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New Kahoot Challenge!           Game PIN: 05171173 

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New Kahoot Challenge!           Game PIN: 05171173 

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https://kahoot.it/challenge/05171173?challenge-id=52242063-1f4d-4069-8b60-275ef2f9b32e_1622677255223

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New Kahoot Challenge!           Game Pin: 05484687 

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New Kahoot Challenge!           Game Pin: 05484687 

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https://kahoot.it/challenge/05484687?challenge-id=52242063-1f4d-4069-8b60-275ef2f9b32e_1622318420351

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https://kahoot.it/challenge/03452020?challenge-id=52242063-1f4d-4069-8b60-275ef2f9b32e_1622151292111

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Page 8: Designing with UDL

As you have learned, the three UDL principles- provide multiple means of engagement, provide multiple means of representation, and provide multiple means of action and expression -are critical to designing accessible and equitable learning experiences. Educators who embrace UDL expect their students to differ in how they engage with learning, make meaning of content, and navigate and communicate their learning. With this learner variability in mind, educators build in flexible options, which reduce the barriers in the design of instruction and build learner agency.

Research Shows

Although UDL itself is a multifaceted framework, a recent meta-analysis of 20 studies examined the effect of instruction utilizing UDL principles on learners' achievement. The results demonstrated the emergence of UDL-based instruction as a research-based practice. More specifically, the academic achievement of learners in UDL-based settings was better than those in non-UDL-based settings. Furthermore, this positive effect was seen:

Among learners with and without disabilities

Across age groups

In all subject areas

(King-Sears et al., 2023)
Educators can apply the UDL framework throughout the instructional cycle as they:

Proactively design-before instruction

Implement-during instruction

Reflect and redesign-after instruction

Proactively Design

When educators think about UDL from the start, they design instruction to meet the needs of the widest possible range of learners. During this stage, educators should:

Anticipate learner variability: Educators integrate options for engagement, representation, and action and expression when they expect their learners to have varied backgrounds, experiences, strengths, and challenges.

Remove barriers: Educators identify where students might get "stuck" in the lesson. These anticipated barriers in the instructional design provide clues for where flexible options should be built in.

Analyze the goal: Educators remember the mantra "clear goals, multiple means" and make sure that the learning goal is focused on what students will learn, not how they will learn it.

Align the design: Educators develop assessments, plan instructional methods, and choose instructional materials that align with the learning goal, while encouraging different, yet robust, learning pathways for all learners to meet the goal.

Keep in Mind

UDL offers general and special educators a common language for designing learning experiences. When these educators collaborate and use UDL, they should remember:

Even the most flexible designs do not eliminate the need for special education services and supports for students with disabilities-For example, an educator provides all students with options to demonstrate their understanding of a butterfly's life cycle (e.g., drawing a diagram, composing a description), but a student with a physical disability may still require, and is entitled to, the AT outlined in the IEP (e.g., composition tools) to be able to engage in the learning experience.

A necessary support for students with disabilities can be a beneficial option for all students-For example, a student's IEP may mandate the use of audiobooks in place of textbooks. While this option is required for this student, it may also be beneficial for other students (e.g., those who struggle with reading, those who prefer to listen rather than read).

The following resources offer more information about using a UDL lens to design learning experiences.

Implement Instruction

During instruction, students and educators engage in the learning process together. During this stage, educators should:

Communicate the goal: Educators ensure students know what they are working to achieve and remind them of the goal throughout the learning process.

Facilitate learning experiences: Educators provide the multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression that were planned during the instructional design stage.

Empower expert learners: Educators provide opportunities for students to take charge of some of their own learning decisions. Educators observe how students use or don't use available options and guide students in reflecting on how their choices benefit or pose barriers to their learning.

Reflect and Redesign

Try as they might, educators are rarely able to anticipate every barrier that might show up during instruction. After the learning experience, reflective educators evaluate what worked and what could be improved in the future. During this stage, educators should:

Reflect on the goal: Educators begin by reflecting on the clarity of the learning goal. If it was unclear what students needed to know or be able to do, or if the means were inadvertently embedded within the goal, the educator should rewrite the goal for the next time the lesson is taught.

Evaluate the assessments, methods, and materials: Educators carefully review the options that were provided during instruction and consider which were effective and which may have presented unexpected barriers.

Plan for improvements: Educators identify adaptations that could strengthen the design next time. If the learning experience was appropriately accessible and flexible, educators can think about adjustments to the design that could further empower students as agents of their own learning.

UDL is a broad framework that can require a major shift in thinking for many educators. Likewise, designing instruction using UDL takes time and effort, but it is a worthwhile endeavor. Fully integrating the principles of UDL is an ongoing process that will not happen overnight. Educators can start by making small changes aligned with the UDL principles and build over time. As they do so, they will begin to see that all students have access to learning experiences and opportunities to use and grow their agency as learners.

To make designing instruction with UDL feasible, both Shauntā Singer and Sarah Wisecarver suggest starting with the goal, ensuring that it incorporates flexible means.

Shauntā Singer, PhD
Research & Development/
Professional Learning Research Scientist
CAST

(time: 2:00)

(time: 2:24)

Transcript: Shauntā Singer, PhD

Barriers that exist in teaching and learning are those things that get in the way of students meeting various learning goals. And so those roadblocks, barriers, challenges can exist in the form of various things. And what we like to think is that the barriers intuitively or inherently are not in the student, but they can be unintentionally produced in the methods, materials, goals, and assessments that we as instructional designers create. For example, printed material may be how we would traditionally present content. But we have learners who would either prefer and/or have limits to being able to access the information that's in printed material. And so that material becomes inflexible or access to the material becomes the barrier. And so the idea behind identifying barriers is to think proactively about what specific materials, methods we may use and try to eliminate those barriers so that more students are able to meet those goals. Or, in our example, more students are able to access the information that's in that printed text. I like to think of printed text for some as being very inflexible, meaning if students have challenges like reading, if they have any visual impairments that prevent them from being able to actually see the print on the paper, perhaps language is not their first language or language of choice, accessing the content in that printed material would be very difficult. And so that's a very fixed or inflexible material. To make it more flexible and/or eliminating the barriers, we could make it digital so that we could translate or so that it could be spoken out loud to learners who may have those visual impairments. And so the barriers again are things that may be inherent to the particular material that we use. But eliminating the barriers would allow students to meet those goals again in our example, accessing that information in that printed text.

Transcript: Sarah Wisecarver

So when I think about what someone new to UDL should do, one of the things I think about right away is to have them focus on the goal and to make sure that the goal of the lesson has a flexible means. Saying, "Students will read a nonfiction article and write about the main idea"-that's not a very flexible goal because I'm asking them to read it, and I'm asking them to write about it. And there may be barriers in those two things for certain students. So changing the goal, we could think about just saying, "Students will determine the main idea of nonfiction." So "determine" is a more flexible goal. Then they could listen to it through auditory. Maybe I provide a graphic organizer for some vocab work, so they could get some background knowledge right away. Maybe when they are talking about the main idea, they talk about it with a partner first or with me. Maybe they sketch it. Or, oftentimes in my classroom, I use an iPad, and there's a spot where students could record their ideas. So maybe they go over to that quiet spot, and they hit record, and they just do a quick speaking of what they believe the main idea is. Or maybe they grab their Chromebook, and they create a Google Doc with speech-to-text. The goal of determining the main idea of nonfiction stays the same, but how the students achieve it, there's multiple options. And I am providing feedback along the way, so when you look in the classroom, they're almost never doing the same thing. They're always doing different things based on what they need at the time, and I am constantly going from one group to another, to an individual, to check in to provide some meaningful feedback on that work. So when we can focus on a goal and make the goal flexible, I think that's a really good way to start.

But it is important to realize the mantra, "Go slow to go fast." We don't want to go too quickly because sometimes when you implement new designs in education, and you don't deal with fidelity, and you lose it. It's a lot of work, don't get me wrong, but it's really great, fulfilling work, and we see such a difference with our students. They're advocating for themselves. They know what they need for their learning.

To learn more about designing with UDL, we encourage you to listen to the extended IRIS Interviews below. First, Sarah Wisecarver describes a lesson in which she applied the UDL framework and discusses how her students engaged in the learning experience. Then, Jenna Gravel, Senior Research Scientist at CAST, and Nicole TuckerSmith, Founder and CEO of Lessoncast, explain how the UDL framework is ever evolving to address barriers and to create a more equitable classroom for all students. They also offer advice for educators who are just starting to implement UDL.

Returning to the Challenge

Mr. Hughes, Ms. Tong, and Mrs. Rios have deepened their understanding of the UDL framework. As they have applied the lens of UDL to each of their instructional components, they have anticipated learner variability and identified barriers in their original designs. All three educators have now proactively designed instruction to provide multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression. Below, explore some of the ways each educator's learning experiences have changed after they applied UDL.

Mr. Hughes

Ms. Tong

Mrs. Rios

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As you have learned, the three UDL principles- provide multiple means of engagement, provide multiple means of representation, and provide multiple means of action and expression -are critical to designing accessible and equitable learning experiences. Educators who embrace UDL expect their students to differ in how they engage with learning, make meaning of content, and navigate and communicate their learning.

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UDL in Practice

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines and Ideas

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Universal Design for Learning Guidelines and Ideas

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Lesson planning with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

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Lesson planning with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

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UDL lesson planning can help you teach all students. Learn how to lesson plan with UDL and download a UDL lesson plan template.

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Action and Expression (auditory)

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Representation (kinesthetic)

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Engagement (visual)

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Center for Applied Special Technology
Until learning has no limits!

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1. Home

2. Our Impact

3. About Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

UDL at a Glance

Find out how the UDL framework guides the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials that can be customized and adjusted to meet individual needs.

UDL to Change the World

CAST created the Universal Design for Learning framework, and it remains one of our core levers of change to help make learning inclusive and transformative for everyone.

Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Visit the UDL Guidelines

Engagement

For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.

Explore Engagement

Representation

For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways.

Explore Representation

Action & Expression

For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know.

Explore Action & Expression

Top of Page

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Home Our Impact About Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Find out how the UDL framework guides the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials that can be customized and adjusted to meet individual needs.

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How much do you know?

https://kahoot.it/

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Join a game of kahoot here. Kahoot! is a free game-based learning platform that makes it fun to learn – any subject, in any language, on any device, for all ages!

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+Better Instruction
+Better Learning

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Anticipating what is needed during design

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Responding to what is needed

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+Flexibility
+Equity
+Accessibility

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There is not only one way to learn...not only way to teach

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+The Why
+The What
+The How

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'Learning involves multiple areas in our brains'

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to teaching aimed at meeting the needs of every student in a classroom. It can be helpful for all kids, including kids with learning and attention issues.

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1. Participants will learn the basic principles of Universal Design for Learning.
2. Participants will create a product based on UDL principles.