surveys that indicate common stressors and reveal ways UDL-based course policies can decrease anxiety.
The webinar will focus on two course policies that reduce stress for students while maintaining manageable workloads for instructors. The first policy addresses flexible late work submissions, including examples, implementation techniques, and student feedback on specific policies. The presenter will also share data she’s collected where students report just having these policies available to them reduces their anxiety and the number of students who actually utilize late-work policies are far fewer than one might expect. The second policy covers the acceptance of multiple assignment formats (e.g., audio, video, written), offering practical strategies for grading efficiency. The session will conclude with reflections on survey feedback and actionable takeaways for creating low-stress, anxiety-reducing classroom environments.
Intended Audience:
Faculty, instructional designers, and student support personnel
Key Takeaways:
- Identify key factors of how student anxiety can impact learning in undergraduate classrooms.
- Apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to course policy development.
- Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to late work submissions, with consideration for grading efficiency and instructor workload.
- Evaluate strategies for accepting multiple formats (audio, video, written, etc.) for the same assignment, with consideration for grading efficiency and instructor workload.
- Develop course policies and strategies for creating anxiety-reducing classroom environments while increasing learner agency and maintaining similar instructor workload.
Please Note: While attending the webinar live is free for OLC members and non-members, on-demand recordings will be available post-webinar for Professional and Institutional Members only. Consider becoming an OLC member for access to these and many other great benefits!
Speaker Bio
Amber Emanuel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor – University of Florida
Amber S. Emanuel is an accomplished professor, currently serving as an Instructional Associate Professor in the Department of Health Education and Behavior at the University of Florida. She has been a faculty member since 2015, with previous experience as a Post-doctoral Associate at the Southeast Center for Research to Reduce Disparities in Oral Health. Dr. Emanuel holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Kent State University, where she also earned her M.A., and a B.A. in Psychology from Elizabethtown College.
Dr. Emanuel has a strong passion for teaching, offering courses ranging from Community and Environmental Health to Health Mythbusters. She is dedicated to innovative teaching methods, evidenced by her receipt of the Online Excellence Award for Learner Satisfaction and Rising Star Award from the University of Florida Center for Teaching Excellence.