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Co-Founder & Chief Education Officer, Emeritus

Co-author of Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice

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David Rose is a developmental neuropsychologist and educator whose primary focus is on the development of new technologies for learning.

In 1984, Dr. Rose co-founded CAST, a not-for-profit research and development organization whose mission is to improve education, for all learners, through innovative uses of modern multimedia technology and contemporary research in the cognitive neurosciences. That work has grown into a new field called Universal Design for Learning which now influences educational policy and practice throughout the United States and many other countries. Dr. Rose has also taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for over three decades.

As a researcher, Dr. Rose has been the Principal Investigator on many U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation grants, most of them related to advancing the ideas and practices of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). With the increasing prominence of UDL as a field, Dr. Rose has become a frequent keynote speaker at national and international conferences.

He has authored dozens of journal articles and academic book chapters and is the author of several books, including Universal Design for Learning: Theory & Practice (CAST Professional Publishing, 2014) and Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning (ASCD, 2002). Dr. Rose also leads or participates in many of CAST's technology and media development projects that have resulted in programs that are both award-winning and commercially successful including: Literary Place (Scholastic); Wiggleworks; (Scholastic); Thinking Reader (Tom Snyder/Scholastic); CAST's Bobby (now distributed by IBM); AMP Reading System (Pearson).

Dr. Rose has worked as a consultant for Houghton-Mifflin, Scholastic, Tom Snyder Productions, EBSCO Publishing, Pearson, Sopris West, WGBH, PBS, and other producers and publishers. He has also testified before the U.S. Senate's Appropriations Subcommittee and regularly advises state departments of education on policies related to the education of students with disabilities and designing universally designed educational systems.

With his CAST colleagues, he has won numerous awards, including the Computerworld/Smithsonian Award for Innovation in Education and Academia (1993), Tech Museum of Innovation Award (2002), the EdNET HERO Award (2005), the Strache Leadership Award (2014), and the CEC J.E. Wallace Wallin Special Education Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). In 2004, the George Lucas Educational Foundation's Edutopia magazine named him one of education's "Daring Dozen" and he has recently been honored at the White House as a "Champion of Change." Dr. Rose retired from CAST in 2017 but continues to consult and teach in an emeritus role.

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David Rose is a developmental neuropsychologist and educator whose primary focus is on the development of new technologies for learning. In 1984, Dr. Rose co-founded CAST, a not-for-profit research and development organization whose mission is to improve education, for all learners, through innovative uses of modern multimedia technology and contemporary research in the cognitive neurosciences.

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Co-Founder and Chief of Education Design, Emeritus

Co-author of Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice and three additional books on UDL

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Drawing on a long-term focus on the psychological aspects of learning and learning disabilities, Anne Meyer played a leading role in CAST's design of multimedia technology for diverse learners. Dr. Meyer has also led efforts to refine and disseminate CAST's ideas about Universal Design for Learning through writing and website development.

Anne Meyer is the lead author (with co-authors David Rose and David Gordon) of the recently published book Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice, available online at: udltheorypractice.cast.org and from CAST Professional Publishing.

Anne Meyer has also coauthored (with David Rose) three books: A Practical Reader in Universal Design for Learning (Harvard Education Press, 2006), the seminal Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning (ASCD, 2002), and Learning to Read in the Computer Age (Brookline Books, 1998), as well as numerous journal articles. She is also coeditor, with David Rose and Chuck Hitchcock, of The Universally Designed Classroom: Accessible Curriculum and Digital Technologies (Harvard Education Press, 2005).

Widely recognized for her contributions in the field of technology as it relates to disabilities, Dr. Meyer has served on the Texas Task Force on Electronic Textbook Accessibility and as a national advisor to President Clinton's Educational Technology Panel.

In 1995, Dr. Meyer received a Gold Medal from the National Association of Social Sciences for her work at CAST. With her CAST colleagues, she is also winner of the Computerworld/Smithsonian Innovation Award for the early literacy software program WiggleWorks.

Dr. Meyer completed her undergraduate work at Radcliffe College and received her master's and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and completed training for licensure in clinical psychology. Currently she is studying piano, painting, and Buddhism.

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Drawing on a long-term focus on the psychological aspects of learning and learning disabilities, Anne Meyer played a leading role in CAST's design of multimedia technology for diverse learners. Dr. Meyer has also led efforts to refine and disseminate CAST's ideas about Universal Design for Learning through writing and website development.

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Provides students with a clear, detailed rubric that describes what must be shown for mastery to be determined. Then, students are given the choice about how to demonstrate the criteria.

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Spencer, S. A. (Academic). (2015). Sally a. spencer, universal design for learning [Video]. SAGE Knowledge. https://www-doi-org.proxymu.wrlc.org/10.4135/9781473944657

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Not all golfers play with the same set of golf clubs-- they vary in length, material, shape, and design. If I, as an eight-year-old, tried to play with my 6'2 father's set of clubs I would have never learned how to swing. The expectation would be unrealistic. Education is the same. We cannot expect all students to excel given one path of learning.

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What medium does the student prefer to gain new information?

Presents information in multiple ways for the student to select what they prefer; video, book, guided research project, podcast, etc.

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Learners differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them. For example, those with sensory disabilities (e.g., blindness or deafness); learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia); language or cultural differences, and so forth may all require different ways of approaching content. Others may simply grasp information quicker or more efficiently through visual or auditory means rather than printed text. Also learning, and transfer of learning, occurs when multiple representations are used, because they allow students to make connections within, as well as between, concepts. In short, there is not one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for representation is essential.

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Learners differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them. For example, those with sensory disabilities (e.g., blindness or deafness); learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia); language or cultural differences, and so forth may all require different ways of approaching content.

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"Technology does not change learning for kids until their teachers learn how to use it to shift learning." 

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"Technology does not change learning for kids until their teachers learn how to use it to shift learning." 

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-Sally A. Spenser

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Standardized testing does not fit the inherent design of UDL. Relying on standardized tests assumes that students are average but one of the core understandings of UDL is recognizing that no student is average. UDL strives to differentiate learning and provide many ways for students to show what they know.

A key component of UDL is giving students options. Testing can be one form of showcasing knowledge but relying on it cannot be the only form.

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UDL can be accomplished without technology, though it is more efficient to use technology.

Technology allows for teachers to more easily differentiate learning for all students in the classroom.

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"The child needs to become an expert and advocate for their own learning."

Teachers must teach students to think about the ways that they think and learn. When they can successfully do this, they develop skills to self-monitor and catalyze their own learning.

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Teachers should recognize and acknowledge that no student is average. The classroom should recognize that all students are different.

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UDL relies heavily on giving the student agency in their own learning. Students should have options in all phases of learning, whether that be  selecting the pace at which they work, whether they work with a partner, how to display their knowledge, through what they receive information about new content.

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Closed captions were initially created for student with audio impairment to access the content within a video; however, it benefits students who:

Prefer visual text over audio

Have broken speakers

Need to find a specific section within a video

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Elevators may have initially been created for people in wheelchairs to access other floors within a multi-story building; however, other groups of people benefit from the elevator too:

Elderly people with weak knees

Residents moving heavy furniture

Parents with strollers

People with folding shopping carts

Animals with short legs

Fatigued humans

Lazy humans

The elevator may not have been installed with all of these groups in mind but it proved useful to all.

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Started in the 1980's with Universal Design for Instruction, at University of Connecticut. The goal is to make learning accessible to all learners, especially students with disabilities.

UDL is mostly referenced to when speaking of students with exceptionalities and applied in university settings for access to materials. There is potential for UDL to apply to all students at every age.

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Universal design is process of creating architecture to meet the needs of people "in the margin," better known as anyone different than the average person. Once universal design was applied, other people realized it was beneficial for them as well.

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A concept taken from architectual design and applied to education

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How can the student demonstrate what they know?

Gives students several methods for displaying their knowledge; tests, essays, Flipgrid, posters, concept maps, skits, journal entries, artwork, etc.

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Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. For example, individuals with significant movement impairments (e.g., cerebral palsy), those who struggle with strategic and organizational abilities (executive function disorders), those who have language barriers, and so forth approach learning tasks very differently. Some may be able to express themselves well in written text but not speech, and vice versa. It should also be recognized that action and expression require a great deal of strategy, practice, and organization, and this is another area in which learners can differ. In reality, there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for action and expression is essential.

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Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. For example, individuals with significant movement impairments (e.g., cerebral palsy), those who struggle with strategic and organizational abilities (executive function disorders), those who have language barriers, and so forth approach learning tasks very differently.

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1. Representation

2. Action & Expression

3. Engagement

31 guidelines for UDL are embedded within these three categories.

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Defined as "a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn."

In other words, UDL makes the process of learning accessible to everyone regardless of their prior knowledge, ability, language, economic status, or race. "UDL gets rid of that one size fits all paradigm in education" (Spenser, S. A., 2015).

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Teachers should have a roadmap of the lesson planned out in advance. This allows many opportunities for students to begin interacting with the content.

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Why do students want to learn? What motivates them to learn?

Provides options for students to determine what will interest them. This includes variation in the learning environment.

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Affect represents a crucial element to learning, and learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn. There are a variety of sources that can influence individual variation in affect including neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, and background knowledge, along with a variety of other factors. Some learners are highly engaged by spontaneity and novelty while others are disengaged, even frightened, by those aspects, preferring strict routine. Some learners might like to work alone, while others prefer to work with their peers. In reality, there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners in all contexts; providing multiple options for engagement is essential.

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Affect represents a crucial element to learning, and learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn. There are a variety of sources that can influence individual variation in affect including neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, and background knowledge, along with a variety of other factors.