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Equity

Designing for equity

Universal design must be conducted through an equity lens, which we apply to all of our research, design, communications, investments, and organizational work.

March 19, 2024

Addressing the Student Debt Crisis with Tech Solutions

January 17, 2024

Borrowers Without Bachelor’s Degrees Are Falling Through the Cracks of the Student Loan System

November 1, 2023

5 Reflection Questions for Inclusive Design

Creating inclusive educational content requires designers to engage in meaningful reflection at each stage of the design process. Consider these 5 questions.

September 27, 2023

Left Adrift: The State of Student Loan Repayment

In June of 2023, WGU Labs and Savi, with the assistance of Gallup, fielded a survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,406 student loan borrowers aged 21 to 50 to learn more about what they owe, how they’re navigating repayment, and how the debt they carry shapes their personal, professional, and financial choices. 

September 13, 2023

Removing Roadblocks: Unrestricted Emergency Aid's Ripple Effect on Student Success

HEERF funding showed that emergency aid can have measurable benefits in terms of students’ sense of belonging, financial burdens, and graduation rates.

February 28, 2023

Shifting Winds: Examining Employment Trends in Rural Northwest Regions

In the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West, the rural community is the backbone of the economy. It is one that we hope is realizing the benefits of a shifting workforce landscape. Yet most headlines focus on urban areas and national trends. To better understand what is really happening in the local rural communities, WGU's Northwest team partnered with WGU Labs to discover insights into how the employment landscape in rural regions of the Pacific Northwest and mountain West states shifted as the nation experienced and then emerged from the pandemic.

July 30, 2022

WGU Labs Inclusive Language Guide

This guide helps us develop an inclusive, shared vocabulary, allowing our words to match the true intentions of our research.

June 28, 2022

5 Ways to Make Education More Inclusive

We design at the margins: In order to develop systems that are universally accessible, it’s imperative that diverse voices are invited to the table early on, and engaged in the process throughout.

May 12, 2022

7 Things You Need to Know About Inclusive Language

September 11, 2020

Designing for Equity Means Rethinking Our Approach to Empathy

In this blog, the Labs team explores the principles of equity-centered design.