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Differentiated Instruction

Providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression creates opportunities for all students to learn.

Universal Design for Learning is a powerful framework to operationalize the right to education, supporting educators in maximizing desirable challenges and minimizing unnecessary difficulties (International Disability Alliance, 2021). UDL is a framework for designing learning experiences, so students have options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. When implemented with a lens of equity in a multi-tiered system, the framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible (Novak, 2021). UDL creates a learning environment that is the least restrictive and most culturally responsive and trauma-informed for all students.

Pause and Reflect: What is your familiarity with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework? Differentiated instruction? Consider what you know about the frameworks already, and what questions you have. You can return to these questions at the end of the chapter to determine if your understanding of the frameworks has evolved.

The term "Universal Design" was coined by architect Ronald Mace in 1988 who defined it as 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" (Center for Universal Design, 1997). Buildings where all people could not enter were deemed "architecturally disabling."

In Mace's (1998) last public speech, he shared more about his philosophy on UD. He said: "Universal design broadly defines the user. It's a consumer market driven issue. Its focus is not specifically on people with disabilities, but all people. It actually assumes the idea, that everybody has a disability and I feel strongly that that's the case.We all become disabled as we age and lose ability, whether we want to admit it or not. It is negative in our society to say 'I am disabled' or 'I am old.' We tend to discount people who are less than what we popularly consider to be 'normal.' To be 'normal' is to be perfect, capable, competent, and independent. Unfortunately, designers in our society also mistakenly assume that everyone fits this definition of 'normal.' This just is not the case."

UDL is based on research in cognitive neuroscience that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate learner variability. UDL is defined by Higher Education Opportunity Act (PL 110-135) as "a scientifically valid framework for guiding educational practice that (a) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged; and (b) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities." Given that inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings is contingent on teachers' ability to use inclusive instructional strategies, wide-scale commitment to UDL will be critical in creating multitiered systems (Scott, 2018).

Before effectively implementing inclusive practice, we must embrace the concept of variability. As stated in UDL Theory and Practice, a book by two of the founders of UDL, "From one perspective, human brains are remarkably similar. But to neuroscientists, this similarity is an illusion" (Meyer, Rose, and Gordon, 2014, p. 29). All learners learn in ways that are unique to them. This is referred to as variability.

We want to caution that embracing student variability is not the same as designing instruction based on learning styles. An article in the Atlantic, "The Myth of Learning Styles," shares the pervasiveness of the learning styles myth (Khazan, 2018). More than 90% of educators in various countries believe in their presence and use them to design instruction. But spoiler alert-there is no such thing. This is not to say that we do not have a unique mix of strengths and weaknesses, cognitive variability, multiple intelligences, or preferred learning approaches. But our brains are not wired for a single "style" of learning.

If someone says,"I am a visual learner," or "I need to hear it, to learn it," this idea stemmed from the theory of learning styles. There is just one problem: the theory is not grounded in science. Multiple studies have proven that learning "styles" are no more than learning "preferences" and that a preference doesn't lead to better learning outcomes (Nancekivell, Shah, and Gelman, 2019).

If we cater to a student's "learning style" by giving the "visual learner" more visual information and more aural information to the "auditory learner" or more movement to the "kinetic learner," we will shortchange their learning process. This does not mean we can't embrace multiple forms of intelligence and provide numerous scaffolds and supports. We should provide visual, auditory, linguistic, conceptual, and sociocultural scaffolds, but not because of learning styles-because of variability.

Pause and Reflect: Did you ascribe to the theory of learning styles? If so, notice the cognitive dissonance you may be experiencing as you "unfreeze."

In UDL Now! A Teacher's Guide to Applying Universal Design for Learning, third edition (Novak, 2022), variability is unpacked in terms of interpersonal variability and intrapersonal variability. Certainly, as educators, we know that our learners are very different from each other. This is interpersonal variability. There are still models where "struggling readers" are placed in a different classroom than "advanced readers" because the student needs are different, but this doesn't embrace intrapersonal variability. For example, we may be in an "advanced" reader group. It is likely that our group will not receive options to listen to the audio version of the text or access sentence stems because we "do not need them." But what about days when we are exhausted and having a terrible day, or when we forget to wear our glasses, or when the most responsible thing we could do for our mental health is to take a more accessible pathway to find balance? Instructional groups, when they are used for placement, do not embrace intrapersonal variability. Our needs are always changing.

The lack of appreciation of learner variability, especially intrapersonal variability, causes many learning environments to be restrictive and disabling to students. According to Liz Hartmann, an adjunct lecturer on education at Harvard University and an expert in UDL (2015), "When teachers embrace the conceptual shift of the UDL framework and learner variability, they understand that severe disabilities are part of the natural diversity that is to be expected and embraced in classrooms" (p. 58). When this shift occurs, educators are much more likely to provide the options and choices necessary for students with disabilities to thrive in inclusive classrooms.

Once educators embrace variability, inclusion, and the promise of UDL, they adhere to three principles when planning learning experiences: provide multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Considering these principles removes the barriers that make curriculum and instruction "disabling" to learners, especially students with disabilities (Meyer, Rose, and Gordon, 2014):

Provide multiple means of engagement. Student engagement is equal parts attention and commitment. For students to pay attention, they need learning opportunities that are relevant, authentic, and meaningful. Since students are different from one another, and because they are dynamic and their needs evolve based on context, no one lesson will be authentic to everyone. To be committed to authentic learning, students need to learn how to maintain effort and persistence, cope when learning experiences are challenging, and self-reflect to help guide their learning. In a universally designed classroom, these skills are explicitly taught by providing students with opportunities to practice these skills in meaningful ways as they work toward their goals.

Provide multiple means of representation. When teachers present information, they often use a single representation and provide the same lesson to all students. This is often done in a lecture, by playing a video, conducting a lab, or presenting or demonstrating information, teaching vocabulary, and so on. Because there is significant variability in students, they differ in the information they need to gather before applying it in an authentic assessment. By providing multiple opportunities and options for students to learn information, students are empowered to personalize how they build knowledge and skills.

Provide multiple means of action and expression. Once students are interested in authentic learning outcomes and have learned the information by selecting the options that best meet their needs, they need to express their understanding in an authentic assessment.

When students participate in discussions and complete assessments, they are taking action and expressing their learning. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to communicate their learning, we need to design flexible pathways. To do this, it is critical to unpack our standards and ask, "How can we design opportunities where all students can share their progress toward the standards?"

The three principles of UDL support educators in creating multiple pathways for students to learn and express what they know while empowering students to make choices about their learning. Although this framework does allow students with disabilities to thrive in their classrooms, it also increases the engagement and achievement of all students (Scott, 2018). Understanding the three principles is the foundation for building learning experiences that work for all students and make effective inclusion possible. The three principles of UDL support educators in providing options and choices so students have pathways for how they engage with learning, learn, and share what they know.

Excerpted with permission from the publisher, Wiley, from In Support of Students: A Leader's Guide to Equitable MTSS by Katie Novak, Ed.D. and Kristan Rodriguez, Ph.D. Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. This book is available wherever books and eBooks are sold.

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How UDL Creates an Equitable Environment for Students

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Experts on Universal Design for Learning share some details on how this framework promotes equity in the classroom..

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How Universal Design for Learning Can Help With Lesson Planning This Year

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The core concepts of UDL are particularly helpful for teachers moving between remote, hybrid and in-person teaching.

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Generative AI can make educational content and instruction more accessible, helping teachers meet a breadth of student needs.

Stuart Kinlough / Ikon Images

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an essential framework for enhancing accessibility, helps teachers design inclusive instruction. The framework supports students' accessing content in varied formats, expressing understanding using multiple modalities, and engaging with high-interest content-all of which enhance equity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging technology that can help educators create a more UDL-friendly environment. Though many teachers are skeptical about students' use of generative AI, instead of viewing it as a quick answer generator, we can teach students about ethical use by helping them view it as a research assistant, brainstorming collaborator, and tutor. Student- and teacher-facing AI tools can enhance engagement, representation, and expression in the classroom. Below, I showcase two such tools and how I use them with students in my English classes, though many others are rapidly evolving.

Using AI for UDL

SchoolAI is one such tool that enables students to access information in a variety of ways and allows teachers to customize AI chatbots (called spaces) for specific learning opportunities. For example, using the historical chatbot generator, teachers can ask students to interact with a chatbot that assumes the role of an author or historical figure available, and teachers can also create their own.

Instructionally, when students interact with a chatbot, they not only acquire information but also learn how to engage in effective conversations with AI. Asking and refining probing questions is a future-forward skill.

My students choose how they synthesize the information they learn from AI; some employ a note-taking method, others use graphic organizers. Every student's chat is unique and yields different outcomes that make for compelling collaborative conversations among peers. Post-chat, I guide students to fact-check and examine information for biases before drawing conclusions from AI interactions. This step is essential for building capacity as students learn how to utilize AI responsibly, and there are helpful frameworks for students working to evaluate the information they glean.

Enhancing Individualized Learning

Equitable, personalized learning is the ultimate goal of UDL. SchoolAI is UDL-friendly, because it has an embedded text-to-speech function that allows students to hear AI conversations read aloud. Additionally, an embedded speech-to-text tool enables students to respond verbally instead of in writing. This multimodality means every student is able to participate, even those for whom reading or writing is challenging, which facilitates inclusive learning and deepens engagement.

Though SchoolAI offers different types of chatbot-based spaces to customize, perhaps the most exciting for UDL is the Sidekick-a personalized tutor that you can tailor for specific content or processes. When my students are writing narratives, I create a Sidekick that can assist them in the writing process by offering concrete suggestions and clarifying concepts (such as figurative language or how to write dialogue correctly). I also limit the type of assistance that my Sidekick will provide, such as prohibiting it from helping students "too much." That way, the AI is not allowed to write for students and can only give them concrete examples that are unrelated to the plot of the narrative they were crafting.

Leveraging Teacher-Facing AI Tools

MagicSchool is a teacher-facing platform that includes more than 60 AI tools created specifically for educators. One essential aspect of UDL is ensuring that students can easily understand instructions and success criteria. To do this, I use MagicSchool to generate clearer, more concise directions for tasks, as well as exemplars and non-exemplars.

A UDL environment also offers more than one pathway through which students can access content. To fulfill this goal, I use MagicSchool to generate multiple explanations for concepts, to generate questions in response to YouTube videos, and to level text so I can provide students the opportunity to read "just right" material no matter their current grade level. These uses are especially beneficial for accommodating students with specialized instructional needs, as well as students for whom English is a second language.

To increase engagement, I also use AI to convert traditional content into other formats. For example, when teaching the myth of Hades and Persephone, I used MagicSchool to generate several other versions of the text, including a rap battle and breaking news brief. Students choose which representation they want to read, and everyone discusses the theme and showcases their understanding.

To help brainstorm varied modalities for student expression, I utilized the MagicSchool choice board generator to come up with ideas to populate my favorite choice board template. MagicSchool's group work generator was also useful for brainstorming collaborative activities, because some of the most effective UDL-friendly classrooms allow students to choose how they like to learn and create. Students who prefer to work with others are able to gravitate toward team tasks, while students who prefer to work alone are able to select an independent option.

Enhancing Inclusivity

An inclusive classroom is full of choice, allowing students to self-select instructional materials and options to demonstrate mastery. With so few hours in the day and so many considerations involved in planning, leveraging AI tools can optimize teacher workflows and provide focused assistance.

Whether adapting existing lessons to be more UDL-friendly or crafting an entirely new unit, AI places truly personalized learning within greater reach than ever before.

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Using AI to Enhance Universal Design for Learning

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Generative AI can make educational content and instruction more accessible, helping teachers meet a breadth of student needs.

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How School Leaders Can Pave the Way for Productive Use of AI

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Leveraging technology to advance teaching and learning promotes a culture of inquiry at school.

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Embedding Voice and Choice in Professional Learning

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Differentiated Instruction

Teachers can encourage high school students' success by focusing on learner variability and creating customizable learning experiences.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that guides educators in designing learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners. It helps teachers move from a one-size-fits-all approach toward one that adapts to learner variability. UDL embraces the idea that we should have firm goals for students-using flexible means to reach those goals. The result is more equitable and engaging classrooms.

How do I know Ted would embrace UDL?

At its core, UDL is a mindset, or set of beliefs, that guides educators in everything they do. And Ted has that mindset. It's all about believing-in students and their potential; in the importance of the process as much as the result; and in the power of continual growth, reflection, and lifelong learning.

Begin by Embracing Four Beliefs

While we become teachers to positively impact students, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with day-to-day challenges, especially in these past few years. Still, ask any teacher, and they'll say that the goal of education is more than just helping students acquire and regurgitate knowledge. Instead, we want to equip children with tools for success-show them how to reach their goals and prepare them for ever-changing jobs and a world we can't quite imagine. So how can we do this?

I won't pretend it's easy, but it's crucial to commit to the UDL mindset in order to have success. Embracing the following four beliefs is the first step in designing learning experiences that serve all students.

1. All students can reach the high expectations we set. When we set firm goals for all students, we're sending the message that we believe they're capable. We start by clearly identifying the goals we're focusing on. Then, reflect honestly: Do we truly believe that every student can reach these goals?

As a teacher, I involved students in tracking and monitoring their goals by creating digital Data Notebooks where we tracked academic, behavioral, and other goals. We had frequent one-on-one check-ins and monitored these together. These opportunities to conference around goals made them more manageable and helped us all stay committed to them.

2. Barriers to success exist in the system, not in the students. After firm goals are set, we need to recognize that external barriers can prevent students from being successful. Therefore, we need to be flexible by providing multiple pathways for students to reach their goals. When planning, we can ask ourselves, "What barriers might arise within each of these factors: curriculum, teaching methods, resources, materials, and assessments?"

Multiple means of engagement: Learners vary in how they are motivated and want to engage in learning, so we can provide multiple options for engagement.

Multiple means of representation: Learners perceive and comprehend information differently, so we can provide multiple options for acquiring knowledge.

Multiple means of action and expression: Learners vary in how they navigate learning and express what they know, so we can provide multiple options for them to demonstrate learning.

When teaching, I aimed to address many barriers before we began a unit. Sometimes students didn't have background knowledge, so we'd cover relevant topics and skills at the start. Other times, content wasn't academically interesting or culturally relevant, so we found ways to tie it to their lives. I realized that many students needed clearer directions, checklists, and check-ins, so I created systems within our classroom to address this.

3. Learner variability is the norm, so a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. We can empower students with choices and autonomy so that they can overcome those barriers and reach their goals. This belief allows us to embrace the three UDL principles that help us design more accessible, inclusive, and engaging learning experiences:

We can put these principles into practice in many ways. Are there opportunities for students to have choice in what topic they study and how they take in information (reading, listening, watching)? Can we create scaffolds for students? Or offer choices in how they demonstrate their learning?

When I created units, I started by looking at our goals and brainstorming ways in which I could offer students autonomy that would still lead them to those goals. Sometimes, they chose their own text or topic. Other times, I offered materials in multiple modalities for them to choose from: reading, watching, and/or listening. Lastly, I saw so much creativity and engagement when students had a choice over how they demonstrated their learning-for example, choosing between a written response, a slide presentation, or a video.

4. Continual self-reflection leads to lifelong, expert learners. There's a lot of uncertainty around the future of work and our world. We know that the ability to learn is crucial. The ultimate goal of UDL is to develop "expert learners" who are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed. Even though this approach may make us nervous, when we show trust by giving students choices, when we teach them how to reflect on those choices and their work, and when we value growth as much as results, we are developing expert learners.

In my teaching, I focused on creating an environment where students felt safe and valued. To emphasize growth, I offered opportunities for revisions rather than only grading final work. I built reflection questions into both our end-of-unit review and our everyday work, mainly through exit tickets. Students practiced reflecting on their work and their choices: If they could do the assignment over again, would they have made the same choices? Why or why not?

Start Small

Of course there's more to great teaching, preparing our students for the future, and applying UDL than these four beliefs, but it's only if we hold these beliefs that the other pieces then fall into place.

With so much on their plates, many teachers are feeling overwhelmed right now. It's OK to start small: Commit every day to having high expectations for allstudents. Believe in them. You can print out this 4 Beliefs poster and put it on your desk. Encourage your colleagues to do the same. While it may not seem like you're doing much, you'll be able to feela difference. And better yet, so will your students. Over time, believing in your students can lead to their believing in themselves, which is a gift that'll last a lifetime.

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4 Principles of a Universal Design for Learning Approach

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Teachers can encourage high school students' success by focusing on learner variability and creating customizable learning experiences.

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CHOICE, Outstanding Academic Title, 2022.
Midwest Independent Publishing Assocation Silver Award, 2022 non-fiction Education and Learning

AMERICANS' PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS does not correlate with the reality of the rich diversity seen on university campuses. Over 60% of Americans believe the average age of a college student is 20 years old but, in fact, it's 26.4 years old. Demographics in the classroom are shifting and instructors bear a responsibility to adjust their teaching style and curriculum to be inclusive for all students.

Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education: Strategies for Teaching, edited by Rita Kumar and Brenda Refaei, details the necessity for an inclusive curriculum with examples of discipline-specific activities and modules. The intersectionality of race, age, socioeconomic status, and ability all embody the diversity college instructors encounter in their classrooms. Through the chapters in this book, the contributors make apparent the "hidden curriculum," which is taught implicitly instead of explicitly. The editors focus on learner-centered environments and accessibility of classroom materials for traditionally marginalized students; a critical part of the labor needed to create an inclusive curriculum.

This text provides instructors with resources to create equity-based learning environments. It challenges instructors to see beyond Eurocentric curricula and expand their pedagogy to include intercultural competence. The contributors challenge the student/instructor dichotomy and embrace collaboration between the two to construct a curriculum that fits all students' needs. The resources and examples in this book demonstrate the importance of inclusion and equity in the classroom. A open access online companion page provides examples and tools from the editors and contributing authors, which allows for readers to add materials from their own classrooms. This book and companion page allow instructors to begin intentional practice of an inclusive curriculum and implement changes to promote respect for diversity.

With this online companion page, we invite you to use and download any of the resources to the right. Clicking on a particular resource will allow it to automatically download. If you have a resource you would like to share on this page, please email Sarah Muncy (sarah.muncy@uc.edu) and CC the authors (rita.kumar@uc.edu and brenda.refaei@uc.edu)

Photo by Pete Bender, UC Blue Ash College
Cover design by Julie Rushing

RITA KUMAR is the Executive Director of the Faculty Enrichment Center at the University of Cincinnati and former Professor of English at University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash.

BRENDA REFAEI is Co-Director of the Learning + Teaching Center and a Professor of English and Communication at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College.

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Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education | Manifold Scholarship

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CHOICE, Outstanding Academic Title, 2022. Midwest Independent Publishing Assocation Silver Award, 2022 non-fiction Education and Learning## AMERICANS' PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE STUDENTS does not correlate with the reality of the rich diversity seen on university campuses. Over 60% of Americans believe the average age of a college student is 20 years old but, in fact, it's 26.4 years old.