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Goals:

Explore two fields that inspired UDL: Universal Design in architecture (UD) and neuroscience.

Dig into the concept of barriers: What are they? How can we work to identify them? What preexisting beliefs and attitudes do we bring to our understanding of barriers?

Uncover the importance of articulating clear goals and explore how “tight goals and flexible means” can support educators to plan for the variability of the learners in their classrooms.

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"The UDL framework supports us to relocate the 'barrier' from within the student to within the design of the learning opportunity, emphasizing that it is the design rather than the learner that needs to be 'fixed'." - Jenna Gravel

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Goals:

Examine the current notion of expert learning through an equity lens to explore what resonates with you as well as the questions this goal raises for you.

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Getting From Here to There: UDL, GPS and Lessons for Improving Education

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Getting From Here to There: UDL, GPS and Lessons for Improving Education

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Introduction: New Technologies as Learning Tools

...as new technologies promised to be powerful agents for change, and society had become more open to diversity, it began to seem possible to turn the aspiration of free and appropriate education for all into reality.

In 1984-the year we founded CAST-education, technology, and society were about to undergo enormous changes. Apple had just introduced the Macintosh, the first user-friendly, mass-market personal computer that offered a graphical user interface, display options, multimedia, and networking. Microsoft took up the challenge, vowing to provide the software that would make it possible to put personal computers in every home in the world. The nascent Internet was just beginning to serve as a means of communication and document exchange, primarily in university and government communities.

At the same time, the landmark report A Nation at Risk, commissioned by the Reagan administration, decried the state of education in the United States and urged massive reforms to guarantee greater educational opportunities for all. This, in turn, coincided with a burgeoning civil rights movement to grant individuals with disabilities access to all areas of society, including education. The aspiration to provide all individuals with full and equal educational opportunities had been thwarted by the limitations of existing technologies, prejudice and low expectations-and other barriers that impede societal change. Now, as new technologies promised to be powerful agents for change, and society had become more open to diversity, it began to seem possible to turn the aspiration of free and appropriate education for all into reality.

When we were forming CAST in the 1980s, we envisioned the new technologies as learning tools that could be radically different from the medium of print. Because digital tools offered flexibility in how content was displayed and acted on, we believed that they could be powerful levers for students who most needed better leverage-students with disabilities. We had met each other at a children's hospital clinic where we were members of a multidisciplinary team of diagnosticians evaluating children with learning difficulties. Coming from this medical model, our early work focused on the problems of diverse learners, those "in the margins" who struggled with learning. We didn't question the diagnostic findings, but we were dissatisfied with our recommendations which seemed to have limited effectiveness.

Sensing the promise of technology, we sought to find, adapt, and even invent technologies that would help students with disabilities overcome the barriers they faced in their environments, especially in schools. The idea was to provide tools that would amplify areas of strength and support areas of weakness, specifically chosen and set up for each learner. A simple example of such a tool was the word processor and spell checker, which, for a learner who had great ideas but had difficulty with handwriting and spelling, could enable the writing of a coherent paper even as the learner worked to shore up those areas of weakness. Our work let us see first-hand the barriers these students faced and helped us to design solutions that helped them overcome the barriers. But much of our work took place outside of classrooms, in our offices and our Learning Lab. Integrating these tools into students' and teachers' lives at schools was a big challenge.

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as new technologies promised to be powerful agents for change, and society had become more open to diversity, it began to seem possible to turn the aspiration of free and appropriate education for all into reality. In 1984-the year we founded CAST-education, technology, and society were about to undergo enormous changes.

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Introduction

Experience and common sense suggest that all individuals are unique and learn in ways that are, to varying degrees, particular to them. And in the past quarter century, science has elucidated the great variability of the human capacity to learn. Yet our educational system is designed around the idea that most people learn the same way and that a "fair" education is an identical one. These ideas influence every aspect of our educational system. To understand why we need to move away from these underlying assumptions, we turn to the latest findings on the learning brain.

From one perspective, human brains are remarkably similar. But to neuroscientists, this similarity is an illusion-an artifact of inspecting them from afar. Up close, individual brains are remarkable distinctive in their anatomy, chemistry, and physiology. Like each person's fingerprints, every brain is unique. Yet some of the differences are systematic and predictable. Scientists often seek to uncover these systematic differences by comparing the brains of individuals from different groups, such as people of different genders, ages, cultures, native languages, or degrees of expertise.

What they find is fascinating. Consider the brain scan in the image below.

In an experiment looking for physiological differences, researchers explored how the brains of individuals diagnosed with autism differ from those not diagnosed with autism. They asked both groups to engage in exactly the same task-an intelligence measure called the Raven's Progressive Matrices-while measuring their brain activity via scanning technologies such as FMRIs and PET scans. They found little difference between the two groups in most areas of the brain, but there was one area (an area of complex visual perception highlighted in yellow in Figure 3.1) where the individuals with autism differed quite consistently from the comparison group.

How can we interpret this difference? Many people might assume that the highlighted area would represent some kind of damage or dysfunction among individuals with autism. But the findings actually show something quite different. On this type of task, individuals with autism generally show superior performance. The scientists were not looking for sources of dis-ability but rather vari-ability. They were looking for what is different about the brains of individuals with autism who have enhanced abilities.

The brains of individuals with autism do show some systematic patterns that differ from the brains of those not identified as autistic. Whether that variation is a liability or a benefit depends entirely on the task being performed. On the Raven's Progressive Matrices, individuals with autism tend to perform better. On a different measure of intelligence-for instance, one that relies primarily on language-individuals with autism usually underperform when compared with others.

Dig Deeper
Autism: enhanced or diminished abilities?
Several recent studies have shown differences in people with and without autism with regard to brain activity during tasks, including finding that "autistics" have enhanced perceptual abilities in certain domains including when engaged in visual search, visual discrimination, and embedded figure detection. They also show stronger physiological engagement of the visual system.

In general, however, studies that show differences between brains of people with and without autism attribute negative outcomes to the differences. For example, Spencer and colleagues (2011) showed differences in the neural response to facial expression of emotion between unaffected siblings of individuals with autism and neurotypical controls with no family history of autism. They used fMRI to examine response to happy versus neutral faces. They found significant reduction within brain areas implicated in empathy and face processing in the sibling group as opposed to the control group. Though the groups did not have differences in their response time or accuracy behaviorally (i.e., not on the neuroscience task), the authors interpreted the differences they did find in the sibling group as negative since there was a familial link to autism.

For more information and to read these studies, see Souliéres, I., Dawson, M., Samson, F. Barbeau, E. B., Sahyoun, C. P., Strangman, G. E., Zeffiro, T. A., & Mottron, L. Enhanced visual processing contributes to matrix reasoning in autism (2009), Samson, Mottron, Soulières, & Zeffiro, Enhanced visual functioning in autism: An ALE meta-analysis (2011), and Spencer, M. D., Holt, R. J., Chura, L.R., Suckling, J., Calder, A. J., Bullmore, E. T., Baron-Cohen, S., A novel functional brain imaging endophenotype of autism: the neural response to facial expression of emotion (2011).

Another interesting aspect of this study is the research team itself. One of the authors, Michelle Dawson, is herself autistic. Her colleague for the past seven years, neuroscientist Laurent Mottron, recently wrote a fascinating article in the influential journal Nature titled, "Changing Perceptions: the Power of Autism." In addition to describing their research, Mottron explains the benefits that his colleague Michelle Dawson brings to their scientific investigations. He writes:

"Dawson's keen viewpoint also keeps the lab focused on the most important aspect of science: data. She has a bottom-up heuristic, in which ideas come from the available facts, and from them only. As a result, her models never over-reach, and are almost infallibly accurate, but she does need a very large amount of data to draw conclusions. By contrast, I have a top-down approach: I grasp and manipulate general ideas from fewer sources, and, after expressing them in a model, go back to facts supporting or falsifying this model. Combining the two types of brains in the same research group is amazingly productive."

Both the science and the scientists in this research point to the pervasiveness and the power of variability.

In this chapter we explore what is systematic and important about variability for teachers and learners. Learners are highly variable, but that variation is not chaotic. Of course, each learner is unique; but learners share common, predictable patterns of variability that are very useful to consider when designing learning environments.

Reflect

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Experience and common sense suggest that all individuals are unique and learn in ways that are, to varying degrees, particular to them. And in the past quarter century, science has elucidated the great variability of the human capacity to learn.

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The Future Is in the Margins: The Role of Technology and Disability in Educational Reform

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The Future Is in the Margins: The Role of Technology and Disability in Educational Reform

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ResearchGate is a network dedicated to science and research. Connect, collaborate and discover scientific publications, jobs and conferences. All for free.

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ERIC - EJ1061020 - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Learners with Severe Support Needs, International Journal of Whole Schooling, 2015

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This article presents the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework as one way to understand how to support learners with severe disabilities and how to support their access to authentic and appropriate curricula that improves their quality of life. Two key ideas from the UDL framework, (a) unde…

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"One of the most exciting parts about UDL is that the framework prompts educators to examine and wrestle with the attitudes and beliefs that they bring to their practice. UDL can prompt us to think about our expectations and our beliefs about the capabilities of all learners." - Jenna Gravel

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Goals:

Learn about the UDL Principles: Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression.

Understand and apply the UDL Design process, which includes analysis of the goals, identifying barriers that may block learners from achieving those goals, and infusing options for Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression.

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"When we take time to clarify what the primary goal is for each part of a lesson or learning experience, then we can more clearly identify barriers and work to reduce them so we support the learning. " - Allison Posey

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National Center on Universal Design for Learning

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Universal Design for Learning: Start with the Goal

Distance learning has created new challenges for how educators approach curriculum:

Lessons that were once easily adapted "on the fly" become challenging to adapt to learning online.

Learning materials that were critical in face-to-face learning become suddenly not accessible for all students.

Media and activities that were engaging and motivating fall flat when implemented at a distance for some students.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that can help educators design inclusive learning environments for all students, whether they are in remote, hybrid, and/or face-to-face settings. CAST's UDL Guidelines are specifically designed to help educators anticipate the full variability of their students, in terms of:

Engagement (the "why" of learning),

Representation (the "what" of learning), and

Action & Expression (the "how" of learning).

However, there is much more to UDL than the UDL Guidelines! UDL implementation requires i ntentional consideration of the goal or objective for any part of the lesson. Put another way, when implementing UDL in your lessons, always start with the goal. Ask yourself:

What is the most essential content or skill we want our students to learn?

What barriers are preventing students from accessing and engaging in learning?

What instructional strategies can we use to reduce those barriers and engage student interest and participation in learning?

When you really know the goal of the lesson and what student success looks like, then you can design with flexibility and use the UDL Guidelines to ensure all learners can make progress toward the goal. Goals may be objectives or may be related to standards that include content or skills. Goals could also be connected to IEP priorities, behaviors, or social-emotional learning.

During distance learning, even your best lesson may need to be reconsidered. For example, you may need to sharpen the focus of your lesson's essential learning or reduce the number of objectives because distance learning periods may be shorter or may provide fewer opportunities for students to interact with the materials and each other.

Here are some tips to help you create meaningful learning goals, so you can then design flexible learning pathways for all:

Clearly communicate the primary focus of the learning to yourself, your students, families and caregivers, co-teachers, and paraprofessionals in your class.

Provide options for how learners can perceive and understand the goal, which aligns with the UDL Representation Guideline. Make sure the language in the goal statement is clear and students understand what they are working to achieve.

Ask yourself: Have I explained the goal using clear vocabulary to ensure student understanding of the goal?

Ask yourself: Have I presented the goal in multiple formats, such as written on a whiteboard, posted on digital handouts, or represented with images? Can learners access the goal in multiple ways, such as having them be read aloud or visibly highlighted on PowerPoint slides?

Ask your students: what does this goal mean to you? Assure that every student has the means to express themself so you understand what they understand.

Make connections for how the goal is meaningful or relevant for students, which aligns with the UDL Engagement Principle. This is important so students know not only what it is they are working to achieve, but also can contextualize the learning so they care and are invested in the goal.
Ask yourself and ask your students: what are the real-world or community-related applications that connect to this goal? Why does this goal matter to you?

Separate the "how-to" from the goal, which aligns to the UDL Action & Expression Principle. Often, the way in which we want students to show what they know is fixed. Yet when you analyze your goal and determine which skills or content are most critical for the lesson at hand, then you can be flexible in other ways. For example, we might require students to write an essay about a conflict a character faced in a book. However, if the goal is focused on understanding the conflict, then students could have flexibility in how they share what they learned about the conflict in different ways, such as verbally, in writing, through a recording, or drawing.
Ask yourself: how else might a student demonstrate an understanding of a concept? Could they show understanding through writing, drawing, recording, video, graphic organizers, or even work with partners?

Hold high expectations for all learners, which aligns with all three UDL Principles. UDL encourages fostering the development of expert learners who are resourceful and motivated, knowledgeable, strategic, and goal-directed. Encouraging high expectations and flexible pathways for all students to become expert learners is the cornerstone of UDL.
Ask yourself: how can this lesson encourage students to better understand how they learn and make decisions to be the best learner they can?

Don't stop there! Once your goal is clearly developed, anticipate and reduce barriers students may face in your lessons, whether remote, hybrid, or face-to-face. Reflect on whether the barrier is in Engagement (how students recruit interest and sustain effort), Representation (how students perceive and build background), or Action & Expression (how students show what they know) and include a flexible option to reduce that barrier.

Here's one last UDL tip. As you facilitate the lesson, listen to students and get their feedback about what is supporting their learning, or where there are barriers that could be reduced. Ask your students:

Was the goal of this lesson clear to you?

Was the goal of this lesson meaningful to you?

Did this lesson give you options to show what you know?

Did you learn something about yourself as a learner today?

If you answered no to any of these questions, how could I do better next time?

Together, we can work to ensure that the design of our lessons meets the needs of all learners - and that they are engaged and goal-directed in their learning pursuits. It's easy to get started, focus on the goal.

Distance Learning Series: DL #26, December 2020

All rights reserved. Any or all portions of this document may be reproduced without prior permission, provided the source is cited as:

Posey, A., & Hartmann, E. (2020). Universal Design for Learning: Intentional Design for All. TIES Center.

TIES Center is supported through a cooperative agreement between the University of Minnesota and the Research to Practice Division, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education (# H326Y170004). The Center is affiliated with the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) which is affiliated with the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) at the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota. The contents of this report were developed under the Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Education, but do not necessarily represent the policy or opinions of the U.S. Department of Education or Offices within it. Readers should not assume endorsement by the federal government. Project Officer: Susan Weigert

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) leads the TIES Center partnership. Collaborating partners are the Arizona Department of Education, CAST, University of Cincinnati, University of Kentucky, University of North-Carolina-Charlotte, and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

TIES Center

University of Minnesota

Institute on Community Integration

2025 East River Parkway

Minneapolis, MN 55414

Phone: 612-626-1530
www.tiescenter.org
This document is available in alternate formats upon request.

The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.

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Building Engagement with Distance Learning | DL #26: Universal Design for Learning: Intentional Design for All

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Distance learning has brought new challenges for how educators approach curriculum. How can UDL support lesson design?

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Lesson planning with Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

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Understood.org is the resource that helps the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences anticipate the challenges, barriers, or opportunities in life and confidently reach their potential.

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Getting Started with UDL: Downloadable Template

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Getting Started with UDL: Downloadable Template

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Goals

Clear learning goals are the foundation of any effective curriculum. Only by clarifying what we want to accomplish and when-in the next 10 minutes, in the next lesson, in the next year-can we begin to consider what assessments, methods, and materials will be most effective. Goals are often described as learning expectations. Traditionally they represent the knowledge and skills that all learners should master and are generally aligned to standards. From a UDL perspective, affective goals such as developing enthusiasm for learning and an ability to self-regulate are equally important. In our view, affective goals should be more clearly articulated in standards, and, more specifically, included in assessment.

Within the UDL framework, goals themselves are articulated in a way that acknowledges learner variability and differentiates outcomes from means. Whereas traditional curriculum planning focuses heavily on content or performance goals, UDL curriculum planning aims to develop expert learners. This development is an ongoing, iterative process that does not have an end point but continues throughout life. Expectations remain high for every learner, and a flexible curriculum supports progress towards these expectations in a variety of ways.

Learning to design UDL goals takes practice. Support in designing and reflecting on goals can be helpful. An online tool built to offer that support is UDL Exchange's lesson building tool. The lesson builder provides structure and support for creating lessons based on UDL principles, including UDL goal setting. When drafting goals in the lesson building tool, users can consult tips, guides, examples, and a research base for creating UDL goals and aligning instructional goals and objectives to standards and assessments. Users can also use UDL Exchange ( http://udlexchange.cast.org) to connect with other educators who are interested in implementing UDL principles in classroom practice.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it is worth noting that goals are not the same as standards. Standards articulate what the educational community values and, therefore, what the community believes teachers must teach and assess. Well-designed standards leave room for teachers to shape classroom goals and to individualize the means for attaining them. Deriving clear goals from standards requires teasing out the central purpose of a standard by separating the goal from the means for attaining it and re-stating the goal in a way that is attainable for all students. It requires the teacher to think carefully about the intention of the standard and how flexibility can be designed around it. In short, goals do need to align to standards, but they are not the same thing.

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Clear learning goals are the foundation of any effective curriculum. Only by clarifying what we want to accomplish and when-in the next 10 minutes, in the next lesson, in the next year-can we begin to consider what assessments, methods, and materials will be most effective. Goals are often described as learning expectations.

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UDL Theory and Practice: 3 UDL Principles

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UDL Theory and Practice: 3 UDL Principles

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By "universal" we mean every learner-not just those traditionally seen as belonging in the middle of the bell curve (the mythical average student) or just those traditionally seen as belonging "in the margins." The goal of UDL is to make sure everybody has the opportunity to develop into an expert learner.

By "design" we mean that UDL is intentional, purposeful, and planned. The variability of learners is a given and types of systematic variability are predicted at the very beginning (when a curriculum or lesson is being designed). The needs of all are considered then and there, minimizing the need for retro-fitting and subsequent accommodations.

By "learning" we mean that all individuals are challenged and supported in meaningful ways to grow toward expertise as learners. UDL is not intended to make learning easy; indeed, learning should always be appropriately challenging, offering up what Robert Bjork calls "desirable difficulties." It does not contain unnecessary and irrelevant barriers to learning that are actually caused by inflexible media and methods, but it does contain appropriate challenges in the areas germane to the learning goal.

With UDL, we start with high standards for all and apply flexible means so that each learner finds appropriate learning challenges and supports. In fact, the UDL framework helps educators to maximize desirable difficulties and minimize "undesirable difficulties." In other words, with UDL we create learning contexts that optimize opportunity for all.

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By "universal" we mean every learner-not just those traditionally seen as belonging in the middle of the bell curve (the mythical average student) or just those traditionally seen as belonging "in the margins." The goal of UDL is to make sure everybody has the opportunity to develop into an expert learner.

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Goals:

Deepen understanding of the 9 UDL Guidelines and associated checkpoints and consider how these guidelines and checkpoints can be used to reduce barriers and increase access to meaningful, challenging ways of thinking and doing.

Experiment and practice observing and applying UDL in the design of a lesson

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"The goal is not to apply every one of the Guidelines and Checkpoints... the Guidelines and checkpoints can be 'mixed and matched' to support learners to engage with specific learning goals." - Allison Posey

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National Center on Universal Design for Learning

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool that can be used to design learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners. These Guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions for applying the UDL framework to practice and help ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities. Learn more about the research evidence used to develop the Guidelines.

Organization

The UDL Guidelines are organized both horizontally and vertically. Vertically, the Guidelines are organized according to the three principles of UDL: engagement, representation, and action and expression. The principles are broken down into Guidelines, and each of these Guidelines have corresponding "checkpoints" that provide more detailed suggestions.

The Guidelines are also organized horizontally. The "access" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to increase access to the learning goal by recruiting interest and by offering options for perception and physical action.

The "build" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to develop effort and persistence, language and symbols, and expression and communication.

Finally, the "internalize" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to empower learners through self-regulation, comprehension, and executive function.

Taken together, the Guidelines lead to the ultimate goal of UDL: to develop "expert learners" who are, each in their own way, resourceful and knowledgeable, strategic and goal-directed, purposeful and motivated.

Applying to Practice

The UDL Guidelines are not meant to be a "prescription" but a set of suggestions that can be applied to reduce barriers and maximize learning opportunities for all learners. They can be mixed and matched according to specific learning goals and can be applied to particular content areas and contexts.

In many cases, educators find that they are already incorporating some aspects of these guidelines into their practice; however, barriers to the learning goal may still be present. We see the Guidelines as a tool to support the development of a shared language in the design of goals, assessments, methods, and materials that lead to accessible, meaningful, and challenging learning experiences for all.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool that can be used to design learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners. These Guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions for applying the UDL framework to practice and help ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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Table of Contents

What's the goal of UDL?

UDL is a framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all. Ultimately, the goal of UDL is to support learners to become "expert learners" who are, each in their own way, purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal driven. UDL aims to change the design of the environment rather than to change the learner. When environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers, all learners can engage in rigorous, meaningful learning.

Why were the UDL Guidelines developed?

The overarching framework of UDL motivated many stakeholders in the field to begin rethinking the design of their environments and curricula through a UDL lens. However, CAST often received feedback that applying UDL to practice felt overwhelming. Many stakeholders shared with us that the three principles of UDL were a useful start in designing for variability; yet, these stakeholders also felt as though the principles were too vague and that more specific guidance was needed. In 2009, we developed the first version of the UDL Guidelines in response to this important feedback. We hoped that these guidelines would provide concrete support to educators who were eager to apply the UDL framework to practice. Since that time, we have revised the Guidelines to incorporate feedback from the field as well as expanding research in the areas of UDL, education, cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience. The FAQ " Why are there multiple versions of the Guidelines? " provides more information on the evolution of the UDL Guidelines.

How are the Guidelines related to the UDL framework?

The UDL framework offers an overarching approach to designing meaningful learning opportunities that address learner variability and suggests purposeful, proactive attention to the design of goals, assessments, methods, and materials. CAST's UDL Guidelines are a tool to support educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and more to apply the UDL framework to practice.

Who are the Guidelines for?

CAST's UDL Guidelines are a tool to support teaching and learning. They can be used by professional educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to apply the UDL framework to practice in a learning environment. We also believe the Guidelines can be valuable to learners themselves: they can act as a tool to support individuals in deepening their understanding of their own learning processes.

How are the Guidelines organized?

The UDL Guidelines are organized both horizontally and vertically.

Vertically, the Guidelines are organized according to the three principles of UDL: engagement, representation, and action and expression. The principles are broken down into Guidelines, and each of these Guidelines have corresponding "checkpoints" that provide more detailed suggestions.

Horizontally, the Guidelines are organized into three rows. The "access" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to increase access to the learning goal by recruiting interest and by offering options for perception and physical action.

The "build" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to develop effort and persistence, language and symbols, and expression and communication.

Finally, the "internalize" row includes the guidelines that suggest ways to empower learners through self-regulation, comprehension, and executive function.

Taken together, the Guidelines lead to the ultimate goal of UDL: to develop "expert learners" who are, each in their own way, resourceful and knowledgeable, strategic and goal-directed, purposeful and motivated. For more detailed information about how the UDL Guidelines are organized, see About the Graphic Organizer.

How do the Guidelines align to the learning brain?

The UDL Principles and accompanying Guidelines were conceived with the brain in mind. Like each person's fingerprints, every brain is remarkably unique in its anatomy, chemistry, and physiology. While there are thousands of networks specialized for different functions, some of the differences we can observe are systematic and predictable. We can proactively anticipate and plan for these differences. UDL emphasizes three large brain networks that comprise the vast majority of the human brain and play a central role in learning. These networks include: the affective network (how learners monitor the internal and external environment to set priorities, to motivate, and to engage learning and behavior), the recognition network (how learners sense and perceive information in the environment and transform it into usable knowledge), and the strategic network (how learners plan, organize, and initiate purposeful actions in the environment). Each of these networks tend to be spatially distinguishable in the brain: the affective network is generally buried in the center of the brain; the recognition network is located in the back/posterior regions, and the strategic (motor) network is positioned in the anterior/front of the brain. While it should be noted that all the networks work together, CAST focuses on this simplified model of the brain to highlight what is relevant for the learning brain and to try to understand and plan for learner variability.

How can the Guidelines be used?

The UDL Guidelines are not meant to be a "prescription," but a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to instructional design to reduce barriers and maximize learning opportunities according to specific learning goals. As educators, many of us already incorporate aspects of the Guidelines into our practice; however, there may still be barriers in our learning experiences that we haven't noticed or haven't yet encountered. The UDL Guidelines offer a systematic structure for addressing these barriers and for intentionally planning for learner variability. To address the needs of all of our learners, we need to be purposeful, proactive, and reflective in our design by constantly referring to the Guidelines as we plan our learning experiences. The Guidelines are not meant to be applied to just one aspect of the curriculum or to just one group of students. Instead, the Guidelines are a tool to support the development of a shared language in the design of goals, assessments, methods, and materials that lead to accessible and challenging learning experiences for all.

Why are there multiple versions of the Guidelines?

The evolution of CAST's UDL Guidelines has been and continues to be a dynamic, collaborative, and developmental process. We shared the first version of the Guidelines-Guidelines 1.0-in 2009. Since that time, we have collected and specifically solicited feedback from the field. This feedback along with the expanding research in the areas of UDL, education, cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience has led us to develop different representations of the Guidelines. We don't consider any of these representations the "correct" version; instead, each of these representations has a particular goal and traces our learning not only as an organization but as a field more broadly.

There is no set order in which to use the Guidelines. They are intended to be mixed and matched according to specific learning goals. However, we have experimented with different arrangements of the UDL Guidelines graphic organizer over time in order to support stakeholders' understanding of UDL.

First, we shifted the way the three UDL Principles are presented. Initial versions of the Guidelines begin with "Provide Multiple Means of Representation." However, in more recent versions, we begin with "Provide Multiple Means of Engagement." This shift is meant to highlight the essential role that engagement plays in learning and was motivated by the literature as well as educators' input.

Second, there has been a shift in how we present the horizontal rows of the Guidelines in the graphic organizer. As noted above, there is no set order in which to apply the Guidelines; the way we apply UDL is driven by our instructional goals and barriers present in the curriculum. Yet, we recognize that many people use this document as one way to begin their learning about UDL, and we have found that considering ways to reduce barriers and increase access can be a useful entry point. Therefore, in this most recent representation of the UDL Guidelines graphic organizer, the "access" row of the Guidelines is presented first. We hope that this representation will support educators who are new to UDL to explore this critical step. At the same time, we hope that this representation will inspire educators to continue their learning and apply UDL for aims beyond access in order to reach the ultimate goal of UDL-to support all learners in developing into expert learners.

If you prefer previous organizations of the guidelines, not to worry! The Downloads page offers a history of all of the different versions developed since 2009.

Do you have to do all of the Guidelines at once for fidelity?

You certainly do not need to use every Guideline in a single learning opportunity. In fact, some Guidelines may not be relevant to certain learning goals. The first step in applying the UDL framework to practice is to define a specific, challenging learning goal. This clarity will allow you to strategically mix and match Guidelines and Checkpoints that reduce barriers and support all learners in reaching the learning goal.

Focusing on the learning goal allows educators to scaffold and support construct irrelevant barriers so that students can access and engage with the construct relevant learning goals. In other words, UDL helps educators keep desirable challenges in a learning experience and remove unnecessary barriers.

What tools and resources support the application of each Guideline?

Many tools and resources can be used in support of a learning goal and can align to various UDL Guidelines and Checkpoints. These tools and resources may integrate the latest digital technology or can be low- or no-tech options as well. However, the resources and tools themselves are not what makes a lesson or learning experience "UDL." Instead, UDL is a framework to think about how different tools and resources can be leveraged to reduce barriers and support all learners to engage in challenging ways of thinking. We hope the Guidelines will support educators to develop and internalize a UDL-mindset to proactively incorporate tools and resources in the service of clear and rigorous learning goals.

How can I give feedback on the Guidelines?

We welcome your feedback! Your perspectives are critical to the future development of the UDL Guidelines as we work to make this tool more reflective of expanding research and insights from the field. Please contact CAST to share your questions, research, resources, and ideas.

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UDL is a framework to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and challenging for all. Ultimately, the goal of UDL is to support learners to become "expert learners" who are, each in their own way, purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal driven.

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Download a version of CAST’s UDL Guidelines

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Download a version of CAST’s UDL Guidelines

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The evolution of CAST's UDL Guidelines has been a dynamic, collaborative, and developmental process. We shared the first version of the Guidelines-Version 1.0-in 2008. Since that time, we have collected and specifically solicited feedback from the field. This feedback, along with the expanding research in the areas of UDL, education, cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience, has led us to develop different representations of the Guidelines over time. Each of these representations has a particular goal and traces our learning not only as an organization but as a field more broadly.

Version 2.2 (2018)

This latest version-Version 2.2-does not represent the "correct" version. Instead, we see this version as yet another representation to more fully explore and articulate the promise of UDL. We have made several structural changes to the graphic organizer to better support educators and other stakeholders who are new to UDL and to more clearly articulate the goal of UDL. About the Graphic Organizer describes these structural changes in more detail, while our FAQ may help answer questions you have about the UDL Guidelines and their relationship to the UDL framework.

Choose your UDL Guidelines v. 2.2 representation!

Download Version 2.2 with numbers

APA Citation: CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author.

As with the first version of the Guidelines, we see this version of the UDL Guidelines as a living, breathing, changing tool. We encourage participation and collaboration from diverse stakeholders to support us in our goal of making the Guidelines even more useful over time.

Looking for a full text version of the UDL Guidelines? Download Version 2.0 Full Text. It contains all of the text descriptions of each of the Principles, Guidelines, and Checkpoints that is on this site.

Version 2.2 Translations

Portuguese (2.2) - Português
Generously donated and transcribed by Victor Menna, Formador e Assessor Pedagógico
Graphic organizer: completo | semnumeros | embranco
About the Graphic Organizer: diretrizesDUA_v2-2_pt-BR_sobreoorganizador
Key Questions to Consider When Planning Lessons: diretrizesDUA_v2-2_pt-BR_perguntasplanejamento

Unified English Braille (contracted)
Generously donated and transcribed by Dr. Natalina Martiniello
Graphic Organizer: UDL Guidelines v.2.2 with numbers, braille ready file

Version 2.1 (2014)

Version 2.1 first appeared in Anne Meyer, David H. Rose, and David Gordon's Universal Design for Learning: Theory and Practice published in 2014. The structural updates made to the graphic organizer are reflective of the feedback we received after sharing Version 2.0 with the field. For example, previous versions of the graphic organizer begin with "Provide Multiple Means of Representation." However, in this version, we begin with "Provide Multiple Means of Engagement" as a way to highlight the essential role that engagement plays in learning.

Download Version 2.1
APA Citation: CAST (2014). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.1 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author.

Version 2.1 Translations

Version 2.0 (2011)

Version 2.0 includes several structural and content changes reflective of the feedback we received after sharing the original version, Version 1.0, with the field. For example, we developed a full text version to more fully describe not only the principles, guidelines, and checkpoints but also the thinking behind the UDL framework more broadly. And, in the Graphic Organizer version 2.0, we made several wording level changes to specific checkpoints to clarify to more accurately reflect our intended meaning.

Download Version 2.0
APA Citation: CAST (2011). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author.

Download Version 2.0 Full Text
A complete narrative describing the context within which CAST developed the UDL Guidelines including explanations and examples of each principle and checkpoint.
APA Citation: CAST (2011). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0 Wakefield, MA: Author.

Version 2.0 Translations

Japanese (2.0) - 日本語
Graphic Organizer: UDLガイドラインの図表はこちら：UDL原則とチェックポイントがカラー刷りで一覧になっています。
Full Text: UDLガイドライン全文はこちらから
Full Text: UDLガイドライン全文はこちらから

Version 1.0 (2008)

This version of the Guidelines represents CAST's original blueprint for the UDL Guidelines. We developed this first version in response to the field's desire for more concrete support in applying the UDL framework to practice.

Download Version 1.0
APA Citation: CAST (2008). Universal design for learning guidelines version 1.0 [graphic organizer]. Wakefield, MA: Author.

Version 1.0 Translations

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The evolution of CAST's UDL Guidelines has been a dynamic, collaborative, and developmental process. We shared the first version of the Guidelines-Version 1.0-in 2008. Since that time, we have collected and specifically solicited feedback from the field.

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Purpose

Inclusive strategies support all students to engage in robust, meaningful learning in the same setting. They support us to reduce barriers in the design of our lessons so that all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, can be included in a lesson from the start.

This site provides strategies to spark ideas to design your lesson. To select strategies:

Clarify the goal of your standards based lesson.

Incorporate one or more of these inclusive strategies into the lesson to support students to achieve the goal.

Gather feedback from students on how the tools and resources support their learning.

Table of Contents

Spark student engagement
Support student interest, effort, and motivation in learning.
Recruit interest in the lesson

For example,

Connect the content to areas of high interest for students. To learn more about students, try peer interviews or KWL charts (External site) or create student profiles

Incorporate multiple cultural backgrounds and diverse representations of role models in the media, materials, and classroom resources.

Make connections across disciplines and lessons.

Use technology or tools students are interested in using, such as smartphone apps, raps, music, drama, art, etc.

Provide choice to get to the learning goal

For example,

Offer open-ended choices for students to select books, topics, or ideas they are interested in learning about.

Celebrate the different pathways students use to achieve their learning goals.

Offer opportunities for students to reflect on their learning choices. For example, try exit tickets, journaling, experience books (External site) , turn and talk, or one-on-one conversations.

Invite ownership over the learning process

For example,

Encourage students to set their own learning goals and pathways so they become more autonomous in their learning. Celebrate different pathways to achieve success and be sure there is not a "hidden right" choice.

Work with students to understand rubrics or checklists to help monitor what they need to work on next.

Develop a resource area where supplies and tools are available that students can choose to use, such as calculators, assistive technologies, graphic organizers, and digital recorders.

Model how to abandon plans that may not be working and find a new way to productively learn.

Support motivation and persistence through challenges

For example,

Provide frequent, formative feedback that provides students with clear suggestions of what they did well and what they could improve.

Offer resources to meet the demands of the task. For example, try sharing worked examples, think alouds, or models to explain complex ideas.

Foster student collaboration so students can help each other through the learning process.

Incorporate opportunities for active participation, exploration, and experimentation. For example, try manipulatives or hands-on opportunities.

Teach how to take mindfulness or movement breaks. Offer opportunities to take these breaks as needed.

Highlight clear success criteria so students can provide peers with feedback and track progress as they work.

Offer flexibility in the social demands

For example,

Provide opportunities to work independently or collaboratively - when the lesson goal is not to build collaboration skills.

Tap into peer relationships to motivate and engage students. For example, try using peer support plans, clock buddies, reciprocal teaching, turn and talks, or think pair share.

Explicitly teach peer collaboration skills. For example, try co-constructing group norms and group roles. Include templates and sentence starters to support collaboration.

Use social stories to help students understand the roles in groups, including cues, responses, and descriptions of what to do.

Let students know if you are going to share their work publicly and get permission from them to do so. Have the option for the work to be displayed anonymously.

Include ways for students to share anonymously how they are feeling valued, safe, and included in the learning community, or if there are ways these need to be adjusted.

Develop strategies for self-regulation

For example,

Discuss and model options for personal coping skills. Try having quiet spaces in the room, low-light areas, and options to use headphones to reduce noise at times. Try having spaces for students who want more active options, such as standing desks, fidgets, or collaboration.

Provide tips to help students get started working, such as a worked example, sentence starter, template, or a suggested first step.

Develop an "I need help" signal or way for students to communicate about their needs or frustrations (i.e., yellow cup on a desk means stuck).

Hold high expectations for all students

For example,

Integrate the least dangerous assumption (External site).

Model how mistakes are a valuable part of learning. Try highlighting works in progress, not just the end product.

Develop positive relationships with students and treat all students with respect when talking to or about them.

Spark student understanding
Reduce barriers to ensure all students can gain access and understanding in a lesson.
Offer multiple ways for students to perceive the information

For example,

Share information in more than one format. For example, offer alternatives to text such as visuals, objects, partial objects, tactual representations, Braille options. Explicitly describe images in text and video.

Offer flexible formats so the size, contrast, font, speed, or volume can be adjusted by the learner. Show learners how to use these technology tools and provide time and multiple opportunities to build fluency using these tools.

Present auditory information in more than one way. Try closed captioning, sign language, contact signing, text, and tactile representations. Teach how to use captions or automated speech-to-text or text-to-speech software. Record what you are saying on the board or in a recording.

Follow accessibility standards (External site) when creating digital text. Reference sites such as NIMAS , DAISY , or CAST's AEM Center to learn more.

Support relevant vocabulary

For example,

Pre-teach and contextualize vocabulary in ways that students can relate and connect to. Have students interact with and use the language that is new or of interest to them, such as constructing word walls or having vocabulary journals with their own word lists. You could use picture walks or experience books with objects or tactual representations.

Use examples and nonexamples to highlight critical aspects of a concept. Provide examples using kinesthetic, visual, auditory, tactile, or multi-media.

Teach concepts and vocabulary by pairing objects with words. Incorporate vocabulary into daily conversations and use real-world examples. Make key vocabulary available on students' preferred communication system, such as Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) (External site).

Teach and use language categories to help organize thoughts and ideas; such as using Mad Libs ©, sentence frames, graphic organizers, grouping objects, and word banks. activate background knowledge.

Support building background knowledge and skills

For example,

Provide opportunities for students to gain the foundational skills or background - even if the expectation is that students should already know it. For example, provide videos, bulleted summaries, or concept maps of key ideas.

Conduct baseline pre-assessments to understand what students already know. Ask previous teachers or family members about the student's background knowledge and interests. Use formative assessments to adjust the next instructional moves based on students' understanding.

Bridge concepts with relevant analogies and metaphors. Use mnemonics or rhyme to make complex material manageable.

Annotate readings or provide key questions to look for in an article or video. Organize information or to show commonalities and differences, such as story webs, outlining tools, concept mapping tools, mind maps, Venn diagrams, or T charts.

Ensure modifications to assignments are as minimal as it needs to be. Examples

Encourage transfer of learning to novel contexts

For example,

Build from students' experiences and interests to develop complex concepts and skills.

Apply learning to real world challenges and situations that are of interest to your students.

Bring in members from the community or connect to local resources.

Offer opportunities to extend learning, so students with sufficient background or interest can continue to be challenged.

Infuse habits of mind (i.e., to think like a scientist, historian, artist, etc.) into instruction using think alouds.

Balance questioning techniques that include both low cognitive demand (such as yes/no or rote understanding) and high cognitive demand questions (such as open questions that have a variety of possible answers and encourage elaboration).

Teach how to use tools or technology supports

For example,

Teach how to use text-to-speech, speech-to-text, spelling, and grammar checks. Make those options consistently available for all students to use as they need.

Collaborate with other specialists to ensure the technology tools and software are accessible and perceptible to learners with sensory impairments. Remember what is good for some can benefit others!

Use online collaboration tools such as shared writing, slide, and video editing tools. Consider using collaborative scheduling and task management tools.

Have switches, eye gaze options, or other assistive technology regularly available.

Provide opportunities for peers to model and share the use of technology. Develop a library of student tutorials using different technologies and tools.

Use peer and adult aided-language modeling for AAC.

Empower Student Participation
Reduce barriers to ensure all students can show what they know in a lesson and participate in the discussions and activities.
Encourage flexible forms of communication

For example,

Include a range of media options for students to share what they know, such as writing, speaking, drawing, animation, comics, storyboards, video, music, or movement.

Allow students to participate in collaborative learning through texts or instant messaging, not just through verbal talking.

Use scribing resources, such as text-to-speech software and voice recognition, word prediction software, human dictation, or recording devices.

Integrate options to share or participate via social media or interactive web tools, such as discussion forums or chats.

Ensure consistent access to communication systems, such as communication boards or Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

Provide choices to respond. For example, you could use stamps, stickers, bingo dotters, markers, and other options to show numbers, write, and represent concepts and ideas.

Build on student responses to extend their thinking and vocabulary.

Scaffold students to monitor their progress

For example,

Use clear criteria and rubrics so students can self-assess their progress. For example, try single point rubrics or checklists.

Develop joint classroom norms and explicit behavior expectations for students to monitor their social and behavioral progress.

Provide timely feedback that is specific and related to the goal. Stay away from comparative or competitive feedback.

Break long step processes or projects into shorter pieces. Offer opportunities for feedback and self-reflection along the way.

Ensure all students have access to the vocabulary to communicate about their progress, such as through word walls, dictionaries, AAC, checklists, or more.

Provide student or teacher models of how to effectively self-assess or monitor progress.

Provide options for manipulation

For example,

Have options for tool use for fine and gross motor skills. For example, consider slant boards, tabs to turn pages, pencil grips, and accessibility options on keyboards. Consider turning off sticky keys or other keyboard adaptations, or provide tools that are easy to grip and offer high or low resistance.

Provide access to materials in easy to reach places and formats. For example, ensure technology is placed in the easiest place for reach (e.g., not crossing midline or on a side a student prefers).

Have physical manipulatives or tactile options to show understanding, such as paper or graphs with raised lines or Braille options.

Have seating with movement options, such as rocking chairs, yoga balls, and cushions. Consider the classroom layout to ensure students can maneuver to join groups and access materials.

Offer flexible options for sitting or positioning throughout the room. Provide options to support body stability using furniture or tools such that feet can touch the ground when sitting, the upper body is stable enough to maneuver to participate, and the head is supported for eye gaze, head pointers, or switch activation.

Support goal-setting strategies and plans to reach that goal

For example,

Make sure objectives are clearly stated on activities, worksheets, and during lessons so students know what they need to achieve.

Support students to develop a plan and monitor their progress to reach their goals so they become more independent and self-motivated in their learning. Use smartphones, computers, graphic organizers, color coding, or other schedule tools, to help track goals and progress. Check out self-determined schedule making and time management strategies.

Chunk long term goals and projects into smaller, manageable sub-goals.

Support attention and reduce demands on working memory

For example,

Encourage the use of templates or journals to record information so students do not have to try to hold it in mind. For example, try graphic organizers, scratch paper, digital notes during discussions, or object schedules.

Minimize distractions in the room or on websites. Simplify graphics or reduce unnecessary text on handouts so they focus only on the essential information to learn.

Reduce visual and auditory clutter or complexity when learning demands are high.

Offer opportunities for students to organize their workspace for productive learning. Encourage students to take steps to reduce their distractions.

Provide worked examples that show how to complete assignments or problem sets.

Highlight tools students can use as they work, such as calculators, number lines, graphing calculators, geometric sketchpads, word banks, formulas, or pre-formatted graph paper.

Use acoustic or visual highlighting to emphasize key concepts. Provide high contrast backgrounds and boards.

Support time management

For example,

Recognize students will work at different paces - and that is okay. Have extension opportunities for students who finish quickly and opportunities in the school day for students to continue to work as needed.

Use timers, stopwatches, smartphones, or other resources to help track time - if it is not distracting. For example, use visual, auditory, object, word, or picture options. Use schedules to check progress and to monitor time left.

Provide explicit instruction in more than one way so students can review it at their own pace (i.e., in a video or recording that they can rewatch, rewind, fast forward, or pause as needed). Create video libraries for skills or concepts that need to be re-taught.

Advocate for flex time, study hall, or other school-wide intervention times for students to have additional time to work. You can pre-teach or re-teach concepts, use embedded instruction, or allow students to check and extend work time.

Have predictable schedules and routines. Break down processes or routines using task analysis.

If work is not tied to the learning goal, omit it in order to keep the focus on the most relevant components.

Selected References

Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Reyes, M. R., & Salovey, P. (2012). Enhancing academic performance and social and emotional competence with the RULER feeling words curriculum. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(2), 218-224.

Brock, M. E., Carter, E. W., & Biggs, E. E. (2020). Supporting peer interactions, relationships, and belonging. In F. Brown, J. McDonnell, & M. E. Snell (Eds.), Instruction of students with severe disabilities (9th ed., pp. 384-417). Merrill.

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. teachers college press.

Heward, W. L., & Wood, C. L. (2006). Exceptional children: An introduction to special education (p. 672). Pearson Education/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Wehmeyer, M. L., Palmer, S. B., Agran, M., Mithaug, D. E., & Martin, J. E. (2000). Promoting causal agency: The self-determined learning model of instruction. Exceptional Children, 66(4), 439-453.

TIES article on Peer Engagement

Research related to providing WISE feedback

Instructional Practice for Students with the Most Significant Cognitive Disabilities in Inclusive Settings: A Review of Literature

Inclusive Big Ideas

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TIES Lessons for All: 5-15-45 | Inclusive Strategies

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Inclusive strategies support all students to engage in robust, meaningful learning in the same setting. They support us to reduce barriers in the design of our lessons so that all students, including students with significant cognitive disabilities, can be included in a lesson from the start.

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework developed by CAST, an Understood founding partner. UDL guides the design of learning experiences to proactively meet the needs of all learners. When you use UDL, you assume that barriers to learning are in the design of the environment, not in the student. UDL is based on brain science and evidence-based educational practices. It also leverages the power of digital technology.

Imagine this: Your students are going to write an essay on the stages of butterfly metamorphosis.

Some students have seen butterflies grow through the different stages at a local science museum. These students are excited to share what they know. Other students don't know anything about butterflies and are nervous about writing on this topic. And some students don't like to write - they dread this activity from the moment you say "essay."

In any class, you know there's a wide range of enthusiasm, background, and skills among your students. When you plan with this range in mind, you can approach the lesson in several ways.

You could share a mini-lesson on butterfly metamorphosis and have students use a guided worksheet as they write. Or you could set up stations where students are grouped using flexible grouping around understanding of the topic, language ability, or reading level.

But take a step back. In any lesson or task, you can anticipate this range of variability among your students. There's another approach you can take to plan for this variability in all your lessons: Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Why use Universal Design for Learning?

The ultimate goal of UDL is for all learners to become "expert learners." Expert learners are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed about learning.

UDL is a powerful approach because from the very start of your lesson, it helps you anticipate and plan for all your learners. It can help you make sure that the greatest range of students can access and engage in learning - not just certain students.

You don't need specific tools or technologies to follow UDL's principles either. Instead, your students choose from the tools and resources you already have. They might use them in different ways.

Also, UDL may change how you think about what prevents students from learning. Instead of thinking that something needs to change about the students, UDL looks at the learning environment. The learning environment can include barriers to learning, like the design of the curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials. In this way, the learning environment itself can be "abled" or "dis-abled."

UDL gives you a framework to follow so you can reduce the barriers to learning. The main way to do this is to prepare a learning environment where students have what they need to flexibly meet learning goals.

What does UDL look like in the classroom?

Universal design can be found just about anywhere you look - both inside and outside your school. Curb cuts change sidewalks so that they're accessible to the greatest range of users, including people who use wheelchairs and those pushing strollers. Closed captions make television accessible to people who are deaf or who have hearing loss, as well as people at the gym or spouses who can't agree whether or not to keep the TV on at night. No two forms of universal design are the same.

Universal Design for Learning looks different in every classroom. But there are commonalities. To start with, there's always a focus on building expert learning for all. Other common elements of a UDL experience include:

All learners knowing the goal

Intentional, flexible options for all students to use

Student access to resources from the start of a lesson

Students building and internalizing their own learning

In a UDL environment, students rarely do the same task in the same way at the same time. The flexible options will differ across developmental ages. But the framework for having clear goals and flexible options is consistent no matter the grade level or content areas.

How can I use the three principles of UDL?

UDL describes human variability based on parts of the brain that manage the "why" (affective network), the "what" (recognition network), and the "how" (strategic network) of learning. Watch as CAST co-founder David Rose explains why UDL emphasizes variability instead of disability.

CAST developed UDL guidelines that are based on three main principles that align with these learning networks. The three UDL principles are engagement, representation, and action and expression.

The chart below includes the three UDL principles adapted from CAST. It also gives you some questions to consider and lists some examples of the principles in action. You can print a one-page version of this chart to have on hand while planning a lesson, activity, or routine for your students.

How can families support this at home?

Families may not be familiar with the concept of students being active participants in setting their learning goals. They may have questions about letting students make their own learning choices.

Explain at back-to-school night or in a class that you'll be using Universal Design for Learning. You can even share a family-friendly article about the UDL approach to teaching.

Assure families that you have high expectations for all students to become expert learners in your classroom. And explain that you'll keep working with the students and their families to build the skills and interest to make that happen.

Additional CAST resources to explore

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A teacher's guide

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UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning. When you teach using UDL, your lessons are designed in flexible ways to meet the needs of individual learners. Read more about UDL.

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CAST Tips to design a UDL Learning Experience

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CAST Tips to design a UDL Learning Experience

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Date:
Tuesday, October 6, 2020

CAST is pleased to announce the launch of a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process to revise the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines, a research-based tool for designing and implementing inclusive learning environments.

The UDL Guidelines are used by educators at all levels and across multiple domains (including prek-12, higher education, job training, museums, corporate training, etc.); product and curriculum developers; and others throughout the world, and are translated into more than a dozen languages.

As an organization with a mission of transforming education design and practice "until learning has no limits," CAST is committed to updating the UDL Guidelines to help any learning community identify, name, and redress systemic barriers to equitable learning and outcomes.

Those interested in contributing to or following this work can take a brief survey at http://bit.ly/CollaborateWithCAST.

"The UDL Guidelines have supported educators across the globe in the design of inclusive educational experiences and environments," says Linda Gerstle, CAST's CEO. "Yet we recognize that the Guidelines have not reached their full aspiration of recognizing and responding to the needs of all learners. It is time to invite more input, perspective, and voices into the development of this longstanding tool, as we continue to make good on the promise of learning without limits."

Drawing on reviews of more than 1,000 research studies of effective practices in education, the first edition of the UDL Guidelines, published in 2008, was the product of several years of drafting and refinement, with funding from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, as well as private philanthropy.

The work of revising the Guidelines will be led by educator and entrepreneur Nicole Tucker-Smith, founder and CEO of Lessoncast Learning, and Jenna W. Gravel, EdD, Director of Research & Curriculum for Professional Learning at CAST. Tucker-Smith leads the Jumpstart PD Network, a community of equity-minded educators to share ideas, spread resources, post tips, and dialogue on key areas of interest related to designing and delivering impactful PD. Dr. Gravel contributed to the development of the original editions of the UDL Guidelines. Her research prioritizes approaches that emphasize collaborative partnerships with practitioners and iterative cycles of inquiry.

Collaborate with us to update the UDL Guidelines

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CAST Announces a Community-Driven Process to Update UDL Guidelines

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Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 CAST is pleased to announce the launch of a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process to revise the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines, a research-based tool for designing and implementing inclusive learning environments.

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CAST UDL Symposium 2020 Closing: UDL Guidelines 3.0

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Goals:

Develop an understanding of the vision for the ultimate goal of UDL, to support learners to develop as ”expert learners” who are, each in their own way, purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed in their learning.

Access CAST’s expert learner descriptors as a tool to look for evidence of student learning in your classroom.

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"Start to look for ways learners are being purposeful and motivated in their engagement, resourceful and knowledgeable in how they develop their understanding, and strategic and goal-directed in how they are pursuing their learning." - Allison Posey

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Impact | Winter 2018/19 Volume 31, Number 2

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Expert Learning is for All by Elizabeth Hartmann and Jose Blackorby

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UDL Theory and Practice: Chapter 2 Expert Learning

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UDL Theory and Practice: Chapter 2 Expert Learning

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Introduction

The word “expert” probably conjures up a person who has mastered a particular skill or domain of knowledge, a professional, or a highly skilled amateur who can perform at a high level. But if we think a moment, we realize that expertise is never static. Developing expertise in anything is always a process of continuous learning—practice, adjustment, and refinement.1 In the context of UDL, we focus on learning expertise: the lifelong process of becoming ever more motivated, knowledgeable, and skillful.

The goal of becoming an expert learner in this sense applies to people of all ages and situations. All participants in any educational environment should be learning, growing, and improving. Thus, when we speak of expert teachers or expert learners, we do not mean that they necessarily know more than other teachers or learners. We mean they are people who continually develop in the context of their professional community, the classroom, informal settings—indeed, wherever learning takes place.

For the purposes of this book, we define expertise not as a destination—signifying the mastery of content knowledge and skills—but rather as a process of “becoming more expert” on a continuum of development. Expertise looks very different from person to person because each of us has different proclivities, opportunities, stages of development, and domains of engagement.

Everyone can become an expert learner because everyone can develop the motivation, the practice, the reflection, the self-efficacy, the self-regulation, the self-determination, the executive functioning, the comprehension, and the situational awareness that help to make experts what they are.

In educational settings, the goal of developing expertise applies to all participants: students, teachers, and all of the personnel in the system itself. If everyone is focused on developing expertise as a learner, the context is suffused with great models. Continual improvement, engagement, and growth are available to and expected of everyone.

...We define expertise not as a destination but rather as a process of becoming more expert on a continuum of development.

This emphasis on process does not negate the importance of mastering specific content and skills, but it does require us to consider these kinds of mastery in a broader context. The ultimate goal of our efforts as educators is to engage, challenge, and support each learner to become the best s/he can be. Mastery of specific content and skills serves as grist for the mill, the practice ground for developing oneself into someone who wants to learn and knows how to learn continuously throughout life. Viewing education this way profoundly changes the way we go about it. We no longer hold narrow views of what it means to succeed. Mastering content and skills or reaching particular standardized milestones are not the only measures of being a successful learner. Learning expertise cannot be measured simply by evaluating competencies and outcomes at a single point in time because learning is a process of continual change and growth. 2

To enable everyone to develop learning expertise we need to design learning environments that are smart and flexible enough to support this ongoing, continuous development at every level. For students, the focus of learning is the general curriculum; for educators, the focus is on teaching about learning; and for the system as a whole, the focus is on fostering collaboration and community to maximize learning opportunities for all.

In this chapter you'll first read about expert learners, then expert teachers, and finally expert systems. We separate these for the purpose of study. However, in reality they interact so closely that they are not functionally separable. By the end of the chapter it should be clear that in order to have expert learners, teachers, and systems, all three must work together as a flexible, supportive community.

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The word “expert” probably conjures up a person who has mastered a particular skill or domain of knowledge, a professional, or a highly skilled amateur who can perform at a high level. But if we think a moment, we realize that expertise is never static…

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The expert learner: Strategic, self-regulated, and reflective

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The expert learner: Strategic, self-regulated, and reflective

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The expert learner: Strategic, self-regulated, and reflective - Instructional Science

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Reflection on the process of learning is believed to be an essential ingredient in the development of expert learners. By employing reflective thinking skills to evaluate the results of one’s own learning efforts, awareness of effective learning strategies can be increased and ways to use these stra…

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Cross-Pollinating Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and UDL: Toward an Inclusive Pedagogy that Accounts for Dis/Ability

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Cross-Pollinating Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and UDL: Toward an Inclusive Pedagogy that Accounts for Dis/Ability

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In this article, Federico R. Waitoller and Kathleen A. King Thorius extend recent discussions on culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in order to explicitly account for student dis/ability. The authors engage in this work as part of an inclusive education agenda. Toward this aim, they discuss how CSP and universal design for learning will benefit from cross-pollination and then conclude by suggesting interdisciplinary dialogue as a means to building emancipatory pedagogies that attend to intersecting markers of difference (e.g., dis/ability, class, gender, race, language, and ethnicity).

Descriptors: Culturally Relevant Education, Disabilities, Talent, Inclusion, Teaching Methods, Interdisciplinary Approach, Student Characteristics, Social Class, Gender Differences, Racial Differences, Language Usage, Ethnicity, Equal Education, Access to Education, Racial Bias, Disability Discrimination

Harvard Education Publishing Group. 8 Story Street First Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138. Tel: 617-495-3432; Fax: 617-496-3584; e-mail: hepg@harvard.edu; Web site: http://hepg.org/her-home/home

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ERIC - EJ1113760 - Cross-Pollinating Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning: Toward an Inclusive Pedagogy That Accounts for Dis/Ability, Harvard Educational Review, 2016

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In this article, Federico R. Waitoller and Kathleen A. King Thorius extend recent discussions on culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) in order to explicitly account for student dis/ability. The authors engage in this work as part of an inclusive education agenda.

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Podcast: Liz Hartmann (higher education) 

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Podcast: Liz Hartmann (higher education) 

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Implementation

Liz Hartmann, a former K-12 teacher specializing in Deaf-blindness and intellectual disabilities, now teaches about UDL at Lasell College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Hear how her graduate students learned how to take more risks in their own learning as they applied the UDL framework and investigated their own journeys toward becoming expert learners.

The podcast's theme music is Corporate Success by Scott Holmes, and is used according to the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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Episode 6 - Liz Hartmann * Loui Lord Nelson

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Liz Hartmann, a former K-12 teacher specializing in Deaf-blindness and intellectual disabilities, now teaches about UDL at Lasell College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Hear how her graduate students learned how to take more risks in their own learning as they applied the UDL framework and investigated their own journeys toward becoming expert [...]

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Podcast: Andretesha Fitzgerald (high school English)

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Podcast: Andretesha Fitzgerald (high school English)

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Episode 60 - Andretesha Fitzgerald * Loui Lord Nelson

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Andretesha Fitzgerald shares how a unit on letter writing empowered her students then and continues to empower her students now. Video Video with Audio Descriptions Transcript Transcript with Audio Descriptions Follow-up Blog Post UDL Guidelines The podcast's theme music is Corporate Success by Scott Holmes, and is used according to the terms of the CC [...]

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Podcast: Timmary Leary (high school AP Art)

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Podcast: Timmary Leary (high school AP Art)

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Implementation

Hear about Timmary's AP Art History course that welcomes all learners, holds high expectations, and is held in a community-based museum. It's all made possible through her application of UDL.

The podcast's theme music is Corporate Success by Scott Holmes, and is used according to the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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Episode 65 - Timmary Leary * Loui Lord Nelson

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Hear about Timmary's AP Art History course that welcomes all learners, holds high expectations, and is held in a community-based museum. It's all made possible through her application of UDL. Video Video with Audio Descriptions Transcript Transcript with Audio Descriptions Follow-up Blog Post UDL Guidelines The podcast's theme music is Corporate Success by Scott Holmes, [...]

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Design for Each and Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning 

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Design for Each and Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning 

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Design for Each and Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning Modules | Module 1

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Let’s get started by exploring the key concepts of UDL that make it unique to any other approach. After you complete this module you will know why UDL is a framework that supports educators to intentionally design learning experiences that are inclusive for each and every learner.

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CAST is a multifaceted organization with a singular ambition: Bust the barriers to learning that millions of people experience every day. We do this by helping educators and organizations apply insights from the learning sciences and leading-edge practices to educational design and implementation.

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In this introductory online course for preK-12 educators, participants learn the research basis for UDL, practical applications of UDL to lesson design, and helpful technology tools that support flexible, inclusive instruction.

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PreK-12: Instructor-Led Course

In this introductory online course for preK-12 educators, participants learn the research basis for UDL, practical applications of UDL to lesson design, and helpful technology tools that support flexible, inclusive instruction.

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Find out more about CAST. We're busting barriers to learning, until learning has no limits®.

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Goals:

Explore the concept of a “problem of practice”

Surface and refine a clear problem of practice that can be addressed through a focused understanding of UDL

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HGSE PPE Apply Phase: Problem of Practice Protocol

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: Addressing Problems of Practice in Education

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: Addressing Problems of Practice in Education

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Recently, a great amount of attention - both scholarly and popular - has been focused on implementing design thinking in schools (Norton & Hathaway, 2015). A recent piece in The Atlantic, for example, notes that "design" has become a buzzword in education (Lahey, 2017), even though many teachers remain unsure what it means or how to apply it. In this article, we provide an overview of design thinking, and we share some examples of ways in which teachers have used it to reconsider their own practice.

In brief, "design thinking" refers to a strategic approach to analyzing and finding solutions to messy real-world problems. By thinking like a designer - that is, by looking at how students actually experience the curriculum, classroom activities, assignments, and other aspects of life in school, much as an industrial designer might look at how consumers actually use products - they can better analyze problems and identify promising ways to move forward.

We do not advocate for a specific model of design thinking - it's an overall approach to solving problems, not a particular technique or set of steps; there are many design thinking models in circulation; more than could be described here (Plattner, Meinel, & Leifer, 2010). Rather, we share some insights from teachers about their takeaways from using a design process, and we consider how design-based approaches can shed light on the kinds of problem solving that teachers engage in regularly as they navigate the challenges of the profession.
Navigating educational problems of practice
In their everyday lives, teachers frequently encounter challenging problems of practice that can be difficult to manage, from issues having to do with curriculum planning and instruction to student engagement, school culture, classroom management, school-community relations, and more.

Problems of practice are both complex and actionable, though they are unlikely to have a single right or wrong solution. For example, a teacher might wish to figure out how to increase student efficacy in a particular mathematics course. If there were an easy answer, all math teachers would apply the one correct approach, and all students would thrive in math. It is precisely because there is no simple, one-size-fits-all solution that makes this challenge well-suited to the design thinking process.

Design thinking typically involves several phases, or stages, which have been codified over time as people have experimented with various ways of solving problems. For example, these stages often include:

Empathizing with stakeholders to understand the problem, such as by interviewing or observing students, or trying to put oneself in their shoes;

Defining the problem, which means describing it comprehensively, including all of its facets and students' perspectives;

Ideating or brainstorming to gather as many ideas for solutions as possible, from the commonplace to the wild and everything in between;

Prototyping or choosing a solution to create and try; and

Testing or trying the prototyped solution with students, to gain perspective on what works, what does not, and what needs to be done, or redone.

This may appear linear, but design thinking is actually an iterative and variable process. Designers, teachers, and others can cycle through stages or repeat them as needed to understand a particular situation.

We use a design thinking framework in an in-service teacher education course (which we have co-taught through Michigan State University). The process begins with participants choosing a problem of practice to address - it can involve anything from trying to increase student motivation in a math class to improving communication with parents, helping students develop better conversation skills, or any other issue that they see as important to their work.

In the course, we use the Stanford University d.School design thinking model to help the teachers work through the problems they've identified (Plattner, 2015). Again, we do not suggest that this one approach is best, but we do argue that it is important to choose a model, as it provides educators with a guiding framework, or "a way to intentionally work through getting stuck" (Watson, 2015, p. 16).

Through our work with teachers, we've identified three key concepts that we've found to be particularly important to support problem solving in educational contexts. They include valuing empathy, becoming open to uncertainty, and seeing teaching as design. (We phrase these as active words because our teachers often talk about the positive changes they accomplish, personally and professionally, during the design process.)
Valuing empathy
Singling out empathy as a key part of the process may seem redundant because it is already a phase in most design thinking. Yet, for the educators we work with, empathy has been a uniquely important part of the design process, directing them to put aside their familiar perspectives and see a problem from students' viewpoints (often through quick and simple interviews, observations, or putting themselves in a student's place). For instance, one teacher, Margaret, shared how important it has been for her to start with an empathetic look at the given problem:

As I interviewed my class, my students waved their hands in the air, enthusiastically wanting their voice to be heard. In the past, I would turn to my mentor teacher for advice. But in the empathize phase, I learned the importance of eliciting the student's voice . . . What I thought my class was thinking was not what they were actually thinking.

Educators care deeply about students so it is easy to assume empathy is second nature. But another teacher in our class, Kelly, noted that it requires active questioning and investigating to come to an empathetic understanding:

I try to help my students in any way possible, to create activities and lessons that they enjoy and learn from. But now I look back and ask, had I ever viewed my classroom and my teaching from their perspective? Where on the spectrum of complicated and frustrating to simplistically wonderful were my lesson designs? I had no idea until I began this process.

This does not mean that educators must empathize and then simply do whatever students want; teaching is a complex negotiation among competing demands. But design thinking and problem solving should at least begin with an effort to understand one's students. As Nina, noted:

It is easy to assume that students share the same passions that we do . . . but I'm realizing it is important to understand them with an open mind. Later, there are opportunities to make decisions and to balance needs and wants. But first making a sincere effort to hear what your [students] think or feel opens up new possibilities to balance student needs with other objectives.

Simply put, teachers tend to view the world through their own eyes, making it difficult to see the given problem clearly. A math teacher, Jordan, reflected on how using empathy in design caused a shift in his approach across teaching contexts:

I've so often heard people discuss "unmotivated" students. Now I wonder what insights would we gain from looking at the student perspective and how might it change what we do as educators? When I sit in meetings or PD now, I try to empathize with the people our decisions will affect. Without empathy, we end up thinking that things like more testing and "accountability" will result in better student outcomes.
Becoming open to uncertainty and failure
Another key theme that has surfaced in our work with teachers is the need to confront uncertainty in the classroom. Historically, the U.S. educational system has valued conformity and rule-following, but creativity and progress require the willingness to try something new, be it a policy initiative, a new lesson design, or a change to the curriculum (Smith & Henriksen, 2016).

In our work with educators, we find that no matter how accustomed they may be to seeking the "one right answer" to classroom problems, teachers can quickly break themselves of that habit. A key step in design thinking asks them to seek ideas widely and without judgment, then to try a new idea in practice, testing its effectiveness. This gives them permission to be wrong, reflect, try again, and explore possibilities rather than to avoid risk taking.

For instance, one teacher, Claire, recently told us that in the face of strict school accountability systems, many of her colleagues have become obsessed with finding quick ways to improve student performance, which makes it difficult to explore and address the root causes of poor achievement. She noted, "We think we know why problems occur. We think we have the answers. So often we skip empathizing and understanding and defining, and jump right into a solution. Fortunately, I see it now . . . how crucial it is to focus and refocus."

Another teacher, Jordan, reflected on how important it is to have creative freedom as teachers build environments and classrooms where mistakes and ongoing iteration are expected:

I enjoyed this design process as it allowed me to develop lots of ideas without worrying how they might be perceived and received. We have to accept that we might learn as much from a failed idea or prototype as we'd learn from a successful one. It's necessary to develop a culture of trust and risk taking both for teachers and students.

Of the many things that educators can take away from design thinking, the ability to try new things, and sometimes fail and rethink or regroup, is key. Another teacher, Joan, noted, "I learned it is OK to be wrong! I talked to my students as stakeholders, listened to their concerns and opinions, and used what I had gathered to change my original ideas. The solutions that emerged were greater than I thought they could be."
Viewing teaching as design
Finally, a broader takeaway from our recent work with in-service educators is that they should make it a priority to view themselves as designers - of student learning and experiences.

We've found that, initially, most teachers think of themselves as "doers" and "implementers," not designers of solutions or experiences. As one teacher Nina commented, "The term 'design' can bring with it many associations. When I initially thought of design, I thought of car styling or of architecture. I had not thought to apply the term 'design' to the complex issues that I encounter in teaching."

Or, as another teacher, Joan, put it:

Had you initially asked me to describe design, I would have said it is an art achieved by artists, car designers, or architects. I would not have said that I, myself, fit into this category. I hold many roles - mom, wife, teacher, colleague, leader. But not designer. Boy, was I wrong.

Many of our teachers noted how, through the process of using design to address classroom and school issues, they began to see themselves as creative individuals who had the tools to enact change in their context. For example, Morgan reflected on her growth as she began to connect education to design, saying that:

I chose a problem that I've tried solving through other means, but also previously thought, "Well, teachers are always trying to make students more engaged." But here I found I was actually making progress toward designing a solution! I could also tell at this point that my mind-set had shifted and I had begun to see teaching and lesson creation from a designer's point of view.

This view of oneself as a teacher-designer has been empowering for many educators as they become more confident in their abilities to creatively engage in problem solving. As Janet noted:

I no longer see myself only as a teacher, but as a designer. I had always thought a design was based on an idea that just popped into your head. I always thought people with excellent ideas were the people that just naturally had great ideas. This work has taught me that everyone can be a designer and that there is a process. Teaching is design . . . I was a designer without even realizing it.
What does this mean for education in practice?
Educational problems of practice are complex and involve a range of moving parts and variables, including school and classroom contexts, human psychology, and knowledge of pedagogy and content. We argue that when confronted by such complex problems, it helps to take a strategic approach to problem solving, treating it as a systematic process of analyzing and redesigning one's everyday work in schools (from classroom management, to student engagement, to community relations, or parent engagement, and more). In doing so, we can adapt some of the approaches and skills that designers have often successfully applied to human-centered problems.

Free online tools and resources for design thinking have become increasingly available, allowing teachers to learn more about it, including the Stanford d.School model, the IDEO Design Thinking for Educators model, and others. But at the same time, through working in professional development settings, we've found that certain aspects of design tend to be particularly important to teachers. Perhaps more so than professionals in other fields, teachers tend to focus on the importance of seeing problems empathetically, becoming open to uncertainty, and recognizing that teaching itself is a form of design.

Herbert Simon, the "founding father" of the field of design, viewed design as human-centered problem solving. As he put it, "Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones" (1969, p. 130). We hope that teachers or administrators dealing with complex challenges in schools will see themselves in this statement.
References
Lahey, J. (2017, January 4). How design thinking became a buzzword at school. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/01/how-design-thinking-became-a-buzzword-at-school/512150/

Norton, P. & Hathaway, D. (2015). In search of a teacher education curriculum: Appropriating a design lens to solve problems of practice.  Educational Technology, 55 (6), 3-14.

Plattner, H. (2015). Bootcamp bootleg. Institute of Design at Stanford. https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/the-bootcamp-bootleg

Plattner, H., Meinel, C., & Leifer, L. (Eds.). (2010). Design thinking: Understand-improve-apply. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media.

Simon, H.A. (1969). The sciences of the artiﬁcial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Smith, S. & Henriksen, D. (2016). Fail again, fail better: Embracing failure as a paradigm for creative learning in the arts. Art Education 69 (2), 6-11.

Watson, A.D. (2015). Design thinking for life. Art Education, 68 (3), 12.

Citation: Henriksen, D. & Richardson, C. (2017). Teachers are designers: Addressing problems of practice in education. Phi Delta Kappan 99 (2), 60-64.

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Teachers are designers: Addressing problems of practice in education - kappanonline.org

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Teachers may be confused or put off by buzzwords like "design thinking," but the concept is a useful one.

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How to Make the Shift from Indulging Problems to Creating Possibilities

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How to Make the Shift from Indulging Problems to Creating Possibilities

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How to make the shift from indulging problems to creating possibilities - MindShift

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For those looking to create radical transformation in the education sphere and beyond, Dr. Shawn Ginwright’s new book “The Four Pivots” discusses how to shift from resisting to reimagining.

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How to break down barriers to learning with UDL

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How to break down barriers to learning with UDL

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When you plan a road trip, you know you might run into detours or roadblocks that get in the way of reaching your destination. Some of those barriers are predictable, like traffic, road work, or bad weather. Knowing and anticipating those barriers can help you plan your trip so you can still get to your destination.

Classroom lessons are no different. There will be barriers that prevent students from reaching the intended learning goals. Just like with a road trip, some of those barriers are predictable and can be reduced by careful planning and design. Identifying barriers in curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials will help students gain the skills they need to become expert learners.

What are barriers to learning?

Barriers to learning are where students "get stuck" in a lesson or activity. For each student, barriers can differ from subject to subject and from activity to activity. A core tenet of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is to anticipate and address those barriers up front. You can do that by designing flexible lessons and learning environments rather than trying to "fix" or change a student.

Here are some examples of barriers:

Not having enough background knowledge or the required skills for a lesson

Not knowing the next steps or not receiving feedback about their progress, which can be difficult for many students, especially those who struggle with executive function

Not knowing key vocabulary terms, which can be challenging for many students, including English language learners

Facing social-emotional challenges or feeling that a lesson isn't culturally relevant or academically interesting

How can I identify and reduce barriers?

The first step is to clarify the goal (or the "destination") of your lesson. If lessons are overpacked with goals, it can be overwhelming to identify all of the barriers.

So for each part of a lesson, identify the primary goal: What do you really want students to know, do, or care about for that part of the lesson? Then, reflect on the different pathways or options students have to achieve that goal. That flexibility helps reduce barriers and increases meaningful learning opportunities. Ask yourself the following questions:

In addition to these questions, there are three more ways you can identify and reduce barriers in your lessons: reflect on where you need to re-teach; ask students to give you feedback; and proactively identify barriers.

1. Reflect on reteaching.

After a lesson, ask yourself, "When did I need to repeat directions?" "When did I have to show students how to do something I already taught?" or "When was a student not able to be fully included in the lesson?" The answers will help you identify the barrier in your lesson. With the barrier in mind, you can then make plans to reduce that barrier by adding an additional support or scaffold into the learning environment.

For example, imagine that after you model how to solve a word problem, some students struggle to remember the process for solving this kind of problem. The barrier is that the lesson requires students to process and work with a lot of information at once. To reduce the barrier, you could create a short video highlighting the key steps of the process. Or you could provide a graphic organizer outlining the steps.

Adding those resources to your lesson and making them available for all students to reference as needed reduces the barrier. Those resources will also help all students develop expert learning skills and make progress. That, in turn, empowers students to better understand what they need to be more independent in their learning.

Whether they know it or not, students are very good at giving feedback about barriers. Think about when students ask, " Do I have to...?" That question often signals that the student is facing a barrier to learning. For example, a student who asks, " Do I have to work with a partner?" is expressing concern that working with a partner is going to get in the way of learning.

Before responding to the question, you can think through whether partner collaboration is an important part of the lesson goal. If it is an important part of the lesson, you might reduce the barrier by suggesting a few sentence starters to foster collaboration between partners. If partner work is not critical to the lesson goal, you could make working with a partner optional.

You can also use exit tickets to gather student feedback. Ask students where they were frustrated or disengaged during a lesson. Read more from Reading Rockets about how to use and create exit tickets.

Using tools like exit tickets can help you build routines to better understand the experiences your students are having in the classroom. At the same time, these routines can also build students' self-awareness and self-advocacy skills so they can recognize and address their own barriers.

You can also proactively identify barriers using CAST's UDL Guidelines. It's a powerful tool to help you think about potential barriers to learning before delivering a lesson. With UDL, barriers can be identified in terms of:

Will reducing barriers make learning too "easy"?

It's natural to worry that offering strategies or scaffolds could lead students to take the "easy" route. And sometimes, you may want students to grapple with a concept or encounter a productive struggle. Productive struggle is about students experiencing desirable difficulty, like struggling with how to apply a particular problem-solving strategy. (It's not about being stuck while trying to read the text that explains the strategy.)

So how do you balance these concerns with reducing barriers? Here are some considerations:

Without scaffolds, students may not gain the foundational skills and tools necessary to develop expert learning. Keep in mind that most scaffolds aren't meant to be permanent, but are phased out as students build expertise. If students continue to use a scaffold longer than needed, it's a good chance to encourage them to take a risk and not use the scaffold anymore.

No lesson will ever be completely barrier-free. Each year and in each lesson, there will be different barriers for different students.

But identifying and reducing those barriers is important. Without flexible tools and resources for all students, gaps in learning outcomes will persist. This is especially true of students who come to lessons without the expected requisite background or skills.

When you reduce barriers and set challenging, meaningful learning goals, you will develop more equitable teaching practices for all students. You will have designed learning to anticipate and value student variability in your class.

To get started with finding and breaking down barriers, print or download a one-page chart that includes the three UDL principles adapted from CAST. The chart includes some questions to consider and examples of the principles in action. Keep the chart on hand when you set out to reduce barriers to learning in your next lesson or activity.

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How to break down barriers to learning with UDL

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See how to use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to anticipate and address barriers to learning. Use UDL barrier analysis to help design flexible curricula.

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Placing Universal Design For Learning At The Heart Of Instructional Design

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Placing Universal Design For Learning At The Heart Of Instructional Design

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CIDDL - Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning

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Placing Universal Design For Learning At The Heart Of Instructional Design - CIDDL

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Placing Universal Design For Learning At The Heart Of Instructional Design About Dr. Rao The guest expert of this CIDDL Research and Practice Brief is Dr. Kavita Rao. Dr. Kavita Rao is a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Hawaii’s College of Education. Her work foc…

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Goals:

To develop an action plan to use UDL to address your identified problem of practice.

To brainstorm how you can use this process to address other problems of practice in your setting.

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Planning on turning your vision into reality? And what's your best way to avoid challenges and problems during this journey? A solid action plan.

We have outlined 6 steps explaining how to write an action plan. Once you familiarize yourself with them, go ahead and use the editable templates below to start planning right away.

What is an Action Plan

An action plan is a checklist for the steps or tasks you need to complete in order to achieve the goals you have set.

It's an essential part of the strategic planning process and helps with improving teamwork planning. Not only in project management, but action plans can be used by individuals to prepare a strategy to achieve their own personal goals as well.

Components of an action plan include

A well-defined description of the goal to be achieved

Tasks/ steps that need to be carried out to reach the goal

People who will be in charge of carrying out each task

When will these tasks be completed (deadlines and milestones)

Resources needed to complete the tasks

Measures to evaluate progress

What's great about having everything listed down on one location is that it makes it easier to track progress and effectively plan things out.

An action plan is not something set in stone. As your organization grows, and surrounding circumstances change, you will have to revisit and make adjustments to meet the latest needs.

Why You Need an Action Plan

Sometimes businesses don't spend much time on developing an action plan before an initiative, which, in most cases, leads to failure. If you haven't heard, "failing to plan is planning to fail" said Benjamin Franklin supposedly once.

Planning helps you prepare for the obstacles ahead and keep you on track. And with an effective action plan, you can boost your productivity and keep yourself focused.

Here are some benefits of an action plan you should know;

It gives you a clear direction. As an action plan highlights exactly what steps to be taken and when they should be completed, you will know exactly what you need to do.

Having your goals written down and planned out in steps will give you a reason to stay motivated and committed throughout the project.

With an action plan, you can track your progress toward your goal.

Since you are listing down all the steps you need to complete in your action plan, it will help you prioritize your tasks based on effort and impact.

How to Write an Action Plan | Best Practices

From the looks of it, creating an action plan seems fairly easy. But there are several important steps you need to follow with caution in order to get the best out of it. Here's how to write an action plan explained in 6 easy steps.

Step 1: Define your end goal

If you are not clear about what you want to do and what you want to achieve, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Planning a new initiative? Start by defining where you are and where you want to be.

Solving a problem? Analyze the situation and explore possible solutions before prioritizing them.

Then write down your goal. And before you move on to the next step, run your goal through the SMART criteria. Or in other words, make sure that it is

Specific - well-defined and clear

Measurable - include measurable indicators to track progress

Attainable - realistic and achievable within the resources, time, money, experience, etc. you have

Relevant - align with your other goals

Timely - has a finishing date

Use this SMART goals worksheet to simplify this process. Share it with others to get their input as well.

And refer to our easy guide to the goal-setting process to learn more about setting and planning your goals.

Step 2: List down the steps to be followed

The goal is clear. What exactly should you do to realize it?

Create a rough template to list down all the tasks to be performed, due dates and people responsible.

It's important that you make sure that the entire team is involved in this process and has access to the document. This way everyone will be aware of their roles and responsibilities in the project.

Make sure that each task is clearly defined and is attainable. If you come across larger and more complex tasks, break them down to smaller ones that are easier to execute and manage.
Use a RACI Matrix template to clarify project roles and responsibilities, and plan projects
Step 3: Prioritize tasks and add deadlines

It's time to reorganize the list by prioritizing the tasks. Some steps, you may need to prioritize as they can be blocking other sub-steps.

Add deadlines, and make sure that they are realistic. Consult with the person responsible for carrying it out to understand his or her capacity before deciding on deadlines.

Step 4: Set Milestones

Milestones can be considered mini goals leading up to the main goal at the end. The advantage of adding milestones is that they give the team members to look forward to something and help them stay motivated even though the final due date is far away.

Start from the end goal and work your way back as you set milestones. Remember not to keep too little or too much time in between the milestone you set. It's a best practice to space milestones two weeks apart.

Step 5: Identify the resources needed

Before you start your project, it's crucial to ensure that you have all the necessary resources at hand to complete the tasks. And if they are not currently available, you need to first make a plan to acquire them.

This should also include your budget. You can assign a column of your action plan to mark the cost of each task if there are any.

Step 6: Visualize your action plan

The point of this step is to create something that everyone can understand at a glance and that can be shared with everyone.

Whether your action plan comes in the shape of a flowchart, Gantt chart, or table, make sure that it clearly communicates the elements we have identified so far - tasks, task owners, deadlines, resources, etc.

This document should be easily accessible to everyone and should be editable.

Step 7: Monitor, evaluate and update

Allocate some time to evaluate the progress you've made with your team.

You can mark tasks that are completed as done on this final action plan, bringing attention to how you've progressed toward the goal.

This will also bring out the tasks that are pending or delayed, in which case you need to figure out why and find suitable solutions. And then update the action plan accordingly.

Action Plan Templates
Business action plan The Easy Guide to Making a Business Plan for Presentations Marketing action plan
Strategic action plan
Corrective action plan template
Find more Corrective Action Plan templates
The Easy Guide to Creating a Business Contingency Plan Action plan template

Action Plan Template (Click on the template to edit it online)

Any More Tips on Creating an Action Plan?

An action plan is designed to guide your way to accomplishing your goals. It turns your vision into actionable goals and steps. And it helps you stay focused and motivated.

From an individual employee in an organization to larger departments can make use of action plans to steer their way towards completing their goals.

Maybe you are about to create your very first action plan, or you are already a pro in writing them. Either way, we'd like to hear your opinions on how to write an action plan. Do share them with us in the comments section below.

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How to Write an Action Plan | Step-by-Step Guide with Templates

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Planning on turning your vision into reality? And what's your best way to avoid challenges and problems during this journey? A solid action plan. We have outlined 6 steps explaining how to write an action plan. Once you familiarize yourself with them, go ahead and use the editable templates below to start planning right away.

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3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

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3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Using Data to Transform Instruction - CAST

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Using Data to Transform Instruction - CAST

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Using Data to Transform Instruction - CAST

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Schools, districts, and educators collect data constantly. How can we use that data to effectively transform instruction through UDL?

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Continuously Refine Your Practice With Student Feedback

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Continuously Refine Your Practice With Student Feedback

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A few weeks into each semester, Gayle Golden asks her University of Minnesota journalism students to answer a few brief, anonymous questions about the course she teaches. After examining responses, she discusses the results with her students during the next class.

"She tells them which suggestions she plans to put into practice, which recommendations she can't act on, and why," writes Rebecca Koenig for EdSurge. Says Golden: "If they told me something like, 'I want no deadlines,' I will say: 'I heard a call for no deadlines, I understand deadlines are hard, but I can't do that in this class, and the reason is this-sorry.' By saying that, I have told them I have heard them."

Known as early-term feedback, the practice is a quick temperature check that can "unearth a trove of useful information," including a teacher's blind spots or classroom logistics and protocols that students find confusing or inefficient. Adapted to middle and high school classrooms, it's a powerful-and even continuous-way to gather student input to quickly refine and improve teaching and learning at either the class or lesson level. Feedback can be done very simply online or via pencil and paper, for example, and should always focus on giving students an opportunity to voice their concerns, needs, and thinking about their learning, the class, and how it's being taught.

Because the feedback protocol generally includes time dedicated to closing the loop with students-with the teacher addressing feedback in class and then strategically implementing some changes-it's also a valuable tool for building a positive, respectful learning environment. "Not only does the process of gathering and incorporating student feedback offer an opportunity to improve a course before too much time has passed," notes Koenig, "it can also change the tone and culture of a classroom, enabling a [teacher] to demonstrate to students that she values their perspectives."

The Purpose of Student Surveys

When the authors of a 2019 study conducted in-depth interviews with award-winning instructors of online courses, they found that a significant part of what set these educators apart from less successful instructors was their emphasis on the use of "data for continuous improvement." The instructors, the researchers found, routinely collected feedback from students to gain insight into what was working or not and where obstacles might exist for students. The data they collected would then be used for "immediate and remedial action," the study authors note. And while these instructors worked in a remote environment, the data they were looking for is applicable to in-person learning as well.

Christopher Pagan, a physics teacher at Trinidad Garza Early College High School in Dallas, Texas, began surveying his students because they were having a hard time learning the materials, weren't turning in assignments, and often skipped the opportunity to take make-up tests. He wanted them to reflect on what would improve their learning experience so that he could understand what he might change.

Pagan developed a 5-minute survey for students to fill out in class-the results were illuminating. "He got the information back, changed how he taught, and changed how he tutored," says Dr. Janice Lombardi, the school's principal. "As a result, last year, his students' physics scores phenomenally increased," and the school made student surveys a "best practice" that all teachers implement twice a year.

Asking Good Questions

To get the most out of the process, questions should stay focused on instruction, Pagan advises, because "the purpose of this survey is to give my students a voice to tell me what changes I can make and what practices I can implement to help them perform better in class. It has nothing to do with content." So if there's a specific problem area in your class, like homework and quizzes, for example, questions might include: "Do you turn your homework in on time? If so, or if not, why?" Or, "How do you perform on tests and quizzes? If you don't do well, why is that? If you do well, why is that?" Consider including a few open-ended questions to "surface problem areas that you didn't think about," Pagan suggests.

When Golden surveys her University of Minnesota class, she asks them three simple questions:

What should keep happening in this class?

What should we start doing in this class?

What should we stop doing in this class?

For a middle- or high school survey, here are examples of typical student survey questions published by organizations such as Harvard University's Making Caring Common Project, EduCause, and the Hawaii Department of Education:

Are assignments clear? Are you able to access them?

Do you feel like your voice is heard?

Do you feel like you belong in the classroom?

What can I do to improve our classroom?

Modeling Useful Feedback

At first, students might feel nervous about delivering honest feedback to teachers, so it's important to briefly explain the process and its value to them as students-and to you as the teacher-emphasizing that it's an opportunity to use their voices in a respectful way to impact their experience and success as learners. You might model how to deliver productive feedback, perhaps suggesting a few sentence starters in the survey to help them get started. For example, "It would be helpful for me if my teacher spent more/less time doing..." or "I struggle to complete homework on time because..." Remind students that the survey is anonymous so that they feel comfortable being honest.

To encourage students to offer relevant, constructive feedback, rather than personal or off-topic comments, formulate questions so that they're emphasizing the central idea of "What helps you learn?" And then be sure to "frame it upfront that [you] care about what the students are experiencing and want to make changes," says Kris Gorman, an education program specialist at the University of Minnesota's Center for Education Innovation.

Making Sure You're Ready to Implement It

It's frustrating to give thoughtful feedback and then never hear back. Before you get started, be honest with yourself about whether you have the bandwidth to engage in the whole survey process, including closing the loop with students and proposing and taking action on next steps. "I've always encouraged people to only collect feedback if you are ready to take action on it," Gorman tells Koenig. "If you don't have capacity, the worst thing you can do is collect feedback and not be willing to do anything to change."

Regardless of how carefully you position the survey and explain its purpose to students, be prepared, as well, to hear negative feedback. If student feedback feels especially difficult or negative, try to "take what's actionable, leave what's emotional," Gorman suggests. "It's like any relationship; you have to ask 'What's up?' and talk about it truthfully. You'll find if you start to do that, the likelihood is you're going to improve the situation."

Finally, keep in mind that not all survey results that have merit require immediate action. In fact, acting on all feedback not only is impossible but also can destabilize your classroom routines and disrupt learning. Be judicious and consider selecting only the top one or two high-impact changes that you can reasonably implement in the classroom. Keep the rest for later; there will be plenty of time to make tweaks as the school year progresses.

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Continuously Refine Your Practice With Student Feedback

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A few weeks into each semester, Gayle Golden asks her University of Minnesota journalism students to answer a few brief, anonymous questions about the course she teaches. After examining responses, she discusses the results with her students during the next class.