Technologies · Year 10

Active learning ideas

UI vs UX Design Principles

Active learning works for this topic because accessibility and inclusive design are best understood through direct experience. Students need to feel the frustration of poor design and the satisfaction of inclusive solutions to truly grasp why these principles matter in real interfaces.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9DT10P03

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Simulation Game
• 40 min · Pairs

Simulation Game: The Screen Reader Challenge

Students close their eyes and try to navigate a popular website using only a screen reader or a partner's verbal description. They must identify three barriers that make the site difficult to use without sight.

How does a poorly designed interface affect a user's emotional state?

Facilitation Tip

For the Screen Reader Challenge, provide headphones and short passages to read aloud so students experience how visual content is interpreted without sight.

What to look for

Present students with two screenshots of similar apps, one with a clean, intuitive interface and another with a cluttered, confusing one. Ask them to write down two specific UI elements that make one app's interface more appealing and two UX principles that are better applied in the other.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 02

• Inquiry Circle
• 45 min · Small Groups

Inquiry Circle: The Curb-Cut Effect

Groups research 'The Curb-Cut Effect' and find three examples of digital tools originally designed for people with disabilities that are now used by everyone (e.g., voice-to-text, captions, or dark mode).

What are the key differences between designing for a mobile device versus a desktop?

Facilitation Tip

During the Curb-Cut Effect investigation, assign each group a different disability scenario to research and share back with the class.

What to look for

Facilitate a class discussion using the prompt: 'Imagine you are designing a mobile app for ordering food. How would you ensure both a visually appealing UI and a smooth, frustration-free UX for a first-time user?' Encourage students to share specific design choices and their reasoning.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Self-Management
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Gallery Walk
• 30 min · Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Inclusive Design Audit

Students bring in a screenshot of an app they use. They move around the room and use a checklist to 'audit' each other's apps for accessibility features like font size, color contrast, and button spacing.

How can we measure the usability of a digital product?

Facilitation Tip

In the Inclusive Design Audit, assign each pair a different app or website to evaluate so the gallery walk showcases diverse perspectives.

What to look for

Students bring a simple sketch or digital mockup of a single screen for a hypothetical app. In pairs, they present their design and ask their partner to identify one UI element they like and one UX aspect that could be improved, providing a brief justification for each.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract principles in concrete experiences. Start with empathy-building activities before introducing technical guidelines, as research shows students retain accessibility concepts better when they are emotionally engaged. Avoid diving straight into WCAG guidelines. Instead, let students discover the need for these rules through their own frustrations during simulations.

Successful learning looks like students confidently identifying accessibility barriers, proposing inclusive design fixes, and justifying their choices with evidence from simulations and real-world examples. They should move from seeing accessibility as an add-on to recognizing it as essential design practice.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Screen Reader Challenge, watch for students assuming accessibility only affects blind users.

  Use the activity’s reflection questions to guide students to consider situational disabilities, like holding a phone in bright sunlight or needing captions in a noisy room.

• During the Inclusive Design Audit, watch for students dismissing accessibility as a cost issue.

  Have students use the audit checklist to calculate how many accessibility fixes are simple text additions or color adjustments, showing that early inclusion adds minimal cost.

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Methods used in this brief

• Simulation Game
• Inquiry Circle
• Gallery Walk