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The core principles of UDL are multiple means for engagement, multiple means for action and expression, and multiple means of representation.

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Universal Design for Learning A Blueprint for Success for All Learners

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Introduction to UDL in Education: The Process, Principles, and Applications

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Introduction to UDL in Education: The Process, Principles, and Applications

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This article reviews how the UDL process, principles and applications can be applied to all environments.

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Most groups in educational institutions, workplaces, and other settings are diverse with respect to background, cultural and gender identity, first language, socioeconomic status, age, abilities, learning preferences, and myriad other characteristics. All people have an intersecting identity made up of a variety of these unique facets. Some of us have characteristics considered by many to be "disabilities," including people who are blind, are deaf or hard of hearing, are on the autism spectrum, and have mobility impairments, attention deficits, learning disabilities, and health impairments.

How can educators design instruction to maximize the learning of all students? How can employers create environments to maximize productivity of all employees? How can IT professionals procure and develop products that are accessible to and useable by everyone? How can student services make their offerings inclusive of everyone? A number of proactive approaches discussed in the literature consider a broad audience in design practices. They include universal design, accessible design, barrier-free design, usable design, inclusive design, and design for all. Of the proactive design approaches, there is no approach that addresses greater user diversity than universal design (UD).

Although UD has its roots in the design field of architecture and commercial products and information technology (IT), applications in education are growing in number. UD can provide a philosophical framework for the design of all products and environments at all education levels-including technology, teaching and learning activities, academic spaces, student services and professional meetings. The paragraphs that follow flesh out the Framework for applying UD in education (UDE). Important aspects to address include the scope of the application area, definition, principles, guidelines, exemplary practices, and process.

What is the scope of your application?

The scope of applications of UD in Higher Education (UDHE) includes all products and environments that directly or indirectly support teaching and learning in higher education. Examples of more narrowly defined scopes are applications of UD to online learning, informal science learning, student services, IT, or physical spaces.

What is the definition of UD?

According to the Center for Universal Design, UD is "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." To narrow the scope, this definition can be modified. For example, to apply UD to teaching and learning activities, this basic definition can be modified to "the design of teaching and learning products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design."

Characteristics of any UD product or environment are that it is accessible, usable, and inclusive.

What are principles and guidelines relevant to UDE?

Three sets of principles provide guidance for applying universal design regardless of the scope.

1. Principles of UD

The seven principles of universal design established by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State were developed to guide the design of any product, service, or environment. They follow along with an example of the application of each.

Equitable use. The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities. A website that is designed so that it is accessible to everyone, including people who are blind, employs this principle.

Flexibility in use. The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. A museum that allows a visitor to choose to read or listen to a description of the contents of a display case employs this principle.

Simple and intuitive. Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level. Science lab equipment with control buttons that are clear and intuitive employs this principle.

Perceptible information. The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities. Video captioning employs this principle.

Tolerance for error. The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions. An educational software program that provides guidance when the user makes an inappropriate selection employs this principle.

Low physical effort. The design can be used efficiently and comfortably, and with a minimum of fatigue. Doors that open automatically employ this principle.

Size and space for approach and use. The design provides appropriate size and space for approach, reach, manipulation, and use, regardless of the user's body size, posture, or mobility. A science lab with adjustable tables employs this principle.

It's important to integrate relevant disability, accessibility, and universal design content into engineering courses to increase knowledge and skills among future professionals. This will lead to a workforce that is aware of and more capable of addressing accessibility barriers. Find curriculum around universal design on our website.

2. Principles of UDL

Universal design principles can be applied to many environments, products, and services, including learning environments, resources, and methods of instruction. Three principles have been established for the universal design of teaching and learning materials and activities that makes the learning goals achievable by individuals with diverse characteristics, including wide differences in abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, understand English, attend, organize, engage, and remember. Universal design for learning (UDL) is achieved by means of flexible curricular materials and activities that provide alternatives for students with differing abilities. These alternatives are built into the instructional design and operating systems of educational materials-they are not added on after-the-fact.

The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) created a set of three principles with roots in cognitive neuroscience to underpin practices and curriculum for teaching and learning. The UDL principles are listed below.

Multiple means of engagement. For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning. UDL guidelines under this principle promote the development of curriculum and instruction that includes options for perception; language, expressions, and symbolism; and comprehension.

Multiple means of representation. For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways. UDL guidelines under this principle promote the development of curriculum and instruction that includes options for physical action, expressive skills and fluency, and executive functions.

Multiple means of action and expression. For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know. UDL guidelines under this principle promote the development of curriculum and instruction that includes options for recruiting interest, sustaining effort and persistence, and self-regulation.

3. Principles for the UD OF IT

The third set of principles to support the UD Framework provide guidance to the design of IT used in many products and environments. In the early years of the Internet, UD practices began to be applied to the design of hardware and software to ensure accessibility to individuals with disabilities, English language learners, and other groups. These efforts led to the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and related practices are underpinned by four guiding principles. Together, they require IT components to be these four qualities:

Perceivable. Users must be able to perceive the content, regardless of the device or configuration they are using.

Operable. Users must be able to operate the controls, buttons, sliders, menus, etc., regardless of the device they are using.

Understandable. Users must be able to understand the content and interface.

Robust. Content must be coded in compliance with relevant coding standards in order to ensure it is accurately and meaningfully interpreted by devices, browsers, and assistive technologies.

How the three sets of principles and guidelines work together in a specific application

The combination of the principles discussed above can be used to universally design almost any product or environment. In higher education, for example the combined set can be applied to make more inclusive physical spaces, instruction, and online resources. Rather than memorize the fourteen principles that underpin universal design in education (UDE), however, practitioners work toward compliance with them by following three simple guidelines:

Provide multiple ways for participants to learn and to demonstrate what they have learned.

Provide multiple ways to engage.

Ensure all technologies, facilities, services, resources, and strategies are accessible to individuals with a wide variety of disabilities.

One of the challenges in the current state of applications of UD, UDL, UD of IT, is the three different communities engaged in most efforts in each category rarely talk to one another. UD advocates have made strides in the movement to design living spaces that are are usable by people with disabilities or as they age, but not so much in the design of labs and other academic facilities; UDL advocates sometimes apply the three principles but use inaccessible IT in doing so; and UD of IT advocates often look at the design of technology used b educational settings, but not how it interacts with the pedagogy used to deliver instruction.

A great example of how these three sets of principles can be integrated together is when designing a class. Whether the class is in-person or online, the design of the class should strive to be inclusive to all students, including those with disabilities, and allow all students to access the content of the course and fully participate in class activities. Universal design principles can apply to lectures, classroom discussions, group work, handouts, web-based instruction, fieldwork, and other academic activities. The 7 Principles of UD are particularly helpful when designing instructional facilities like computer labs; the 3 Principles of UDL guide the development of teaching curriculum and pedagogy; and the 4 Principles for the UD of IT that underpin the WCAG guide the creation and use of IT used in any application to ensure that it is accessible to, usable by, and inclusive of everyone, including those with disabilities.

The following examples for the Universal Design of Instruction that employ all three sets of UD principles were developed by the AccessCollege project of the DO-IT Center with input from a nationwide collaborative team. There are eight areas of application.

Inclusiveness. Adopt practices that reflect high values with respect to both diversity and inclusiveness. Example: Put a statement on your syllabus inviting students to meet with you to discuss disability-related accommodations and other special learning needs.

Physical Access. Ensure that activities, materials, and equipment are physically accessible to and usable by all students, and that all potential student characteristics are addressed in safety considerations. Examples: Develop safety procedures for all students, including those who are blind, deaf, or wheelchair users; label safety equipment simply, in large print, and in a location viewable from a variety of angles; repeat printed directions verbally.

Delivery Methods. Use a variety of accessible instructional methods. Example: Use multiple modes-e.g., lectures, collaborative learning options, hands-on activities, web-based communications, educational software, field work, etc.-to deliver content and motivate and engage students.

Information Resources. Ensure that course materials, notes, and other information resources are flexible and accessible to all students. Example: Choose printed materials and prepare a syllabus early, to allow students the option of beginning to read materials and work on assignments before the class begins and to allow adequate time to arrange for alternate formats, such as audio books.

Interaction. Encourage effective interactions between students and between students and the instructor, and assure that communication methods are accessible to all participants. Example: Assign group work that emphasizes collaboration and that places a high value on different skills and roles.

Feedback. Provide specific feedback on a regular basis. Example: Allow students to present portions of their work for feedback before the final project is due.

Assessment. Regularly assess student progress and adjust instruction accordingly. Example: Use a variety of accessible methods and tools to assess the performance of students in collaborative groups and as individuals.

Accommodation. Plan for additional accommodations to address any specific student needs. Example: Be prepared to provide materials in alternate formats, change classroom locations, or arrange for other disability accommodations.

Although applying universal design of instruction (UDI) does not eliminate the need for special accommodations-e.g., a sign language interpreter for a deaf student-it does ensure full access to the content for most students. By applying UDI in courses as they are created, educators minimize the need to make accommodations later. For example, letting all students have access to your class notes and assignments on an accessible website can eliminate the need for providing materials in alternate formats. For more information on accommodations and examples of what to plan for, visit our Accommodations pages.

What are UD practices associated with application areas?

The UD Framework can be further fleshed out by developing examples of practices that can be employed by individuals who wish to apply it to a particular application. For example, in the publication Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction you will find a comprehensive list of examples, each explicitly linked to one or more of the principles of UD, UDL, and IT." The collaborative team helped develop lists of examples for the UD of practices that are reported in The Center for Universal Design in Education. There you will find practices aligned with the UD of

The following table provides examples of practices that build upon each of the items in the four sets of principles that underpin the UD Framework.

Source: Burgstahler, S. (2020). Creating inclusive learning opportunities in higher education: A universal design toolkit. Harvard Education Press, p. 45.

What is the process for applying UD?

Process is the last item in the UD Framework. The following list provides an example of a process for applying universal design in higher education (UDHE). It can be adapted to any application of UD.

1. Identify the application and best practices in the field. Specify the product or environment to which you wish to apply UDHE. Identify best practices within the field of the application (e.g., evidence-based teaching practices, technology standards, architectural design specifications).

2. Consider the diverse characteristics of potential users. Describe diverse characteristics of potential users for which the application is designed-e.g., with respect to gender; age; ethnicity; race; native language; learning preferences; size; abilities to see, hear, walk, manipulate objects, read, speak-and the challenges they might encounter when attempting to engage with the product or environment.

3. Integrate UDHE with best practices in the field. Integrate UDHE practices (underpinned by relevant UD, UDL, and WCAG principles) with best practices within the field of application to maximize the benefits of the application to individuals with a wide variety of characteristics.

4. Plan for accommodations. Develop processes for the provision of accommodations for individuals for whom the design does not automatically provide access (e.g., with assistive technology or sign language interpreters). Make these processes known through signage, syllabi, publications, or websites.

5. Evaluate. After implementing the product or environment, collect feedback from individuals with diverse characteristics who use it (e.g., through online surveys, focus groups). Make modifications based on the results. Return to step 3 if evidence from your evaluation suggests that improvements should be made to your design.

Source: Burgstahler, S. (2020). Creating inclusive learning opportunities in higher education: A universal design toolkit. Harvard Education Press, p. 47-8.

For Further Study of the UD Framework

Find further details and more examples about the UD Framework in the book Creating Inclusive Learning Opportunities in Higher Education: A Universal Design Toolkit and at the Center for the Universal Design in Education.

About DO-IT

DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) serves to increase the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs such as those in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. Primary funding for DO-IT is provided by the National Science Foundation, the State of Washington, and the U.S. Department of Education. DO-IT is a collaboration of UW Information Technology and the Colleges of Engineering and Education at the University of Washington.

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Acknowledgment

This publication is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government.

Copyright © 2021, 2015, 2012, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational, noncommercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.

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Universal Design: Process, Principles, and Applications

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Most groups in educational institutions, workplaces, and other settings are diverse with respect to background, cultural and gender identity, first language, socioeconomic status, age, abilities, learning preferences, and myriad other characteristics. All people have an intersecting identity made up of a variety of these unique facets.

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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.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. 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.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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Building Bridges Between Technology and Content Literacy in
Special Education

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Building Bridges Between Technology and Content Literacy in
Special Education

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This was a case study looking at the the outcomes and lessons learned from the implementation of a technology professional development initiative aimed at helping three special education teachers from an urban elementary school learn how to infuse technology in their content literacy instruction. The impact of the technology professional development on teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for content literacy instruction, changes in teachers’ content literacy instructional and assessment practices, and the influence of teachers’ technology professional development on the content literacy learning of students with disabilities are discussed.

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Building Bridges Between Technology and Content Literacy in Special Education Lessons Learned From Special Educators Use of Integrated Technology

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The benefits of using UDL to enabled kids with special needs in the Boston area to stay in regular classrooms and how its impact can be used world-wide.

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For years, a computer-assisted methodology called Universal Design for Learning has enabled special-needs kids in the Boston area to stay in regular classrooms. But can it work nationwide?

Kelly Driscoll's humanities class wasn't nearly as rowdy as the group next door, but it was far from quiet. A computer-generated voice occasionally penetrated the muted clicketyclack of 19 middle schoolers working on laptops, and a handful of kids tossed play-insults at each other between discussions of what they were reading. Punctuating the buzz were intermittent pronouncements from a corner of the room. "Yessss!" Anais Perez exclaimed, setting her gold nameplate earrings swinging. "That's so sad," she said a few minutes later. Then, with conviction and a strong New England accent: "Such a liuh."

Her thick black hair wrapped in a messy bun, Anais and her classmates were using software called Thinking Reader to read Bud, Not Buddy, Christopher Paul Curtis' tale of an orphan's childhood during the Great Depression. Though the tone of the book is light, Bud's life in Flint, Michigan, is hard, with stints in cruel foster homes. As the class wrapped up on a morning in late May, Anais got into an exchange with Michael Guerra, a lanky boy seated across from her, about what happens during Bud's first night with a new family, the Amoses. Their son, Todd, makes a habit of harassing foster kids with a pencil, and Bud is no exception-although he's the one who gets punished by Todd's mother after the two boys are caught fighting.

"It's nasty, sticking a pencil up someone's nose," Anais observed. "I'd wanna go back to the [orphanage]. She didn't even hear Bud's side of the story."

"Would you believe your own kid or someone you found on the street?" Michael countered.

"You can believe both of them," Anais replied. "Sometimes you don't know who's telling the truth."

When Anais arrived at Young Achievers Science and Mathematics Pilot School as a 2nd grader, she could barely read and she was performing below grade level in all of her classes at the K-8 school. The next year, she was given an individualized education plan, which until 6th grade meant leaving her classroom for large chunks of time to get extra help in reading, writing, and other subjects. When she was with her regular teachers, she usually tried to avoid reading altogether by misbehaving.

But as one of Driscoll's 7th graders, Anais did something different this past year: She stayed in class. "I had a chance to sit...with kids my age, kids that are supposed to be in my grade," she says. "And that's instead of getting kicked out of the class."

Driscoll is a practitioner of something called Universal Design for Learning, born 20 years ago at a clinic not far from Young Achievers. The UDL approach-in which students use whatever print or technological tools they need-was originally devised for kids with physical and learning disabilities. It has been so successful among those students that the group responsible for it recently drew up guidelines for the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, currently up for reauthorization.

That same group, a nonprofit called the Center for Applied Special Technology, is now trying to get UDL into mainstream classes. Its researchers claim that with the right materials, technology, and training, teachers can make all lessons flexible enough to benefit every student-including those considered "disabled."

"We don't know any teachers who really want it the way it is, having school largely be a sieve separating students," says David Rose, a CAST founder. "It's no fun going home at the end of the day knowing you have students falling further behind while you do your job."

That may be true. But UDL, like any technology-related educational approach, isn't cheap. And at least initially, it requires teachers to spend extra hours crafting lessons. So as the federal government and several state-level administrations add UDL to their education policies, it's worth taking a look at how it's applied in the Boston area, where CAST's wide-ranging theories have already met the day-to-day realities of the classroom.

Anais lives in Dorchester, a working-class Boston neighborhood, with her mom, three brothers, and a foster brother. They reside in a new single-family home on a street otherwise dotted with dilapidated apartment buildings. Her mom, Ana Dominguez, is a native of the Dominican Republic and moved to Dorchester when she was 14, the age Anais is now. The34-year-old Dominguez has a pierced belly button and bears a striking resemblance to her daughter. She's also a single mom who works part-time as an administrative assistant in a nursing home.

Although tall and broad-shouldered, Anais moves gracefully; until recently, she studied hip hop, ballet, and tap at a dance school near Young Achievers, in Jamaica Plain. She spends most of her free time now hanging out with cousins who live close by.

Anais has always had academic problems, however. The Boston school district diagnosed her with something referred to as a "specific learning disability," although it's anything but specific. For Anais, its exceedingly hard to identify words and figure out their meanings-"decoding," as literacy specialists call it. This means she has a tough time understanding written and spoken language and, therefore, struggles in all subjects.

Young Achievers is part of a network of "pilot" schools in the Boston area that essentially function as district-led charters and allow for innovation. In grades 3 through 6, Anais' special ed teachers used a phonics program that helped her read stories like The Cat in the Hat on her own, though she was never able to keep up with classmates. By 6th grade, though, the routine had become unbearable, according to Anais. She was being pulled out of the classroom most of the day. "In the morning, I'd have to go into class for like two minutes," she recalls, "and then leave for two or three hours."

But things were different with Driscoll, a vibrant, down-to-earth 29-year-old with long brown hair often tucked behind her ears. She was using Thinking Reader as part of a UDL-based curriculum that included everything from giving kids Post-its and highlighters for note-taking to establishing a "library" of books oncassette tape. When Anais used the software this past fall, she was able to finish a grade-level novel for the first time. Then, she says, "I read a whole book on vacation"-accompanied by a recorded version borrowed from Driscoll.

From a distance, UDL looks like many other technology-driven instructional theories. But a few details set it apart. For one, it was developed long before technology played such a prominent role in education; its creators at CAST are among the genre's pioneers. UDL also allows teachers to make use of multiple pedagogical approaches and technological tools withina single curriculum. But most important is an emphasis on across-the-board cooperation-involving not only CAST and teachers but publishers, too, so that materials can be modified easily to suit individual students' needs.

Thinking Reader is a good example of how UDL works. When Anais used it for Bud, Not Buddy in May, she began at Level 1, the first of four. Passages were highlighted onscreen while recordings of the same text played aloud, enabling Anais to follow along, sometimes repeating words to herself. At intervals, the recording halted and the screen displayed a prompt or exercise, such as "Look at the highlighted words in the text to help you visualize what is happening, then describe what you see in your mind." As Anais became more skilled, the number of support prompts decreased and became less explicit. By June, when school was about to end, she'd stepped up to Level 2.

"A student like Anais, who just struggles so much with reversals and what she sees-has she improved in her decoding?" Driscoll asks. "I would say yes, but her improvement in decoding is because she loves to read now. Reading is not as frustrating for her, and it's something she sees as a part of her life now. She is a student who has become, over the course of the year, confident in her learning."

Driscoll was teaching reading, writing, and social studies to 7th and 8th graders at Young Achievers. Of the 19 students in her 7th grade class, eight had IEPs. A few, including Anais, were Latino; the rest were African American. The walls of her classroom were covered with posters on which Driscoll had written, with multicolored markers, vocabulary words and reading-comprehension strategies. During one lesson, she used an overhead projector to display atrociously punctuated sentences on a large screen. She would ask one student to correct each sentence-and, if necessary, call on classmates for help.

Driscoll began her career in 1998 in her home state of Connecticut, where she was a special ed teacher for three years. She moved to Boston in 2001 and worked at a middle school that closed the following summer, then switched to YA. In summer 2003, she and a few other YA teachers attended a workshop organized by CAST, based in nearby Wakefield, Massachusetts. Instructors described one of their classroom programs-through which CAST helps educators hone lesson plans-and asked some of the teachers whether they wanted to participate. Driscoll considered the decision a "no-brainer."

"I like challenges, I like figuring out how people learn," she explains. "When you're an education student, you're asked to write about your philosophy of education. And the more I studied special education, the more I realized all education should be special education."

Special ed was actually the starting point for CAST. In the early 1980s, a group of clinical neuropsychologists at North Shore Children's Hospital in Boston were working with kids who had significant cognitive and physical disabilities. A few members of the staff, including David Rose, believed that the usual educational recommendations for these students were insufficient, so they began meeting separately to discuss alternatives and explore how computers might help.

In 1984, five of them founded CAST as an independent clinic. Children and their parents would visit the office, where the neuropsychologists frequently employed assistive technologies such as computers that recognize voice commands. "With the computer stuff, there were times when it happened right in front of us," recalls Rose, one of CAST's two directors and a former preK-12 teacher. "You'd see a kid who was disabled, and within a day, there was a huge change in what they accomplished."

Recreating the same environment in schools, however, was difficult. So in the mid-1990s, CAST's mission evolved from "fixing the child" to fixing the education system for students with disabilities. At the same time, Rose and his colleagues were doing extensive research that led them to develop a model of three brain networks central to the learning process. They argued that lessons should be "universally designed," accounting for these networks and their associated strengths and weaknesses in each student.

From this model, the CAST researchers concluded that "learning disabilities "had nothing to do with how smart kids are or how much they can achieve; what was disabled was the classroom material because only a narrow band of students could use it. A more flexible curriculum, they argued, would be accessible by everyone.

"We realized we could continue helping one child at a time, forever, or we could help a larger number of students," recalls Grace Meo, another CAST founder and currently its professional development director. "What we're doing is shifting the burden of change from the students to the curriculum."

Some Boston-area schools, in fact, have gone beyond even curricular changes, transforming their entire learning environments with accessibility in mind.

The four-year-old building that houses Ipswich Middle School, located 30 miles northeast of Boston in a town of the same name, was designed to be technology-friendly. Every classroom has a half-dozen computers, and each grade level is clustered around what looks like a hexagonal conversation pit outfitted with high-tech multimedia equipment. The Ipswich district also provides free technology training to employees; Pat Previte, who's spent her 17-year career at the middle school, has taken part every summer.

Previte's 6th grade English classroom is roomy and quiet, with several windows and a wall of cupboards. Although none of the 85 students in her four classes this past spring had an IEP, she worked with CAST curriculum designer Patti Ganley to create universally designed lessons.

Since the mid-1990s, CAST has been designing "digital books" that offer oral and visual versions of texts and allow students to type, record, or scan in notations. (Print copies are available for students who prefer them.) Thinking Reader itself is a result of CAST's research. Now produced and distributed by Tom Snyder Productions, an educational software company based near Boston, the program is available even to teachers who aren't familiar with UDL. CAST has also prototyped and sold a number of other digital materials modeled on UDL principles, including the literacy software WiggleWorks and the Web-based tool Bobby, which determines whether Internet sites are disability-friendly.

Previte didn't use Thinking Reader this past year, but she and Ganley developed their own digitized novel and allowed students, as they read chapters, to post comments on the class Web site. The last project of the year was a "teaching book," an idea Previte's daughter, also an educator, had fashioned with her own colleagues. Students could pick any topic, then, using Internet and print sources, put together their own books, becoming "experts" on their areas of study. As they made their presentations in the last week of May, Alex Buchbaum, a stocky boy with ruddy cheeks, authoritatively answered questions about military history without once referring to his spiral-bound book. Eli Natti, a charismatic student with shaggy brown hair and a slight lisp, enthused about violins: "If you weren't in Italy," he avowed, "you weren't a violinmaker. It's just that simple."

"The goal was to have the students recognize different types of nonfiction structures, and then they take that and show they understand the text structures," Previte explains. "I was definitely able to see gains that they had made. One boy, I helped, but he did a lot of it himself, more than I think he has in the past."

The equipment needed to do these kinds of projects is expensive. Although final numbers for 2003-04 weren't available at press time, the market research firm Quality Education Data estimated during that school year that U.S. public schools would spend as much as $5.8 billion on educational technology. And this past spring, the Consortium for School Networking conducted case studies across the country, taking into account costs for maintenance, staff development, and other expenses. It found that each instructional computer had cost the districts between $1,000 and $3,000.

These are the kinds of numbers that concern Todd Oppenheimer. Winner of a National Magazine Award and author of the book The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and How Learning Can Be Saved, he argues that most of the money for technology is being spent ineffectively and could be better applied to the basics. But he does allow for what's called "scaffolding"-using computers to support kids rather than think for them. Text-to-speech software, for example, could read aloud an algebraic word problem to a dyslexic student, so long as that student then does the math herself. Although Oppenheimer hasn't had direct experience with UDL, he's encouraged by what he hears.

"You want to use the computer'spowers to break down the steps of learning...to make them more complex, so you really engage [students] and hook them-and eventually get them off the computer," he says. "[UDL] certainly sounds promising. As long as it's not overused and oversold, I think this is one of the areas where computers have great promise."

Oppenheimer isn't alone in his assessment. Several states throughout the country have adopted UDL as an integral part of their education policies. And CAST was one of the primary collaborators on the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard, a voluntary set of guidelines for publishers that produce digital versions of materials for students with disabilities.

NIMAS, which has been endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education, may not be voluntary much longer. In their current reauthorization bills for the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which is amended and renewed every few years, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate include the guidelines. Once IDEA is reauthorized, publishers will have two years to provide NIMAS-compliant materials for students with disabilities. State-level administrators may also be able to purchase the same materials for general use.

"We used to think [our mission] was a line of code in the software; now we see it as a line of code in a bill," David Rose says. "What we're trying to do is build more power into the materials, and more flexibility, so the teacher doesn't have to remake it."

Publishing guidelines are not the only CAST-related effort that has been endorsed by the education department. Since 2001, the nonprofit has received more than $5.2 million in federal grants. One grant worth $1.5 million went to research on reading comprehension, an acknowledgment of the gains made by students like Anais.

In June, Driscoll's classroom was awash with students getting ready to showcase final presentations for Bud, Not Buddy. Anais and two friends, Shardee Burston and Lynnicia Barnett, had decided to perform the scene in which Todd sticks a pencil up Bud's nose while he's asleep. After Bud awakens, he fights back-until Mrs. Amos enters and accuses him of picking on her son.

The students introduced the chapter, then Anais, in the role of Bud, curled atop a small table serving as a bed. Shardee, playing Todd, entered with a pencil in hand. The girls wrestled to the floor, then remembered to dip into a plateful of red paint. Both of them now smeared with "blood," Shardee held her neck as Anais ducked under the bed.

Enter Lynnicia as Mrs. Amos, who listened sympathetically to Todd's version of events:

Todd: I was only trying to help, and...and look what it's gotten me.

Mrs. Amos (to Bud): This is how you choose to repay me? Not only have you struck him, you provoked his asthma!

Todd: I was just trying to wake him to make sure he'd gone to the lavatory. I was just trying to help.

Mrs. Amos (to Bud): Go to Todd and apologize, or I shall be forced to give you the strapping of your life.

Bud: It was wrong of me to hit you. I know you were only trying to help, and I'm very sorry for what I did.

The girls recited straight from the book, skipping a few lines here and there to keep the program short. What was notable, at least for Driscoll, was that Anais spokepublicly at all.

"It's incredible that she read out loud for her presentation because before, she wouldn't do that," Driscoll says. "We have had situations this year where teachers asked her to read out loud and then put consequences on her when she didn't do it."

At home that afternoon, Anais' mom, Ana Dominguez, admitted that she still has to prod the teenager to read. But, she continued, speaking with a thick Spanish accent, "she says that she's doing better, that she's learning, that she feels more special."

Dominguez was sitting on a loveseat in a tiny living room dominated by a large-screen television. Soon, Anais and her oldest brother, Michael, arrived. After a quick trip upstairs to her room, Anais dropped onto the couch next to her mom. "Wow," Dominguez said, looking at two small trophies in her daughter's hands. "¿ Dónde Mikey?"

"He's upstairs. He only got one," Anais declared, showing off her soccer awards and a swimming certificate. She told her mother about the presentations in Driscoll's class and added that one of the observing teachers gave her group top scores in all grading areas.

Reflecting on the school year about to end, Anais recalled that in the fall, she kept waiting for someone to pull her out of class, as they had for years. It took her a few days to realize that with help from Driscoll and UDL, the pattern had changed.

"Now if I read a book, I'll understand it," she said. "It showed me...that reading isn't all that hard and that you can see your own work if you talk to the text and you think through your work. I'm not only at Level 1. I can go up to a Level 2, and a Level 3, and a Level 4."

Vol. 16, Issue 2, Pages 40-45

Published in Print: October 1, 2004, as A Level Playing Field

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Kelly Driscoll's humanities class wasn't nearly as rowdy as the group next door, but it was far from quiet. A computer-generated voice occasionally penetrated the muted clicketyclack of 19 middle schoolers working on laptops, and a handful of kids tossed play-insults at each other between discussions of what they were reading.

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Universal Design for Learning to Support Access to the General
Education Curriculum for Students with Intellectual Disabilities 

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Universal Design for Learning to Support Access to the General
Education Curriculum for Students with Intellectual Disabilities 

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This literature review looks at various studies of UDL and determines that the integration of universal design for learning framework can be of substantial benefit for ensuring that all the students irrespective of their mental health level are given opportunities to access basic education.

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Universal Design for Learning to Support Access to the General

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The Effect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Application on E-learning Acceptance: A Structural
Equation Model

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The Effect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Application on E-learning Acceptance: A Structural
Equation Model

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This research study examined the effectiveness of a technology-enhanced traditional web design course on blended e-learning acceptance and learner satisfaction in which UDL principles (multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement) were implemented.

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Universal Design for Learning as a Bridge to Inclusion: A Qualitative Report of Student Voices

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Universal Design for Learning as a Bridge to Inclusion: A Qualitative Report of Student Voices

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Three-Block Model of Universal of Design for Learning. This model is aimed at meeting
the needs of diverse learners in a common setting. This study examines the effects of the Three-Block Model of Universal of Design for Learning on diverse students’ conceptions of learning, processes of learning,
interdependence in learning, academic self-concept, and school engagement and report
through the student voices on the benefits and challenges of this model.

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Universal Design for Learning as a Bridge to Inclusion

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Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction; A Checklist for Inclusive Teaching

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Equal Access: Universal Design of Instruction; A Checklist for Inclusive Teaching

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UDI can be applied to all aspects
of instruction, including class climate, interaction,
physical environments and products, delivery
methods, information resources and technology,
feedback, and assessment. This is a checklist for how to incorporate the Universal Design for Instruction into each of these aspects.  This research advocates the positive role of e-learning in the developing nations, if it is effectively implemented.

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Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the Needs of All Students

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Universal Design for Learning: Meeting the Needs of All Students

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This provides the origins and principles of UDL, UDL in action, guidelines, case studies, and how to meet all of the student's needs.

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Strategies for Inclusion: Physical Education

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Strategies for Inclusion: Physical Education

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This book provides background information on inclusive education and guidelines for including children with disabilities into traditional physical education settings and includes 38 teachable units that include assessment tools for curriculum planning.

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Transitioning students with disabilities into inclusive physical education environments is an important and sometimes challenging task. But Strategies for Inclusion, Third Edition, makes that transition much smoother and better for all parties involved. Lots of New Resources and Material The latest edition of this popular text will empower you with the information and tools necessary to successfully include students with disabilities in your program.

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Using Webquest As A Universal Design For Learning Tool To Enhance Teaching And Learning In Teacher Preparation Program

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Using Webquest As A Universal Design For Learning Tool To Enhance Teaching And Learning In Teacher Preparation Program

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In teacher preparation for the Universal Design for Learning, research has shown that WebQuest enhanced problem-solving skills, higher order thinking, motivation, creativity, critical thinking, active learning, connection to authentic contexts and assisted in bridging the theory to practice gap.

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Using Webquest As A Universal Design for Learning Tool

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Beyond Universal Design for Learning: Guiding Principles to Reduce Barriers to Digital & Media Literacy Competence

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Beyond Universal Design for Learning: Guiding Principles to Reduce Barriers to Digital & Media Literacy Competence

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UDL transforms one-size-fits-all
instruction into diverse, multiple, and accessible learning opportunities that embrace student variation. UDL principles and guidelines offer a unique way for educators in digital and media literacy fields to ensure that their work will benefit the widest range of learners, including those with learning challenges and disabilities

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Classroom Audio Distribution in the Postsecondary; Setting: A Story of Universal Design for Learning

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Classroom Audio Distribution in the Postsecondary; Setting: A Story of Universal Design for Learning

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Teachers’ and students’ perspectives are considered within the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which encourages a flexible approach toward teaching in order to include as many different types of students as possible in the learning process.  Classroom Audio Distribution (CADS) is seen as one way to support UDL in higher education settings.

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Classroom audio distribution in the postsecondary

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Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age

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Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age

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This chapter shows the origins and development of UDL and addresses the important difference between access to information and access to learning. Then it introduces the three basic principles of UDL and illustrate how—by applying insights into the brain and the strengths of new media—teachers can use these principles to inject flexibility into their classrooms.

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This is a challenging time to be a teacher. New policies and changing demographics are making schools more diverse than ever. An increasing number of students with disabilities and learning differences are being educated in regular classrooms, and new policies are holding schools accountable for the progress of all learners. State and federal standards, together with a shift in how literacy is defined, are compelling teachers not only to cover large amounts of material but also to instill a deep understanding of this material. These days, we are demanding more of students than the acquisition of facts: We want them to ask questions, find information, and use that information effectively. We want them to learn how to learn.

In this chapter, we share our vision for a new approach to pedagogy that responds to the challenges of education today. CAST has drawn on the neuroscience of learning and the study of media to develop the concept of Universal Design for Learning. The central practical premise of UDL is that a curriculum should include alternatives to make it accessible and appropriate for individuals with different backgrounds, learning styles, abilities, and disabilities in widely varied learning contexts. The "universal" in universal design does not imply one optimal solution for everyone. Rather it reflects an awareness of the unique nature of each learner and the need to accommodate differences, creating learning experiences that suit the learner and maximize his or her ability to progress. UDL provides a framework that helps teachers differentiate their instruction through carefully articulated goals and individualized materials, methods, and assessments.

We begin this chapter by tracing the origins and development of UDL and addressing the important difference between access to information and access to learning. Next, we introduce the three basic principles of UDL and illustrate how-by applying insights into the brain and the strengths of new media-teachers can use these principles to inject flexibility into their classrooms.

The Origins of UDL

Universal Design for Learning is an extension of an architectural movement called universal design. Originally formulated by Ron Mace at North Carolina State University, the idea behind universal design in architecture is to create structures that are conceived, designed, and constructed to accommodate the widest spectrum of users, including those with disabilities, without the need for subsequent adaptation or specialized design.

Universal Design: Access for All

Before the universal design movement, architects rarely addressed the mobility and communication needs of people with disabilities. The results were buildings that were inaccessible to many. Legislation mandating universal access led to extensive retrofitting with ramps, elevators, talking signs, and other access devices. But retrofitting is expensive, often aesthetically disastrous (as illustrated in Figure 4.1), and usually inadequate in many ways.

Figure 4.1. Access in a Retrofitted Building

Universal design provided a new and better approach. Architects realized that by considering the needs of their buildings' potential users at the outset, they could subtly integrate universal accessibility into the fabric of the building's design. Universal design challenges architects to innovate, often improving aesthetics and functionality. For example, the universally designed pyramid-shaped entrance to The Louvre, shown in Figure 4.2, embeds a sleek modern elevator within its spiral staircase.

As universal design's concept of access for all spread to areas such civic engineering and commercial product design, an unanticipated benefit became apparent: Addressing the divergent needs of special populations increases usability for everyone. The classic example is the curb cut. Originally designed to enable those in wheelchairs to negotiate curbs, curb cuts also ease travel for people pushing strollers or riding skateboards, pedestrians with canes, and even the average walker. Television captioning provides another example. When captioning first became available, it was intended just for hearing-impaired people, who had to retrofit their televisions by purchasing expensive decoder boxes to access the captions. Later, decoder chips were built into every television, making captioning standard and available to all viewers. This universal design feature now benefits not only the deaf, but also exercisers in health clubs, diners in noisy restaurants, individuals working on their language skills, and couples who go to sleep at different times. Further, as a built-in feature, access to television captioning costs a few cents rather than several hundred dollars.

Extending Universal Design to Learning

Universal Design for Learning extends universal design in two key ways. First, it applies the idea of built-in flexibility to the educational curriculum. Second, it pushes universal design one step further by supporting not only improved access to information within classrooms, but also improved access to learning.

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE:

The Center for Universal Design advocates principles that result in environments and products for all people. For more information about these ideas seehttp://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/

Universal design in the curriculum. In the early 1990s, the staff at CAST was working with collaborating schools to adapt print-based curricula so these materials would be accessible to students with disabilities. The barriers inherent in printed textbooks had long excluded students with physical disabilities, students with visual impairments, and students with learning disabilities, among many others.

It seemed ironic to us that legislators and architects were working very hard to ensure that educational buildings were universally accessible, but no such movement pursued universal accessibility for the methods and materials used inside the buildings- the curriculum. From our work with individual teachers and learners, we realized that the concept of universal design could be applied to curriculum materials and approaches. We experimented with multimedia tools and created some learning materials with built-in options that made them more flexible than printed books.

Out of that work came the prototype for a new and flexible kind of electronic book that we later co-developed (with Scholastic Inc.) into the language arts curriculum called WiggleWorks. The books in the WiggleWorks curriculum, all available on CD-ROM, have one distinguishing characteristic: They were developed from the start with features that allow them to be used by all kinds of students, including those with disabilities. Students with physical disabilities can turn pages and access controls with the touch of a key or a switch attached to the computer. Students with visual impairments can select large text with high contrast or opt to hear the text read aloud, navigating the program through buttons that "speak" their functions. This feature is also helpful to students who have difficulty decoding printed text.

Most important, the program's management system allows teachers and parents to "set up" the books to suit each learner's needs and preferences. Varied presentations of content and differing sets of supports are available for each student who signs in to the program. WiggleWorks is not a special education product, but a literacy program for all learners. The built-in flexibility improves access and usability for all, making the program the first example of universally designed curriculum.

Access to information vs. access to learning. Non-educators often make the mistake of equating access to information with access to learning. In reality, these are two separate goals. In fact, increasing access to information can actually undermine learning because it sometimes requires reducing or eliminating the challenge or resistance that is essential to learning.

EXAMPLE:

Scholastic's WiggleWorks, the first literacy program to incorporate UDL principles, was co-developed by CAST. To find out how young children benefit from this learning tool, go tohttp://www.cast.org/TeachingEveryStudent/wiggleworks

The distinction between access to information and access to learning is analogous to the kind of heavy lifting done by a professional mover versus that done by a body builder. The professional mover is interested in getting the sofa from point A to point B as quickly as possible and with the least wear and tear on his muscles. Therefore, he uses tools such as a dolly, a hydraulic lift, and a truck to help him do the job. These tools reduce the challenge of the work-a goal that suits the mover very well. The body builder has a different goal: increasing muscle. He seeks opportunities to lift weights, undertaking long workouts and increasing the weight as his strength improves. He uses tools that selectively support the muscles not being trained and increase resistance for those that are.

The goals of learners more closely resemble those of the athlete-in-training than those of the mover. UDL is predicated on that difference. As educators, our aim is not simply to make information accessible to students, but to make learning accessible. This requires resistance and challenge. Much as the body builder needs to know which muscle group requires strengthening before he can structure his training, the teacher needs to know the instructional goal in order to appropriately structure teaching. For example, if Kamla's teacher, Ms. Abrams, sets the goal of helping Kamla learn to decode text more fluently, allowing Kamla to use thecomputer's text-to-speech function on a reading assignment would undermine that goal rather than support it. However, if the goal were to help Kamla master the content within the text and build her enthusiasm for that content, then computer-supported reading would be an appropriate support.

Similarly, when Ms. Chen wants to work on Charlie's research skills, providing full access to the World Wide Web (and its endless diversions) could undercut this "distractible" student's learning rather than enhance it. To help Charlie focus on learning research skills, Ms. Chen might restrict his access to a particular set of articles and Web sites relevant to the task. By aligning Charlie's focus with his learning challenge, Ms. Chen increases his chances of success.

Thus, although access to content and activities is often essential for learning, access to information is neither sufficient for nor synonymous with learning. Knowing the instructional goal is essential for determining when to provide support and when to provide resistance and challenge. With this balance aligned appropriately, students gain access to learning. The UDL framework provides guidance for using technology to support that balance.

The Framework for UDL: Three Principles

Because all three brain networks are involved in learning, teachers cannot literally "teach to" students' recognition, strategic, and affective networks as separate entities. However, thinking about these networks individually helps us remember that learning is multifaceted and that barriers in the curriculum can arise in a number of places. Broadly speaking, we teach our students to

Recognize essential cues and patterns.

Master skillful strategies for action.

Engage with learning.

A successful learning environment supports and challenges students in each of these arenas while minimizing barriers. And because no two students show the same patterns of strength, weakness, and preference within these domains, minimizing barriers requires highly flexible teaching strategies and materials. Accordingly, the UDL framework consists of three overarching operative principles, each formed to minimize barriers and maximize learning through flexibility. Each of the principles, listed in Figure 4.3, advocates a particular teaching approach for supporting learner differences in recognition, strategy, or affect.

Figure 4.3. Principles of the UDL Framework

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE:

For addition material about Universal Design for Learning, seehttp://www.cast.org/TeachingEveryStudent/UDL

The three UDL principles share one common recommendation: to provide students with a wider variety of options. To accommodate a broad spectrum of learners, universally designed curricula require a range of options for accessing, using, and engaging with learning materials. Like universal design in architecture, with its stairs, ramps, and elevators, these alternatives reduce barriers for individuals with disabilities but also enhance opportunities for every student.

Consider an example. Suppose Mr. Costa is teaching a civics unit on national elections and wants to convey the fundamental importance of voter participation. He chooses to use a chart-an ideal means of representation for some kinds of information and for some students, but a medium that presents learning barriers for other students. Obviously, a student who is blind cannot learn from a visual chart, nor can students who have difficulty discerning colors, interpreting keys and symbols, or deciphering the significance of spatial relationships between elements. For these students, charts actually present a barrier.

What could Mr. Costa do about that barrier? In this case, both his teaching goal and the barriers in the medium he has chosen (images) relate to recognition,the learning networks addressed by UDL Principle 1. Principle 1 recommends that the teacher provide multiple representations of the same information. A verbal description of the chart, a tactile graphic representation, or an e-text version read by the computer would all make the key concepts accessible to students who are blind or otherwise visually impaired. The verbal description would have the additional advantage of helping other students in the class by providing complementary information not contained within the chart and offering a different context and emphasis. This option would also help students who have difficulty interpreting graphically displayed data. These are just a few of the ways that providing two representations of the data instead of one allows Mr. Costa to create a richer cognitive learning environment for all his students.

UDL Implementation

The framework of UDL consists of instructional approaches that provide students with choices and alternatives in the materials, content, tools, contexts, and supports they use. But in addition to challenging teachers to be more flexible, UDL provides guidelines for creating flexibility that is both systematic and effective.These guidelines are derived from research on the learning brain and knowledge of the qualities of digital media. How do we use these fields of knowledge to develop systematic methods for increasing classroom flexibility?

The Role of Applied Neuroscience

Brain research provides a basis for determining the kinds of teaching and learning alternatives most useful for a particular student in a given circumstance. Insights about how the three neural networks function help us understand corresponding kinds of teaching and corresponding ways to individualize instruction for different learners.

Recall that the three networks-recognition, strategy, and affect-share several organizational features. Each processes information via distributed modules operating in parallel, using both top-down (contextual information from high in the hierarchy) and bottom-up (detailed information from low in the hierarchy) pathways. When we understand these features, we can identify several parameters that will help structure and simplify the selection of teaching and learning alternatives.

Building on the bottom-up nature of the learning networks (their reliance on detailed sensory information), we know we should provide students with sensory alternatives to ensure that those who have difficulty with one sensory modality (such as speech or sight)will not be excluded from learning opportunities. The verbal description of Mr. Costa's voter participation chart is a good example of a bottom-up sensory alternative. Similarly, bottom-up motor alternatives, such as special keyboards or voice recognition software, can ensure that students with physical disabilities will not be excluded from a particular learning task. This kind of alternative crosses modalities, offering students a completely different way to obtain or express ideas.

A second kind of alternative preserves the sensory or physical modality but provides enhancement to highlight certain information. Through these additions, we can scaffold students who have weaknesses that interfere with learning a task or who are novices in a particular domain. Returning to the chart example, Mr. Costa might provide an alternative version with the critical information circled or illustrated in a different color. This is an ideal scaffold for students who might have difficulty identifying key information in the larger context.

Recognition, strategic, and affective networks also use top-down processing to do their jobs. Therefore, a representation that provides additional context or background knowledge to help students constrain their search or action based on prior knowledge and expectation can be an equally powerful tool. Mr. Costa might build an electronic version of the voter participation chart, with hyperlinks to related information or to guiding questions that would direct students' interpretation. This kind of representation would be particularly useful to students with cognitive challenges that make it hard for them to remember information, students who lack the necessary background knowledge or have little experience interpreting charts, or students who can interpret the chart easily but desire more in-depth knowledge.

This short illustration shows that teachers' choices of media alternatives for particular tasks and students can be guided by an understanding of how the brain learns. Because UDL accounts for the organizational features and specialized learning in the three types of brain networks, it can guide flexible, individualized teaching.

The Role of Digital Media

In an ideal world, teachers might present information in a dozen different ways and offer students an equal number of options for expressing knowledge. But realistically, even the most creative teacher can only present one option at a time. And even if we did manage to use a variety of approaches and media to present concepts, our students would still need to practice those concepts and apply them on their own. The impracticality of using fixed materials such as printed textbooks to create a flexible learning environment is obvious. New digital media offer a much more feasible foundation for the UDL framework.

As we noted in chapter 3, the qualities of digital media most germane to education are their versatility (the ability to present information in any one of several media); their transformability (the capacity for content to be transformed from one medium to another); their capacity for being marked; and their capacity to be networked. Teachers and students using networked digital materials can select the most suitable medium or use multiple media simultaneously. They can also convert material from one medium to another on the fly, modify the appearance of information within one medium, delve more deeply or connect laterally to other concepts through links, and communicate with many different people through networked computers. Let's revisit one of our example classrooms for an illustration.

As this example shows, digital media's versatility, transformability, and capacity for being marked and networked not only enhance the supportive power of learning media but also transform the learning enterprise itself. Flexible materials do not replace teachers, but they do extend our reach and make it easier for us to provide individualized learning supports and challenges for our students.

The New Role of Assistive Technology

Assistive technologies include tools such as video enlargers(tools that magnify printed text on a video monitor), single ability switches(tools that enable users to activate a mouse-click via different muscles such as an eyebrow or an elbow), and alternative keyboards (tools that offer alternative surfaces and "key sizes" for people who cannot use a standard keyboard). Although both UDL and assistive technology rely on new media to improve learning access, each assumes a very different role for curriculum.

The assistive technology model assumes that a printed curriculum is a given and provides tools to support individual access to it. Tools such as the video enlarger are not integral to the curriculum, but rather, are associated with the individual students who need them; they are simply means to helping these students overcome barriers in the curriculum. The assumption that students must obtain individual tools in order to overcome barriers in an inflexible curriculum is inherently antithetical to UDL.

To solve the same problems, UDL looks not to the student but to the curriculum itself. The underlying assumption is that by using flexible media, we can embed options within the curriculum so that it can be adjusted to meet the needs and preferences of each learner. This built-in flexibility reduces, but does not eliminate, the need for assistive technologies. Students with motor difficulties who access the computer via alternative keyboards or single ability switches will still need their tools. However, we believe the role of assistive technologies and the way people view them will shift as UDL curricula become more available.

As the concept of UDL gains acceptance, people will understand that assistive technologies are tools like eyeglasses and personal digital assistants that enhance personal effectiveness; they do not relegate their users to a separate category such as "disabled." Already, some of these devices, once solely linked to disability, are working their way into the mainstream community. For example, speech recognition technology is applied invoice-activated telephone directories, airline reservation systems, and banking systems.

As you can see, UDL has the potential to minimize the need for assistive technology and to maximize learning opportunities for all. We use the word "potential" deliberately, because the inherent flexibility of digital media does not guarantee that UDL will become real. Multimedia and the World Wide Web can be as inaccessible as print is. For example, image-based computer learning games are inaccessible to students who are blind; games that rely upon aural prompts and feedback without text equivalents are inaccessible to students who are deaf; and games that are text-based are inaccessible to students with dyslexia. To overcome these barriers, technology developers need to consciously apply UDL principles as they develop learning materials, and teachers need to select tools that have inherent flexibility.

UDL Application: Rethinking Our Practice

The UDL framework shifts educators' understanding of learner differences. It challenges us to rethink the nature of curriculum materials and endow them with the inherent flexibility necessary to serve diverse learning needs. UDL also opens the door for rethinking how we teach. With the option to individualize learning supports and focus the challenge differently and appropriately for each learner, teachers must be very clear about the learning goals they set for any given assignment or unit. Only when goals are clear can we select and apply flexible materials to support and challenge each learner. Similarly, clear goals help us focus our assessment of student progress in an accurate and useful way. The UDL framework can guide these three pedagogical steps, helping teachers to set clear goals, individualize instruction, and assess progress.

Setting Clear Goals

The first step, setting clear goals, seems on first glance to require little thought. After all, learning standards spell out what students need to learn, and curricula include summaries of the material to be covered. But looking through the UDL lens, we see that goals are often inadvertently embedded in the means for achieving them. Consider this goal: Every student will be able to write an essay in cursive. Though this degree of specificity would be quite unusual, the point is clear; as stated, the goal is so embedded in the method necessary to achieve it that many students could not possibly succeed. Those with physical disabilities, spelling and handwriting difficulties, and problems with organization could not even participate.

We can use the UDL framework to rethink this goal and analyze its true intent. Do we really care whether the essay is produced in cursive? Isn't organizing and composing the essay the real purpose? Once we clarify the overarching goal, we can reword it broadly enough to include all students, knowing that supports and scaffolds will be needed to help some students participate, and extra challenges will be needed to move other students to new levels. By simply removing express reference to the medium and stating the goal this way-" Students will write an essay "-we open the door for more students' participation and success. The clear goal helps teachers determine how to choose and apply the flexibility inherent in UDL learning materials. Chapter 5 provides a more detailed discussion of this topic.

Individualizing Instruction

The next step in paving every student's path to high proficiency is to provide instruction that helps each achieve classroom goals. Diverse digital tools and materials, with UDL flexibility built in, allow teachers to provide a degree of individualization impossible with traditional instructional materials. The instructional strategies articulated in UDL's three principles can help us make educated and scientifically grounded choices from the many alternatives available. We discuss this in depth in chapter 6.

Assessing Progress

Good pedagogy also includes effective and ongoing assessment, not only to measure astudent's progress, but also to adjust instruction and to evaluate the effectiveness of methods and materials. Ongoing assessment enables teachers to ensure that the goals they have set and the methods and materials they are using continue to support students' progress. As you will read in chapter 7, UDL provides teachers with the tools they need to align assessment with each student's instructional goals, materials, and methods.

The Value of Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning provides a framework for individualizing learning in a standards-based environment through flexible pedagogy and tools. It challenges teachers to incorporate flexibility into instructional methods and materials as a way to accommodate every student in the classroom.

Within the framework of UDL, Sophia, who needs supports to overcome her visual deficits, and Paula, who has trouble with reading comprehension, could successfully read the same story using a software program that offers text-to-speech, images, and links to vocabulary and background knowledge. Charlie, who needs sequenced, structured support when working on a research project, and Jamal, who can manage the sequential steps in research but needs support for his fine motor disability, could conduct online research using the same program, but different supports. Kamla, whose interests lie primarily in sports, and Jamal, who is an expert on tanks and submarines, could pursue the same reading or math project in the content area of their choosing, thus adjusting for their individual affective networks.

In a traditional classroom, with traditional perspectives, methods, and tools, this type of pedagogical flexibility seems totally implausible. With the perspectives gained from brain research and the possibilities afforded by new media, UDL offers teachers a practical framework for injecting flexibility into the classroom. UDL does more than insist on flexibility; it provides teachers with the information and resources they need to achieve it.

The practices we recommend should be familiar to you, because these are the very same practices good teachers use when they can. The difference is that UDL, drawing on the versatility of digital media and its capacity to be transformed and networked, enables teachers to adjust instruction for the whole class, and not just for individual students. In this manner, it empowers us to teach every student, not just some.

EXAMPLE:

Teachers describe the positive effects of applying UDL principles at http://www.cast.org/TeachingEveryStudent/teacherUDL

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In the following chapters, Part II of this book, we explain how to apply the UDL framework to set goals, individualize instruction, and assess student learning in your own classroom.

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This is a challenging time to be a teacher. New policies and changing demographics are making schools more diverse than ever. An increasing number of students with disabilities and learning differences are being educated in regular classrooms, and new policies are holding schools accountable for the progress of all learners.

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Universal Design for Learning: Scanning
for Alignment in K–12 Blended and
Fully Online Learning Materials

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Universal Design for Learning: Scanning
for Alignment in K–12 Blended and
Fully Online Learning Materials

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This article provides an overview of how accessibility has been historically measured and introduces the need to
move beyond the traditional understanding of accessibility to a broader UDL-based lens. With this understanding, a UDL Scan
tool was developed and validated to investigate the alignment of online learning content to UDL. This article will present the
process of development, the validation, and discuss how the measurements provide critical benchmarks for educators and
industry as they adopt new online learning systems.

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Effects Of An Adapted Physical Education Training Package On Special Education Teacher Instruction

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Effects Of An Adapted Physical Education Training Package On Special Education Teacher Instruction

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This study investigated the impact of an adapted physical
education training package on functional motor skill
instruction of three special education teachers who
instructed secondary students with low‐incidence disabilities. Results indicated
that with each of the three teachers, correctly implemented
functional motor skill instructional performance improved after they completed the training package.

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Effects of an adapted physical education training

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Creating Inclusive Youth Sport Environments with the Universal Design for Learning

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Creating Inclusive Youth Sport Environments with the Universal Design for Learning

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This article is on how to incorporate UDL guidelines into coaches, many of whom work with athletes with hidden disabilities such as ADHD. UDL training promotes learning among all athletes using the flexibility of using UDL methods.

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Creating Inclusive Youth Sport Environments with the Universal Design for Learning

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Attitudes of the Students at Physical Education (PE) Teaching and Sports
Department towards Technology Use in Education

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Attitudes of the Students at Physical Education (PE) Teaching and Sports
Department towards Technology Use in Education

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This study investigated the attitudes of the students at physical education teaching and sport departments with different demographic characteristics towards the use of technological tools and devices in education. It may be suggested in order to increase the interest of students towards the use of technological tools and devices during educational process to the maximum, that teachers should use technology more effectively and certificated training should be given to teachers inefficient in technology use and such education should be added in the curricula of different departments.

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Attitudes of the Students at Physical Education (PE) Teaching and Sports

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Applying Universal Design for Learning and the
Inclusion Spectrum for Students with Severe
Disabilities in General Physical Education

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Applying Universal Design for Learning and the
Inclusion Spectrum for Students with Severe
Disabilities in General Physical Education

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This is a case study of a girl with severe physical disabilities and how her PE teacher uses collaborative practices for including her in general physical education. This has resulted in her being able to participate in activities from skiing to cycling with her classmates.

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Applying Universal Design for Learning and the Inclusion Spectrum for Students with Severe Disabilities in General Physical Education

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Using the Climbing
Wall to Promote
Full Access through
Universal Design 

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Using the Climbing
Wall to Promote
Full Access through
Universal Design 

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Adventure Education combines experiential learning, physical activity, and group facilitation techniques, which physical education teachers can implement as a way to build an inclusive classroom. When utilized in combination with Universal Design for Learning (UDL), the climbing wall is an effective tool for providing students with disabilities access to the physical education curriculum.

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Using a Climbing Wall to Promote Full Access through Universal Design

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This UDL Checklist and Guidelines provide specific information on the 9 checkpoints required into provide multiple means of representation, multiple means of action and expression, and multiple means of engagement.