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This resource is a website based learning space for outlining the guidelines for using UDL. Since UDL has various forms of learning techniques that can be applied, this website is great for highlighting key terms for understanding how to use in everyday curriculum.

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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. 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.

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The UDL podcast is relevant to understanding a perspective of Universal Design for Learning. Dr. Katie Novak does a fantastic job of discussing the various forms of using UDL to make a difference in learning experiences. There is also a great explanation of the guidelines for using UDL, which can be referenced for any additional research learners might need to understand this concept.

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Universal Design for Learning with Dr. Katie Novak

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Listen to this episode from The Balance, by Dr. Catlin Tucker on Spotify. How can you create inclusive classrooms, design for learner variability, and remove barriers to learning? Dr. Catlin Tucker talks with Dr. Katie Novak, author and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a solution to the wide variety of student needs in a class.

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The teachers academy website provides a couple of impactful UDL graphics to motivate individuals to see the benefits of using it in the classroom. Inflencing others to utilize UDL, rather than providing just the framework, ensures that learners know what benefits students will have in the future from their experience with UDL.

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Gaming through education can influence the use of UDL through learning. I find this relevant as it is a modern learning approach for retaining knowledge of UDL terms and guidelines for educators to use in the future.

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Go Fishing with UDL is here! This interactive card game for 2-5 players (per deck) creates an opportunity for you and your colleagues to learn more about the guidelines and checkpoints of Universal Design for Learning as well as overarching concepts (that make up The Ocean) like variability, accessibility, flexibility, goals, rigor, and choice. Go fishing until one of you has a card from each of the 9 guidelines. Now it’s time for you all to use what you’ve learned from The Ocean as well as that person’s cards to enhance a chosen lesson or learning environment!

Based on the UDL Guidelines™ authored by CAST and used with permission.

Purchase the game here!

See our excitement when we first received the game!

Go Fishing with UDL Instructions – The Social Distancing Version

Goal: Players will update a lesson or learning environment using select checkpoints from the UDL framework.

To win the game you must have a card from each guideline (there are 9 different guidelines).

Each card includes the name of the guideline at the top, the name of a corresponding checkpoint in the center, and an example of that checkpoint at the bottom.

Access to udlguidelines.cast.org or a printout of the UDL Guidelines is a helpful support.

1. Each person needs a deck of cards.

2. Each person pulls out The Ocean cards and sets them aside.

3. Shuffle the remaining cards (I suggest shuffling small groups of them at a time since these are large cards).

4. Each person pulls 9 cards from their deck and turns them face up on their desk or table.

5. Take turns reading The Ocean cards out loud. Leave them face up on your desk or table.

6. Taking turns, each player draws from their deck and determines whether they need that card. If they need it, they discard one of their cards. If they don’t need it, they discard the card they pulled. If they want to trade a card from the same checkpoint, they can do that.

7. Repeat step #6 until one person has a representation of each of the nine guidelines and says “I caught UDL!” (remember to reference the CAST graphic of the UDL guidelines for clarification).

8. All players keep their cards out, but also pull out of the deck the cards held by the winner.

9. Together, using the winner’s cards, talk through that person’s lesson or learning environment to see how it can be expanded to provide more accessibility, flexibility, choice, and rigor to address learner variability and to support the development of expert learners!

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UDL Game – Go Fishing with UDL! • Loui Lord Nelson

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Go Fishing with UDL is here! This interactive card game for 2-5 players (per deck) creates an opportunity for you and your colleagues to learn more about the guidelines and checkpoints of Universal Design for Learning as well as overarching concepts (that make up The Ocean) like variability, accessi…

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Visual learning can take place through still images, and also video images with using tools such as this Powtoon, educators can visually walk throgh a series of information regarding the use of UDL in the classroom.

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Educators who prefer a structured learning platform may find this text relevant to read, reflect, and construct various ideas related to the se of UDL from Design and Deliver by Loui Nelson. Outside of this text, theri are several books that list examples, analysis staples, and overviews of the uses of UDL in the classroom.

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Universal Design in Action,100 Ways to Teach All Learners,Universal Design for Learning in Action,978-1-59857-390-9,Education,none,Rapp, Whitney

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Cartoon graphics such as "Meet The Normals" does a great job depicting the benefits of Universal Design for Learning. There are guidelines that show us how to use it, and cartoons like these that dig deeper into concepts and ideas using characters/sitations that describe what we should consider as educators when we put UDL into practice.

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Meet The Normals - Adventures in Universal Design

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Michael Nesmith does a great job of giving perspective on this topic of using UDL. We need it in the classroom for various reasons, but we can also view the deeper context of how it changes the overall thought process we experience daily, as well as the change we want to see in the world.

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Why We Need Universal Design | Michael Nesmith | TEDxBoulder

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Praciticing the layout of using UDL can be complex if there are several guidelines to base a lesson plan on. Here, we can read about the correct structure of designing lesson plans, in an ariticle that defines UDL and prompts educators to put it into practice.

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Ms. Talbert felt great about the lessons she had planned for her high school seniors using Universal Design for Learning, a framework for differentiating learning experiences. Her learning intentions were for students to evaluate sources of evidence and use evidence they gathered to support claims. The lessons built from activities like combing through social media and news sources to find claims that weren't adequately supported to making their own claims supported by evidence. Ms. Talbert included issues and topics that were on students' minds. She clarified vocabulary and used multimedia, print, and audio as ways to access the content.

Later in the year, her students explored and analyzed the effects of baseless claims made online through fast-spreading social media. Finally, the class moved into discussions and debates. The class discussion became close to tense at times when students had conflicting opinions, all supported by evidence they deemed credible. But with Ms. Talbert's feedback and guidance, the groups used the class norms of collaboration to work through the dialogue in a productive manner. She beamed with pride as she watched the groups navigate difficult topics, strong opinions, and conflicting evidence.

Not everyone spoke in class or led discussions-but Ms. Talbert knew some students showed their best work by writing, others by speaking, and others through producing a creative product. She provided all these options for students to show their learning over time and was open to students' additional ideas of how that learning could be shown.

Why We Need Universal Design for Learning

Like Ms. Talbert's, every classroom is filled with individuals who vary wildly-and interestingly-in who they are as people. Their many experiences and genetics make them who they are-each one unique and wonderful. Some are strong with math, others are talented artists; some light up when it's time for science, and others love nothing more than getting lost in a fictional work. Some students speak multiple languages, but struggle in the language of instruction that is new to them.

For every student who loves a particular subject, there is another who is afraid of it, and another who finds it uninteresting.

Students not only vary in their skill level and preferences for academic content, but also in their social-emotional skills, development, and learning. This diversity in our classroom can pose instructional challenges, but it's also an asset! It presents the opportunity for students to learn from and with one another, gain an understanding of the interdependence within society, and celebrate one another's unique qualities. Diversity is in no way a limitation as long as we keep it top of mind when designing instruction and assessment.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), originally designed by the organization CAST, is a framework that guides proactive design of classroom instruction and learning opportunities to make them effective for a broad range of learners (see ). UDL offers guidelines on how we can make our instruction and classroom environments welcoming, responsive, supportive, and flexible, so that the fewest students possible require additional support or adaptations.

The developers of the framework organized UDL strategies into three categories: (1) multiple means of engagement-how we engage and sustain students' interest and persistence; (2) multiple means of representation-how we ensure our instruction is accessible and improves students' understanding; and (3) multiple means of action and expression-how we support students to show their learning in multiple ways. Such strategies, individually, are neither new nor revolutionary. But UDL, informed by these three principles and connected to neurological and educational research, offers an actionable framework that educators can use to increase the accessibility and power of every lesson we design.

Planning for Multiple Means of Engagement

Every teacher can relate to occasional difficulty in gaining students' interest. What if, when a student is having trouble engaging in the classroom, instead of attributing the problem to the student, we reframed it as our problem with engagement, asking ourselves what the students' behavior might say about our teaching?

If we presume variability in students' interest and plan our engagement strategies with the least engaged student in mind, we'll probably engage all the students in the class. Figure 1 shows some smart strategies for universal engagement.

Figure 1: Strategies for Engagement

1. Start by connecting with students using positive interaction.

2. Demonstrate clarity of intentions and criteria for success.

3. Connect the purpose of the lesson to something of current relevance and value to students.

4. Provide students choices-from simple to significant-for their learning.

5. Make the learning space safe for taking risks and making mistakes.

6. Use novelty to gain students' interest.

7. Design activities that involve active exploration.

Include opportunities to investigate, reflect, make, create, or dialogue.

Have students move about the room during learning.

8. Design for small group instruction.

9. Use strategies to balance participation.

10. Offer strategies for students to cope with frustration, anxiety, and low confidence.

Planning for Multiple Means of Representation

Fifteen years ago, you may have had a phone, a camera, a calendar, a video recorder, a device for listening to music, and a computer for accessing the Internet. For traveling, you may have used a GPS or map and books for translating languages. Now, all these needs are met with one device. Because we have a customizable device with many options and functions, fewer people need specialized equipment. And while some still may prefer a physical calendar, say, we'd be hard pressed to find many people who own and use all those items.

Think of multiple means of representation-how we make our instruction accessible to all students-as a smartphone with many features and apps. Without a base of multiple means of representation planned into each lesson, teachers become exhausted trying to continually figure out how to differentiate content and deliver support to meet individual needs and maximize strengths. By investing effort in multiple means of representation during lesson planning, we minimize special adaptations, because we've designed up front for many types of variability. Figure 2 shows some strategies for doing so.

Giving options for multiple ways you present information to students is not the same as segmenting students using the long-debunked notion of different learning styles. It simply means that, in instruction, you always present content in various ways that resonate with students' different strengths and preferences for processing information-based on what you know of each learner and what you've seen in their learning experiences.

Figure 2: Strategies for Multiple Means of Representation

1. Teach metacognitive strategies for learning within context of this concept or skill.

Use analogies and metaphors.

Teach notetaking and study strategies.

Present a mnemonic orally and visually to help students remember new information-or help students create a mnemonic, such as a song.

Connect the concept to something students already know, using several modalities.

Chunk material into smaller pieces.

Create study guides with strategies for learning embedded.

2. Use multiple means to represent content, concepts, and skills.

3. Provide help with vocabulary, syntax, notations, and symbols.

4. Gradually release support to promote independence.

5. Create experiences for deliberate practice, spaced over time.

6. Give formative feedback.

Provide clear, ungraded feedback on products of learning and the process of learning.

Guide students to evaluate their own learning.

Conference with individual students about a product or process; help them generate a plan for what to do next.

Share feedback in ways that show confidence in the student's ability to learn.

Connect feedback to specific learning goals.

7. Use formative assessment to change instruction.

Use formative assessment of students' work and learning to:

Planning for Multiple Means of Action and Expression

There are many ways to measure a student's learning of any given skill or understanding. But too often, we use a single, teacher-designed assessment for all students. The premise is that a standardized assessment makes for a fairer assessment. In fact, giving a single option for showing learning advantages those students with strengths in that option. Some of our students are talented presenters but lack confidence as "test takers." Some find tests easy but are afraid of speaking in front of the class. Some have strengths in writing or graphic design. For many, the idea of something being timed produces a great deal of stress and interferes with showing their learning.

This variability in performance under different conditions affects educators' ability to see what students understand and can do if they only use a single type of assessment. For example, if the only option we give is a timed test, then students who have test anxiety or need more time for processing can't show what they know. The validity of the test is compromised because we didn't offer another option. The assessment is less fair because it's standardized.

This isn't to suggest that we give students options for the level of proficiency they show, only for the way they show it. We can have the same expectations for skills and understanding shown through a class presentation, say, as through a paper, test, or other measure. (Note that even when we use alternative measures, it's still important to document the need for extended time for students with disabilities, who will need this accommodation for state or national testing.)

Figure 3 shows many of the nearly countless ways we can have students demonstrate their understanding and skills. If the idea of giving students many different options for showing their learning feels overwhelming, teachers can start by identifying the typical assessment for an upcoming unit and selecting one alternative. Regardless of whether educators take this on full force or start small, the need for this practice is pressing.

Figure 3: Strategies for Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Ways Students Can Demonstrate Their Learning

Videorecorded presentation

Live presentation to the class-or to a teacher or external audience

Individual conference with a teacher

Written answers to given questions

Lesson taught live to another person

Physical model student constructs

Illustration or other visual art product

Essay, story, or other written product

Revision or improvement of an existing product

Solutions to given problems

Service activity related to the content/skill

Being interviewed on the content

Verbal response to given questions, or responding with a gesture or image

Realizing Their Brilliance

Many teachers recognize that each of their students is (wondrously) different, in how they take in information, how they practice and engage with content to learn it, and in how they show their learning. UDL gives teachers a way to present information in many formats, as Ms. Talbert did in her unit, so instruction can hit as many students' preferred ways of learning as possible. And UDL strategies make the most of assessment, since the purpose of our day-to-day classroom assessment is to inform teaching and learning. Providing students with options for how to express their learning gives each student the chance to show their best work. The resulting assessment types lend much more valid information and give teachers more precise direction on how to maximize learning for each child.

Without providing multiple means of presenting concepts and information, we won't reach all students. And without providing options for expression, we may never fully realize the brilliance many of our students have-brilliance often disguised by a counterfeit definition of how success in school must look.

Author's note: "Ms. Talbert" is a hypothetical teacher and situation. The strategies outlined here for engagement, representation, and expression are drawn from UDL resources, the professional research literature, strategies I've used, and my observations within classrooms. For additional strategies for applying UDL in lesson planning, visit http://udlguidelines.cast.org/ .

Copyright © 2021 Lee Ann Jung

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Lesson Planning with Universal Design for Learning

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Using UDL principles upfront means making fewer adaptations later-and reaching more students.

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The UDL presentation is a simple yet great resource to simply guide learners to the defintions, guidelines, and practices of UDL. Implementing all that will be learned, or prompting others to create their own presentations that display their knowledge of using UDL, can strenghten their ideas on how to use it in curriculum/lesson design for students.

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© 2022 Prezi Inc. Terms & Privacy Policy

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Physical Environment Classroom Climate Interaction and Feedback Make sure students of all abilities can physically access and use all work spaces in the room. Give students clear sight lines to the teacher and any visual aides they may need to see. There should be room for any