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Universal design for learning (UDL) is a teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminates unnecessary hurdles in the learning process. This means developing a flexible learning environment in which information is presented in multiple ways, students engage in learning in a variety of ways, and students are provided options when demonstrating their learning.

UDL is similar to universal instructional design and universal design for instruction. All three advocate for accessible and inclusive instructional approaches that meet the needs and abilities of all learners.

Why Use UDL?

Incorporating universal design principles enhances an inclusive learning environment.

Designing a course to accommodate a wider variety of needs may eliminate potential learning barriers or unnecessary learning obstacles. If a course can be designed at the onset to do this, then why not?

Providing students with multiple means of perceiving, comprehending, and expressing their learning allows students to engage with the material in a way that most benefits them, and also encourages students to engage with material to improve in areas in which their skills are not as strong.

Considerations for UDL

Provide Options for Perception - Based on the premise that learners access information differently, this principle means providing flexible and multiple ways to present information. For example, using PowerPoint as a visual supplement to your lecture.

Provide Options for Expression - Since learners vary in their abilities to demonstrate their learning in different ways, this principle means providing flexible and multiple ways to allow students to express their knowledge or demonstrate their skills. For example, providing students an option of writing a final exam or submitting a final assignment.

Provide Options for Comprehension - Students are motivated to learn for different reasons and vary in the types of learning activities that keep them engaged. This third principle means providing multiple ways for engaging in course activities. For example, engaging students in both group work activities and individual work, as opposed to engaging students only in individual work.

Remember that providing choices does not mean changing course expectations (e.g., if your course learning outcomes includes being able to communicate in writing, students need to demonstrate their learning through a written assignment).

Getting Started with UDL

If you have already designed a course, reflect on how it is going. What current course activities, methods of instruction, and assessments are working well? What is your teaching style and what are your students’ learning modalities? Ask yourself which students would likely do well in your class and which students might struggle.

Could you offer more flexibility in the way you present content, the way students engage in learning in your course, and the way they are assessed?

Have students choose from a selected bank of assignment topics or at the beginning of the semester, allow students to determine what percentage of their grade can be dependent on certain assessment options.

Check in with your students to see how things are going. Conduct a mid-semester evaluation, and/or evaluate how productive your classroom climate is.

As with any teaching strategy, reflect on how it went. Did it work for you? For your students? Were students able to attain the course learning outcomes? Make necessary adjustments for your next semester.

See more on UDL principles and how they can be applied, or use a course accessibility checklist to check how accessible your course is.

References

Burgstahler, S., & Cory, R. (2008). Universal design in higher education: From principles to practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Rose, D. H., Harbour, W. A., Johnston, C. S., Daley, S. G., & Abarbanell, L. (2006). Universal design for learning in postsecondary education: Reflections on principles and their applications. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 19(2), 135-151.

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Universal Design for Learning | Center for Teaching Innovation

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Universal design for learning (UDL) is a teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminates unnecessary hurdles in the learning process. This means developing a flexible learning environment in which information is presented in multiple ways, students engage in learning in a variety of ways, and students are provided options when demonstrating their learning.

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About the Case Stories

Digital stories for faculty development can provide real-life experiences of exemplary teaching strategies and the process of implementing them. These digital case stories can be used freely in faculty development programs and also accessed by individual instructors.

The case stories available here were created by EnACT~PTD (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, P333A-080027) in partnership with the MERLOT ELIXR program. From 2006-2010, the MERLOT ELIXR Initiative was funded by FIPSE (The Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education) with generous support from the California State University, Chancellor's Office, Academic Technology Services, as well as active involvement from over 30 higher education institutions across the U.S. and beyond.

UDL Online Video Case Stories

[videos are currently Flash-based and not iOS compatible]

Faculty Developer Tips

Cases can be previewed prior to a workshop.

Facilitator can show a case story to demonstrate a point and/or lead into an exercise. More detailed ideas can be found in the First Day of Class link.

Facilitator can have participants get into groups and have each group review a case story and respond to questions. Cases can serve as examples of a pedagogical approach during a consultation.

Links to cases can be provided in workshop materials as a suggested resource.

Cases can be used prior to a consultation with a faculty member for preview, during a consultation to demonstrate a strategy in action and share the resource, or after a consultation for review.

New faculty can be sent links to key case stories to prepare them for New Faculty Orientation.

Cases can be sent to faculty as orientation for new ventures. For example, an orientation to a Faculty Learning Community could begin by pointing faculty to the case story from Sonoma State University (Ayala, 2007) on this topic.

Cases can be integrated into an online workshop.

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LibGuides: UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Faculty Development Guide: UDL Online Video Case Stories

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Online video case stories that demonstrate faculty implementation of UDL, including student commentary.

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The following seven principles were developed in relation to environments, products, and communications. Much of the principles and guidelines can be applied to the teaching and learning processes.  The following was developed by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Equitable Use
The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.

Guidelines:

1a. Provide the same means of use for all users: identical whenever possible; equivalent when not.
1b. Avoid segregating or stigmatizing any users.
1c. Provisions for privacy, security, and safety should be equally available to all users.
1d. Make the design appealing to all users.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Flexibility in Use
The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.

Guidelines:

2a. Provide choice in methods of use.
2b. Accommodate right- or left-handed access and use.
2c. Facilitate the user’s accuracy and precision.
2d. Provide adaptability to the user’s pace.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use
Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user’s experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.

Guidelines:

3a. Eliminate unnecessary complexity.
3b. Be consistent with user expectations and intuition.
3c. Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills.
3d. Arrange information consistent with its importance.
3e. Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after task completion.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Perceptible Information
The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user’s sensory abilities.

Guidelines:

4a. Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for redundant presentation of essential information.
4b. Provide adequate contrast between essential information and its surroundings.
4c. Maximize “legibility” of essential information.
4d. Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e., make it easy to give instructions or directions).
4e. Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or devices used by people with sensory limitations.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Tolerance for Error
The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.

Guidelines:

5a. Arrange elements to minimize hazards and errors: most used elements, most accessible; hazardous elements eliminated, isolated, or shielded.
5b. Provide warnings of hazards and errors.
5c. Provide fail safe features.
5d. Discourage unconscious action in tasks that require vigilance.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Low Physical Effort
The design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.

Guidelines:

6a. Allow user to maintain a neutral body position.
6b. Use reasonable operating forces.
6c. Minimize repetitive actions.
6d. Minimize sustained physical effort.

PRINCIPLE SEVEN: Size and Space for Approach and Use
Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user’s body size, posture, or mobility.

Guidelines:

7a. Provide a clear line of sight to important elements for any seated or standing user.
7b. Make reach to all components comfortable for any seated or standing user.
7c. Accommodate variations in hand and grip size.
7d. Provide adequate space for the use of assistive devices or personal assistance.

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The following seven principles were developed in relation to environments, products, and communications. Much of the principles and guidelines can be applied to the teaching and learning processes. The following was developed by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University.

3a. Eliminate unnecessary complexity.
3b. Be consistent with user expectations and intuition.
3c. Accommodate a wide range of literacy and language skills.
3d. Arrange information consistent with its importance.
3e. Provide effective prompting and feedback during and after task completion.

4a. Use different modes (pictorial, verbal, tactile) for redundant presentation of essential information.
4b. Provide adequate contrast between essential information and its surroundings.
4c. Maximize "legibility" of essential information.
4d. Differentiate elements in ways that can be described (i.e., make it easy to give instructions or directions).
4e. Provide compatibility with a variety of techniques or devices used by people with sensory limitations.

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LibGuides: UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Faculty Development Guide: Universal Design

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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.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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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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LibGuides: UDL-Universe: A Comprehensive Faculty Development Guide: Universal Design for Learning

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Universal Design for Learning: Planning with All Students in Mind

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The 20th century brought remarkable social advancements in civil and human rights. An important part of this story is the Universal Design (UD) movement, which promoted the accessibility and usability of public environments, buildings, and products for all. UD is design that is equitable-in other words, usable, marketable, and appealing to people with a diverse range of abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

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Designing Assessments of Student Learning

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As educators, we measure student learning through many means, including assignments, quizzes, and tests. These assessments can be formal or informal, graded or ungraded. But assessment is not simply about awarding points and assigning grades. Learning is a process, not a product, and that process takes place during activities such as recall and practice.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent. However, these individual differences are usually treated as sources of annoying error variance as distractions from the more important "main effects." UDL, on the other hand, treats these individual differences as an equally important focus of attention. In fact, when viewed through the UDL framework these findings are fundamental to understanding and designing effective instruction. The research that supports UDL falls into four categories: foundational research of UDL, research on the UDL principles, research on promising practices, and research on implementation of UDL.

To see the specific research evidence related to each Checkpoint, navigate to the individual Checkpoint's page and select the Research link in the sidebar. We've also included a list of links to those Research pages at the end of this page.

Foundational Research on UDL

UDL draws from a variety of research including the fields of neuroscience, the learning sciences, and cognitive psychology. It is deeply rooted in concepts such as the Zone of Proximal Development, scaffolding, mentors, and modeling, as well as the foundational works of Piaget; Vygotsky; Bruner, Ross, and Wood; and Bloom, who espoused similar principles for understanding individual differences and the pedagogies required for addressing them. For example, Vygotsky emphasized one of the key points of UDL curricula-the importance of graduated "scaffolds". These are important to the novice, but that can be gradually removed as the individual acquires expertise. Scaffolding with graduated release is a practice that is as old as human culture and is relevant to learning in almost any domain, from learning to walk or ride a bike "unaided" to the long apprenticeships of neurosurgery or aircraft flying.

Research on the Principles of UDL

The research basis for the general principles of UDL is also grounded in modern neuroscience. The three basic principles are built upon the knowledge that our learning brains are composed of three different networks, recognition, strategic, and affective. The Guidelines align these three networks with the three principles (recognition to representation, strategic to action and expression, and affective to engagement). This empirical base in neuroscience provides a solid foundation for understanding how the learning brain intersects with effective instruction. This alignment is further extended and clarified by the guidelines and checkpoints.

Promising Practices Research

Promising lines of research include work identifying the specific practices that are critical to meeting the challenge of individual differences-research that has been amassed over decades and by many different researchers. These studies are labeled as "promising" because they appear to fit within the UDL framework, but they have not been tested in a UDL environment or using the framework. It is important that these practices are studied within a UDL environment for them to be considered effective UDL practices. This is an area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the field.

Implementation Research

Fourth, there is research on specific applications of UDL within learning environments, including conditions necessary for implementation, common barriers, and lessons from the field. This new area of research is in its early stages but will take a more prominent place as full-scale curricular applications and system-wide implementations are developed. It should be noted that this is another area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the research field.

Research Evidence by Checkpoint

Explore the research used to develop each UDL Guidelines Checkpoint.

Engagement

Representation

Action & Expression

Do you have UDL-related research you'd like to share? Email us at udlguidelines@cast.org.

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UDL is based upon the most widely replicated finding in educational research: learners are highly variable in their response to instruction. In virtually every report of research on instruction or intervention, individual differences are not only evident in the results; they are prominent.

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Provides an overview of universal design premises and perspectives, and performance-based design criteria and guidelines. Public and private spaces, products, and technologies are covered, and current and emerging research and teaching are explored. This unique resource includes analyses of historical and contemporary universal design issues from seven different countries, as well as a look at future trends.

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Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.

The Latest Advances in Universal Design

Thoroughly updated and packed with examples of global standards and design solutions, Universal Design Handbook , Second Edition, covers the full scope of universal design, discussing how to develop media, products, buildings, and infrastructure for the widest range of human needs, preferences, and functioning. This pioneering work brings together a rich variety of expertise from around the world to discuss the extraordinary growth and changes in the universal design movement.

The book provides an overview of universal design premises and perspectives, and performance-based design criteria and guidelines. Public and private spaces, products, and technologies are covered, and current and emerging research and teaching are explored. This unique resource includes analyses of historical and contemporary universal design issues from seven different countries, as well as a look at future trends. Students, advocates, policy makers, and design practitioners will get a theoretical grounding in and practical reference on the physical and social roles of design from this definitive volume.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN HANDBOOK , SECOND EDITION, COVERS:

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

U.S. accessibility codes and standards, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Life safety standards and guidelines

Universal design implementations in Norway, Japan, France, Germany, Brazil, Italy and the Old City of Jerusalem

Planning ADA implementation in public educational institutions

Urban scale and mass transportation universal design

Designing inclusive experiences, including outdoor play settings

Office and workspace design

Universal design in home building and remodeling

Products and technologies, including autos, web access, media, and digital content

Universal design research initiatives, education, and performance assessments

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Universal Design Handbook, 2E [Preiser, Wolfgang, Smith, Korydon] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Universal Design Handbook, 2E

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Pullin shows us how design and disability can inspire each other. He offers examples of how design can meet disability today. Why, he asks, shouldn't hearing aids be as fashionable as eyewear? What new forms of braille signage might proliferate if designers kept both sighted and visually impaired people in mind? Can simple designs avoid the need for complicated accessibility features? Can such emerging design methods as "experience prototyping" and "critical design" complement clinical trials?

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How design for disabled people and mainstream design could inspire, provoke, and radically change each other.

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Horton argues that simply meeting the official standards and guidelines for Web accessibility is not enough. Her goal is universal usability, and in "Access by Design," Horton describes a design methodology that addresses accessibility requirements but then goes beyond. As a result, designers learn how to optimize page designs to work more effectively for more users, disabled or not.

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Access By Design: A Guide To Universal Usability For Web Designers

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Access By Design: A Guide To Universal Usability For Web Designers [Horton, Sarah] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Access By Design: A Guide To Universal Usability For Web Designers

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Resource on building  UDL-compatible assessment

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Resource on building  UDL-compatible assessment

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Why

Why is this important for higher education? From cultural and linguistic proficiences to unbridled enthusiasm for study, to desperate anxiety about the challenges ahead, students vary. Reducing cognitive, linguistic, executive, and affective barriers is of vital importance as students negotiate college and university expectations differently, according to their widely ranging background experiences.

UDL Connection

Types of Assessment

The purpose of assessment in postsecondary courses varies as well. Assessments are often designed to gather student data that will yield information about accountability, student progress, and instruction.

Accountability: Assessing student performance with respect to job preparation, prerequisites, and university or college program goals

Student Progress: Assessing changes in student performance over time as a result of instruction (assessment of learning)

Instruction: Probing student responses to instruction in order to optimize the course of learning (assessment for learning)

Assessment is used in courses to determine how well students are meeting goals that have been set (e.g., goals around job performance, goals around changes in knowledge). Measurable outcomes from assessments should be comparable with or benchmarked against set course goals. Assessment outcomes, in turn, should inform further instruction.

Assessing Variable Learners

Provision of options within the design of both formative and summative assessment helps to ensure that all learners can act on new information and demonstrate what they know. This requires a distribution of the demands and benefits of any one kind of assessment among all students. For example, students with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) may have issues with working memory that would make long multiple choice assessments challenging. If this is the only way students are assessed in a course, students with working memory challenges will have more demands and fewer benefits when it comes to assessment. If writing long responses to text passages is the only option for assessment, students who are not native English speakers will have more demands and fewer benefits, especially if they do not have access to aids such as a glossary or dictionary or if there is time pressure to respond. In sum, greater attention must be paid to issues of learner variability in the design of assessments. Further, consideration needs to be given to embedded design features in digital assessments (such as text-to-speech capability, availability of key word definitions, hints or coaching tips, etc.) so that assessments support students that vary in terms of their strengths, weaknesses, and learning needs.

[White text appears on magenta background: "UDL On Campus." The colors are inverted and a wave of orange slides over the "UDL On Campus" magenta text. Grey text appears below: "Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education."]

FEMALE VOICE: UDL On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education.

[The title appears onscreen.]

FEMALE NARRATOR: An Introduction to UDL and Assessment.

[The screen opens to a montage of scenes on a college campus: a health sciences classroom, an academic support center, a welcome center, a campus directory map, and students working on computers in computer labs and libraries. The last two scenes show a female student on her laptop and a male student and his tutor working together on a paper-based assignment.]

FEMALE NARRATOR: Reducing learning barriers is of vital importance in postsecondary settings as learners arrive in colleges and universities with a diverse set of experiences; what may be a preferred learning mode for one individual may be an obstacle for another.

[A montage of more college and university life: a lounge area, a student working with a Bunsen burner in a lab, and an auditorium of students. The same female student is spotlighted: we see her working on a mass and wind project on her laptop. She looks at different visual data and engages with a colorful diagram.]

FEMALE NARRATOR: In learning environments, individual variability is the norm, not the exception. Instructors of postsecondary courses set goals for learners. Assessment is used in courses to determine how well learners are meeting instructional goals. Goals need to be clear, and separate from the means of achieving them. Assessments should offer more than one route for demonstrating mastery.

[The scene changes to a split screen of close-ups of two students: the female student working on her laptop and the male student writing on paper. The images split open like sliding doors to reveal text underneath: "Construct." The definition fades in below: "the term used to define the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be assessed."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: A critical part of assessment is the construct. "Construct" is the term used to define the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be assessed.

[Different text appears onscreen: " Construct Relevant Factors." The definition fades in below: "type of presentation or response that are related to the construct that the test is intended to measure."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: Construct relevant factors refer to factors such as type of presentation or response that are related to the construct that the test is intended to measure.

[Another montage of scenes appears: a hand pressing a button on a graphing calculator, a close-up of the graph it formed, and a handwritten chart of math symbols.]

FEMALE NARRATOR: Many assessments include features that are not relevant to the construct being assessed. These are considered construct irrelevant items. These features may pose barriers for some learners and impact their performance on the assessment.

[Text appears onscreen: "Universal Design for Learning." Three sections fade in below the heading: "Affective Networks," with a brain highlighting these portions in green; "Recognition Networks," with a brain highlighting these portions in purple; and "Strategic Networks," with a brain highlighting these portions in blue. Text fades in below: "the WHY of learning," "the WHAT of learning," and "the HOW of learning." Each network then appears individually with their corresponding brain: Recognition Networks and " Multiple Means of Representation," Strategic Networks and " Multiple Means of Action and Expression" and Affective Networks and " Multiple Means of Engagement."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: That's where Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, comes into play. As a set of three principles for curriculum development, UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials that work for the widest possible range of learners. This flexible approach to curriculum development can positively impact how learners perform on assessments and result in a more authentic appraisal of learner achievement.

[Lines move in against a white background. A purple box and the text "Multiple Means of Representation" push in. Video footage is shown of the female student working on different diagrams for her mass and wind project. Text appears below: "presentation of information."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: The first principle, representation, focuses on the ways in which information, including assessment items, is presented. These can be charts, graphs, images, videos, demonstrations, or objects to manipulate.

[Lines move in against a white background. A blue box and the text "Multiple Means of Action and Expression" push in. Video footage is shown of a different female student working on a whiteboard, followed by a whiteboard animation. Text appears below: "learners demonstrate what they have learned."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: The second principle, action and expression, focuses on how learners demonstrate what they have learned. Do they have the option to write or draw? Do they have the option to present their capabilities through multimedia or a recording?

[Lines move in against a white background. A green box and the text "Multiple Means of Engagement" push in. Video footage is shown of the male student working with his tutor on a paper-based assignment. Text appears below: "enhancing learner motivation and persistence."]

FEMALE NARRATOR: The third principle, engagement, focuses on enhancing motivation and persistence. When their achievement is assessed, are they sufficiently but not overly, challenged? Do they have options and variety in how they are assessed to help reduce anxiety?

[The screen changes to show a teacher in a mathematics classroom addressing students. A montage of students follows: a student using a Braille writer, the female student working on her mass and wind project, the male student and his tutor working on his paper-based assignment, and a student working on a physics assignment with an enlarged screen display.]

FEMALE NARRATOR: It is important for instructors to be aware of the inherent variability of learners-the existence of barriers that may impede both the acquisition of information and expressing their competencies. Designing assessments with these challenges in mind will allow for greater flexibility to ensure learner success.

[A white background appears with the following credits:

A Production by CAST
Script Rhianon Gutierrez, Skip Stahl
Narration Mary O'Malley
Editing Ge Vue, Rhianon Gutierrez

Developed as part of the Open Professionals Education Network (Logos for OPEN, CAST, and Creative Commons)

References
Rose, D. H., Hall, T. E., & Murray, E. (2008, Fall). Accurate for all: Universal design for learning and the assessment of students with learning disabilities. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 23-28.

This video features the following media:
"Welcome to Bristol Community College," by Bristol Community College,
Source: http://www.youtube.com/ Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)
"Juna Gjata Video Series," & "Alessia's Story," by NCAIM at CAST, Inc.
Source: http://aem.cast.org/
Used with permission from NCAIM at CAST, Inc.

(Logos for Creative Commons CC, BY, and SA)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

UDL On Campus: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education]

Construct Relevance

Assessments are designed to measure knowledge, skills, and abilities. Constructs are the knowledge, skills or abilities being measured by an assessment. By their nature, however, most assessments include features that are not relevant to the construct being assessed. Often the methods and materials used in assessments require additional skills and understanding. These are considered to be construct irrelevant. Construct-irrelevant features of assessments may pose barriers for some students, preventing an accurate measurement of the construct.

Math assessment that includes word problems to assess students' understanding of math concepts.

Essay exam in a Biology class that is both timed and closed book.

The ability to read fluently is construct irrelevant. Even though it is an important skill, it is not part of the construct being measured. Learners who have difficulty with reading may miss certain items even though they may have a good grasp of the underlying math concepts.

Construct-irrelevant factors include motor coordination (handwriting or typing skills), short-term and working memory, organization and time management, attention, and the ability to work under pressure. The additional measurement of these many factors can prevent gaining an accurate picture of a student's Biology content knowledge.

Minimizing construct-irrelevant factors does not lessen the rigor of an assessment but instead gives a more accurate picture of what learners are actually learning in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified in the course goals. Having an accurate picture of student learning is particularly important for formative assessments, where results can be used to revise instruction as a course progresses. Minimizing construct-irrelevant factors helps to focus in on where students are actually struggling with content, skills, or abilities that the assessment is meant to measure.

It is important to consider construct relevance when creating assessments. For example:

Supports can be provided to reduce the measurement of construct-irrelevant factors, such as providing text-to-speech so that reading ability is not being measured in an assessment of content knowledge in mathematics.

Students can be provided with options for how they demonstrate what they know, such as presenting a project either through an open-book essay or an oral presentation.

When construct irrelevance cannot be avoided, such as when administering a standardized test that has not been designed with attention to construct relevance, it is important that the instructor is aware of learners for whom there may be barriers and how it would impact their performance. The demands and benefits of any one form of assessment will differ depending upon who is taking it.

By providing supports and options around how to demonstrate knowledge, and by developing awareness of what barriers different forms of assessment create for different students, faculty can better distribute the demands and benefits of any one form of assessment among all learners.

UDL Principles and Assessment

In learning environments, individual variability is the norm, not the exception. Learners differ from one another, and an individual learner differs over time (students may be tired or hungry on a given day), depending on the task in front of them (students may be bored or feel over challenged), and the context for the assignment (students may consider the material to be controversial or feel that the material is not relevant to them).

Three primary principles of UDL, which are based on research in the learning sciences, guide UDL. These principles can be helpful in thinking about the design of assessments.

Provide Multiple Means of Engagement

Providing multiple means of engagement (the why of learning) means supporting interest, motivation, and persistence. Just as students learn more effectively when they are engaged and motivated, their performance on assessments can be enhanced by increasing engagement.

Do students think that they can be successful? Emphasizing the importance of effort and motivation and expressing confidence that students can meet high expectations can improve their performance.

Do assessments provide different levels of challenge? One way to do this is to provide options on essay exams so that students can choose a question they feel they can answer well. Another way is to allow students to answer essay questions in different formats. Perhaps students could write a classic essay, create a short play, or create a video response. Once an instructor has addressed the question, ""What do I really want the learner to learn?" (i.e., construct relevance) then the individual motivations and desires of learners and the time constraints of their instructors may be the only limits to the possibilities.

Are different formats used for assessments over the course of a semester? As mentioned earlier, the demands and benefits of any one form of assessment will differ for each student. Therefore, the options and supports provided for the first two UDL principles (representation andaction and expression) can enhance engagement in the assessment process.

Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Providing multiple means of action and expression (the how of learning) means providing different ways for students to work with information and content and to demonstrate what they are learning.

In assessment, consider the ways in which students will demonstrate what they have learned.

Will they need to write or draw?

Will they demonstrate an action?

Do they need to organize information mentally, or can something be provided to help them organize the information (e.g., concept mapping software)?

Again, consider which actions are actually relevant to the construct being measured and which ones can be supported or varied in order to gain an accurate picture of what each student has learned.

Provide Multiple Means of Representation

Providing multiple means of representation (the what of learning) means presenting information and content in different ways and making connections between them. When planning assessments, consider the ways in which the items are presented-text, graphs, charts, images, videos, demonstrations, objects to manipulate.

Do the ways in which items are presented create barriers for any students?

Are there alternatives that could be used that would still allow accurate assessment of what students should know or be able to do?

Are the representations used construct relevant?For example, if students need to be able to interpret information in graph format, then the graph itself is relevant. If they only need to be able to use the information in the graph, consider providing different formats for displaying the information. Tables, charts, infographics, or even plain text may be a more accessible format for some students. Remember, the goal is to find out what students are actually learning. Keep in mind basic accessibility requirements for images (including images of tables, charts, and graphs). Any text in an image needs to be readable by a computer or other assistive device that a student might need for access. All images should have alt text. Additionally, along description is needed when an image is complex and cannot be described briefly.

Applying the UDL Principles

When applying UDL principles to assessment, it can be helpful to consider first where there might be barriers that would impact the performance of some learners. Below are examples of barriers and some options for minimizing them. Keep in mind that constructs can be assessed in many ways, and the goal is to minimize factors that are construct irrelevant.

Possible Barriers

Assessments that create anxiety in some students

Assessments that do not engage some students

Assessments that require persistence

Assessment Options

Remember that every assessment instrument is automatically measuring each student's reactions to the motivating conditions present in that assessment. For example, some students are enthusiastic about spontaneity and novelty around assessment conditions, while other students experience great amounts of anxiety under such conditions and seek comfort and support.

Offering choice and variety in assessment conditions can reduce these barriers. For example, developing a web site vs. giving a presentation. Offering options between quizzes, journaling, and specific assignments or projects can provide variety.

Possible Barriers

Assessments that have a single response mode (asking learners to draw diagrams for every answer)

Using the same format for response for all assessments (using only multiple choice, written response)

Assessment Options

The demands associated with responding to any assessment are not always construct relevant. In other words, if the goal of the assessment is to understand the processes involved in cell division, then asking the learner to write an essay and grading the construction of the essay may not be relevant to the task of understanding that the learner really needed to know. Supporting strategic and organizational abilities and allowing students to express acquired knowledge and skills in diverse ways can be built into a variety of assessments.

Choices, again, can be helpful. For example, an assignment on identifying barriers to economic expansion in post-World War II Europe could include the options of an essay, PowerPoint presentation, video, or infographic to achieve the same goal. Demonstrating understanding of text can be expressed by students choosing keepers (items from the text the learner finds important and relevant) and generating queries (questions created by the learner to be answered later) about the content. These can be expressed in written or verbal form, in a group or alone.

Possible Barriers

Assessments that provide relevant information in a single format (for example, using tests from a textbook in the same format for every assessment, such as end-of-chapter questions)

Using the same forms of representation for all assessments (for example, requiring students to integrate new information from their instructor with a PowerPoint presentation only)

Assessment Options

Side-stepping a "one size fits all" assessment allows for students to access key ingredients. For example, highlighting critical features in a text or graphic, providing definitions for vocabulary, and scaffolding reading strategies to support comprehension can open up a variety of options for students to engage in the goals of the assessment. It is, of course, important that these supports do not impact construct relevance. In other words, if it is important for the student to be able to glean relevant information from a graphic representation (such as they might encounter in the workplace), then the assessment must include relevant information in a graphic representation.

In order for students to "show what they know, providing choices in how to access information is key. For example, start with content students have had success with in the past; then work from there, checking to see what other options for representation could be available. Ask, "Are there other media available; are there more choices learners can have to show mastery?"

Examples in a Mathematics Course

There are many ways to apply the guidelines of UDL within assessment in a specific course. Below are just a few specific examples that could help to address barriers for some students.

Provide options for physical actions

Provide open-book quizzes

During quizzes and tests completed individually, provide scheduled breaks so students can communicate with each other and their instructor in order to become "unstuck" while working on complex equations and problem solving. For example, during tests, one mathematics instructor writes some of the complex equations on whiteboards around the room. During a ten-minute break, students have the option to approach a problem and talk through their thinking in order to progress to the next step in the activity if they are stuck.

Provide options for expression and communication

Allow for small group work

Use a computer program, such as software for creating drawings, to demonstrate lesson goals and objectives

Provide options for executive functions

Allow students to take a video of themselves solving a problem and talking through their thought processes

Provide a choice of mathematical problems for students to complete to demonstrate mastery of a learning objective

Review

Ongoing assessment is an essential part of any course. Learners vary in the ways in which they learn and can demonstrate what they are learning. Because of this variability, construct-irrelevant features in assessments can create barriers that prevent some learners from accurately demonstrating what they have learned. The principles of universal design for learning (UDL) can be applied to help identify and address construct-irrelevant barriers in assessments.

Notes

¹Rose, D. H., Hall, T. E., & Murray, E. (2008, Fall). Accurate for all: Universal design for learning and the assessment of students with learning disabilities. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 23-28.

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Why is this important for higher education? From cultural and linguistic proficiences to unbridled enthusiasm for study, to desperate anxiety about the challenges ahead, students vary. Reducing cognitive, linguistic, executive, and affective barriers is of vital importance as students negotiate college and university expectations differently, according to their widely ranging background experiences.

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Transform Your Grading Practices Through UDL
Note from Katie Novak: We originally posted this blog in June 2022 before I had the opportunity to read the book, A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades, and chat with the author, Ken O'Connor. He shifted my thinking about assessments, grades, and grading, and we made updates to this blog, and our grading flowchart, based on this learning and unlearning. One of the ideas from the book that completely shifted my thinking was the distinction between marks and grades. O'Connor writes:

A mark or score is the number (or letter) given to any student test or performance that may contribute to a later determination of a grade.

A grade is the symbol (number or letter) reported at the end of a period of time as a summary statement of student performance.

We highly recommend the book if you're struggling to transform your classroom, school, or district to one where grades better represent student mastery of grade-level learning.
There are a lot of transformational ideas circulating about grading lately. Our Novak Education colleague, Chris Bronke , provides a great definition of Standards Based Grading in his article on Standards Based Learning. Other educators like Irvin Peckham and Alfie Kohn "offer compelling evidence for higher quality student work and more meaningful opportunities for instruction when grades are either eliminated or nearly unrecognizable as grades." (Morgan 2020) Tamony discusses how important it is for us to make sure that "grading methods accurately report content knowledge" (Tamony 2021). And others have discussed better ways to make grading more effective and efficient (Barber & Nester, 2018; O'Connor, 2019). In this blog, we want to discuss how we can make assessment practices, marking, and ultimately grading students more compatible with Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

UDL is all about providing options and choices for your students so that you can eliminate barriers and allow each student to succeed both in and outside of school. Yet, our assessment and grading practices are so often punitive and not focused on really measuring what matters. How can we change that? How can create a unique assessment system that gives students a voice, choice, and autonomy and help students learn?

This UDL Assessment Flowchart that we created can help guide you through your UDL assessment process. It starts off by creating informal diagnostic and formative assessments that allow students tograde themselves and gives multiple opportunities for students to practice the topic at hand, revise submitted work without penalty, reflect on what they are doing, get mastery-oriented feedback, and review their assessments.

UDL Assessment Flowchart

Review the UDL Assessment Flowchart in outline form ( Word Doc) ( PDF).

1. Do you provide diagnostic and formative assessments to your learners?

If Yes

UDL grading starts way before you give out an assignment or test or even before you begin the lesson. It starts with finding out where your students are with the content or topic at hand. This usually means that you do some sort of diagnostic and formative assessment. Starting with a diagnostic or formative assessment is particularly important during (and after) this COVID crisis. The California department of education states that "deep concerns about learning loss have triggered an urgency that district and school staff have in place useful diagnostic assessments that can identify where students are in their learning within key content areas when they return to school so teachers can teach them most effectively." The Teaching and Learning in Higher Education website adds: "The goal is to get a snapshot of where students currently stand - intellectually, emotionally or ideologically - allowing the instructor to make sound instructional choices as to how to teach the new course content and what teaching approach to use."

Now, let's face it, you can't wait until you have the results of these assessments to plan out the lesson and the rest of the assessments, but as an experienced teacher, you can use the results of diagnostics to customize the plan that you have already created. A UDL lesson already has options and choices embedded because you have already proactively planned for variability, but the diagnostic can give you very important insight into adjustments you will need to make or choices or assessments you might need to add or remove to make the learning experience more accessible and engaging. It will also provide the students with an important progress monitoring tool and help them self-differentiate based on what they already know or can do.

If No

A summative assessment is just part of the full story. It is critical that learners have numerous opportunities to share what they know to support self-assessment and teacher instruction before completing summative assessments, which may be marked and may contribute to a student's grade in the course.

2. Are your assessments aligned to stated standards and objectives and designed with multiple means for action and expression?

If Yes

Your assessments need to be based upon the standards and objectives that you stated at the beginning of the lesson, and it also needs to provide options for the students to choose so that they can best show you what they have learned. These options and choices will also help reduce or eliminate "test anxiety."

Dr. David Rose, one of the original creators of the UDL framework, states that "when we consider learner variation in affective, recognition, and strategic networks, we realize that in order for assessments to focus accurately on what is being assessed, they need to be adjustable to meet learner variability. To get the most accurate data about what students understand and can do, assessments should not offer only one means of response but should provide multiple opportunities in varied media for learners to demonstrate skills and express themselves."

Additionally, "such flexibility in assessment also has a role in encouraging students to seek knowledge beyond the requirements of the assignment they are being asked to do, especially as they have chosen what interests them. Furthermore, the integration of UDL into assessment is not only beneficial to students, but also to faculty, as these practices would enable them to look more deeply at the course's goals and objectives, to determine what students should show during the learning process, and to notice the students' enthusiasm and creativity in their courses"(Alsalamah, 2020).

If No

Identify potential barriers within "one-size-fits-all" design and redesign using UDL best practices so students have numerous options and choices to learn and share their learning.

3. Do you provide students with multiple attempts to resubmit evidence of learning and revise formative and summative assessments?

If Yes

It is often stated that "we learn from our mistakes," but we can only learn from our mistakes when we are given opportunities to correct them! It's suspect that anyone deeply learns from their mistakes when assessments provide nothing more than checks, "'x's," and non-specific comments. Students need to go back into the assessment and correct what needs improvement. Some educators feel that this process is unfair to the students who get the answer right the first time, but when we believe in standards-based or mastery-based grading, we recognize that the outcomes of the learning are more important than how quickly students reach those outcomes. In standards-based grading, grades reflect current learning and not past mistakes.

If No

Revisit your assessment procedures to encourage a growth mindset and ensure that student learning reflects their current learning, not previous attempts (i.e., averaging original marks and retakes).

4. Do you have a UDL-inspired rubric clearly outlining how a student will be assessed?

If Yes

Students need to know how a particular assessment will be assessed, and they need to have a tool to help them self-assess their work and monitor their progress toward reaching a goal. "Students can use the rubrics to self-assess. The students can answer the essential questions with their own big ideas. This empowers the students." (OCALI, n.d.) The type of rubric you use is less important than the fit that the rubric has to the assessment. UDL does not have an ideal rubric type, that is to say, the ideal rubric for UDL is the one that can accurately support the measurement of student knowledge for the course learning outcome(s) without constricting the options of how a learner can show what they know. A rubric designed with UDL in mind takes into consideration:

That the assessment, and therefore the rubric design, will be based on the learning outcome(s) being measured, not the assessment method chosen.

That the rubric will be provided to students with the assessment outline to ensure they know how they will be assessed for a specific assignment, and what knowledge is being measured. (Mohawk College, n.d.)

Learn more about the different types of rubrics here .

If No

Build a rubric that can be universally applied to all options regardless of the mode of delivery so that learners truly understand how mastery will be assessed.

5. Are assessments explicitly aligned to standards and outcomes?

If Yes

You can't assess a student's work if you haven't evaluated the standards and goals first, and you can't assign a mark on an assessment if you are not clear about what fulfills the standards or goals when the students show what they know. The University of Illinois (n.d.) Center for Teaching Innovation has a full website of "Assigning Course Grades" that offers some helpful suggestions as you transition to competency or standards-based grading..

Course goals and standards must necessarily be defined clearly and communicated to the students. (a UDL foundation)

Most students, if they work hard enough and receive adequate instruction, can obtain high grades. The focus is on achieving course goals, not competing for a grade. (UDL high expectations)

Final course grades reflect achievement of course goals. The grade indicates "what" a student knows rather than how well he or she has performed relative to the reference group. (UDL Expert Learning)

If No

Consider revising assessments and rubrics so that the outcomes truly measure whether or not the student has met the standard/outcome.

6. Do assessment rubrics accurately reflect priority standards?

If Yes

If we don't embrace and fully understand our standards and objectives, our rubrics may not be meaningful, may assess criteria that are not construct relevant, and may result in marks that don't reflect student learning. Carefully constructed rubrics, when aligned with standards, will help students and teachers determine the quality of the work and its alignment to mastery.

In his book, "A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades," O'Connor, our new assessment bestie, provides detailed guidance on how to create effective rubrics, including advice on what to include in a rubric, how to write clear and specific criteria, and how to involve students in the process of developing the rubric and using it for planning and self-assessment.

💡This would be a great topic for your next department meeting or faculty professional development day!

If No

Make sure that you have accurately valued each component in the assessment to match the importance of the information. Some things should be worth more than others!

7. Do you allow students to "self-report" marks on their assessments?

If Yes

In UDL Theory and Practice, Meyer, Rose, and Gordon state, "Most importantly, explicit formative assessment can provide a basis for individual learners to become more self-aware-more metacognitive -- about their learning. By modeling continuous prompts for reflection, teachers can begin to support students in monitoring their own progress. Effective scaffolding and mentorship helps students learn to assess their individual effort and persistence over time and ultimately gain a sense of autonomy over their own learning. The data collected from formative assessment can also be valuable to other teachers and parents as they work with that same learner. Intentional, ongoing assessments benefit not only individuals but also whole school communities."

Dr. John Hattie confirms this in Visible Learning MetaX (Corwin Visible Learning Plus, n.d.). His research shows that self-reported scores have a very positive impact on student outcomes. His meta-analysis of 250 studies on over 79K students shows an effect size of 1.33 and a high confidence rating (anything over .4 is a considerable effect and is in the top 10!). Allowing students to self-report is also a great opportunity for a "teaching moment" where you can review what the student self-reports and discuss the reality of their knowledge or skill; this becomes a great opportunity to provide mastery-oriented feedback.

If No

Consider adding the opportunity for each student to reflect on their performance and assess themselves while also reflecting on how their choices throughout the unit impacted their learning. (You will always have the right and responsibility to disagree!)

8. Have you removed penalties for non-essential (construct irrelevant) errors in scoring?

If Yes

It is critically important that marks and grades reflect a student's learning. UDL Theory and Practice explains this perfectly, "Whether formative or summative, assessments need to be on-target to measure the construct-the affect, concept knowledge, or skill-they are intended to measure. It is common for factors that are irrelevant to the goal of an assessment to interfere with its accuracy. For example, requiring a response to be hand-written may conflate handwriting or spelling difficulty with lack of knowledge about a subject. Similarly, requiring students to take a test in a fixed amount of time may conflate stress-management skills with level of understanding."

If No

Removing the penalty does not mean you can't identify an error; it just means that the student won't be penalized for an error not aligned with the standard or goal, like a spelling error in a math test.

9. Do you give mastery-oriented feedback on the assessments or have an individual or group discussion about how the assessment is scored?

If Yes

Every assessment is an opportunity to continue the learning process of the lesson. Mastery-oriented feedback is essential to support ongoing learning. An assessment may happen at the end of a lesson, but it is not the end of the learning on the topic. Feedback should "guide learners toward mastery rather than a fixed notion of performance or compliance; towards successful long-term habits and learning practices" ( Nguyen, 2021). Furthermore, feedback under the UDL Guidelines must make sure to:

encourage perseverance, efficacy, and self-awareness

emphasize effort and improvement rather than relative performance

be frequent, timely, and specific

be substantive and informative rather than comparative or competitive‍

model how to incorporate evaluation, including identifying patterns of errors and wrong answers, into positive strategies for future success ( 2021)

If No

Consider adding time to give this mastery-oriented feedback so that students will not only know why they received a particular score but also know where to get more information or increase their knowledge.

10. Do you return the assessments to the students quickly and allow for discussion and resubmission?

If Yes

This may be the simplest step in the process, but it is sometimes ignored due to time constraints or department policies. The students need to be able to discuss what they got right and missed, and they need a chance to rework and resubmit whenever possible. I know that time is precious and that there is never enough of it, but learning should be more than a race to cover as much material as possible so that we can help build independent, resourceful, and knowledgeable students who become expert learners.

If No

Students need to be able to learn from the assessment too! Just a score is not enough.

We hope you find the UDL Assessment Flowchart helpful and continue to reference it (or share it!) We're big fans of printing out this flowchart and posting it on the wall near your desk to remind you of the importance of not only making your lessons universally designed but also ensuring that your assessment practices align with practices that optimize expert learning. Download the UDL Assessment Flowchart.

Implement more equitable assessment practices in your learning environment.

Sources

Alsalamah, A. (2020). Assessing Students in Higher Education in Light of UDL Principles. American Research Journal of Humanities & Social Science (ARJHSS)R, 3(1), 24-27.

Barber, S., & Nester, A. (2018, March 22). 7 Strategies to make grading easier. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-strategies-make-grading-easier

CAST, Inc. (n.d.). CAST | UDL tips for assessment. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/common/publications/downloads/cast-udltipsforassessment-20200920-a11y.pdf

Corwin Visible Learning Plus. (n.d.). Visible Learning - Self-reported grades Details. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences/view/self-reported_grades

The IRIS Center Peabody College Vanderbilt University. (n.d.). Page 7: Assessment. Page 7: Assessment. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/cresource/q2/p07/

Meyer, A., Gordon, D., & Rose, D. H. (2015). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. CAST Professional Publishing.

Mohawk College. (n.d.). Rubrics and UDL. Mohawk College. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/employees/centre-for-teaching-learning/universal-design-for-learning/universal-design-for-0/rubrics

Nguyen, N. (2021, December 3). Feedback and universal design for learning. https://feedbackfruits.com/blog/feedback-and-universal-design-for-learning

OCALI. (n.d.). UDL and Rubrics webinar: Rubrics in UDL to Support Learners. OCALI. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.ocali.org/project/udl-rubrics?t=0h12m58s&autoplay=true

Morgan, A.P. (2020, September 2). Is It Time to Reexamine Grading? JSTOR Daily . https://daily.jstor.org/is-it-time-to-reexamine-grading/

Peckham, I. (1993). Beyond Grades. Composition Studies, 21(2), 16-31. https://doi.org/10.2307/43501895

Submission Options. (n.d.). Mohawk College. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/employees/centre-for-teaching-learning/universal-design-for-learning/universal-design-for-0-2

Tamony, A. (2021, October 6). The case against zeros in grading. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/article/case-against-zeros-grading

University of Illinois. (n.d.). Assigning course grades. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://citl.illinois.edu/citl-101/measurement-evaluation/exam-scoring/assigning-course-grades

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How to Universally Design Assessments + UDL Grading Resource

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How can we transform our grading to actually help students learn? Download this free flowchart to help guide you through your UDL assessment practices