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NCAC: What is UDL?

What is Universal Design for Learning?

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a new approach for teaching, learning, and assessment, that draws on new brain research and new media technologies to respond to individual learner differences. UDL curricula, teaching practices, and policies are inherently flexible and therefore may reduce the demand on educators to develop and implement modifications and accommodations to meet individual differences within general education learning environments.

While educators continue to search for new ways to improve results for all learners, including learners with a wide range of disabilities, the UDL approach is gaining favor with educators, professional development providers, and curriculum developers interested in meeting the requirements of IDEA ’97. This is occurring in a wide variety of education environments, especially where reform has become synonymous with standards and performance goals. High stakes testing with reasonable accommodation and a limited number of alternative assessments require the development of new approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment to ensure that schools provide high quality learning experiences that meet new demands for accountability.

To learn more about UDL:

• Access, Participation, and Progress in the General Curriculum: A Technical Brief prepared by the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum By Chuck Hitchcock, Anne Meyer, David Rose & Richard Jackson

• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a new paradigm for teaching, learning and assessment, and draws on new brain research and new media technologies to respond to individual learner differences.
  Visit CAST's UDL Web site for more information: http://www.cast.org/udl/

• Visit the TES interactive Web site: Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age
  Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning, by David Rose and Anne Meyer, is a comprehensive presentation of the principles and applications of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The book is supported with this Web site that provides not only the text of the book online, but is enriched with multimedia examples of UDL, as well a number of interactive tutorials, tools and templates. The Teaching Every Student (TES) Web site supports educators in learning about and practicing Universal Design for Learning.

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about Universal Design for Learning

• Appearing in the Spring 2002 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education:
  The Digital Revolution's New Bounty: Technology Can Now Tailor Lessons to Every Classroom Learner, by Eric McHenry

• Appearing in the January/February 2002 issue of the Harvard Education Letter:
  Curriculum Access in the Digital Age by David T. Gordon.

• Under the 1997 IDEA reauthorization, all students, regardless of their abilities, must be given the opportunity to become involved with and progress in the general education curriculum. Students with disabilities can be blocked from access because of an inflexible text that may inadvertently create barriers. But there are several strategies educators can employ to give these students access, including using a curriculum that has been universally designed for accessibility.
  For more information go to The ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education (ERIC EC) at: http://ericec.org/digests/e586.htm

• In terms of learning, universal design means the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be attainable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities. Universal design for learning is achieved by means of flexible curricular materials and activities that provide alternatives for students with disparities in abilities and backgrounds.
  Find out more about Universal Design for Learning from ERIC/OSEP: http://www.cec.sped.org/osep/ud-sec3.htm

• A Curriculum Every Student Can Use: Design Principles for Student Access. This publication addresses the issues involved in universal design as they relate to full access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities.
  This ERIC/OSEP topical brief can be found at: http://www.cec.sped.org/osep/udesign.htm

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It is important to note that Universal Design for Learning is not a packaged system ready for immediate implementation. It is a growing set of ideas and exemplars that, when combined with the knowledge and talents of educators, researchers, publishers, parents, and learners, will result in improved learning opportunities and outcomes for all learners.

In order to consider the most current thinking about the neurosciences, education, general education, and disability, CAST continues to refine its thinking about how best to communicate the importance of universal design for learning (UDL). An early focus on the importance of flexible media has been broadened to address the need to balance curriculum and teacher practice considerations.

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Recent neurological findings confirm three spatially and functionally distinguishable but interconnected systems in the learning brain. Broadly speaking, one system recognizes patterns, one generates patterns, and the third determines priorities. Recognition systems know what and where an object is, strategic systems know how to do things, and the affective systems know which objects and actions are important. These three brain systems form the foundation for CAST's three principles of universal design for learning.

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Thinking about individual differences in light of the three brain systems can help us understand the ways in which curriculum must be flexible to reach all learners. Multiple representations of content can adjust to the recognition systems of different learners; multiple options for expression and control can adjust to the strategic and motor systems of different learners; multiple options for engagement can adjust to the affective systems of different learners. CAST has applied the concept of universal design to learning technologies, using the malleable nature of digital media to build flexible access and learning supports into the curriculum to serve a diverse group of learners.

For UDL to become a reality in schools, we need flexible materials from curriculum developers; policies that support individualized goals, learning methods, and assessment; and professional development practices that support educators in the UDL approach. But implementing UDL is ultimately the province of teachers. With true learning and engagement for each student as the goal, teachers reframe learning goals, teaching techniques, materials and assessment, individualizing for each learner with the help of flexible learning tools and media.

No single curriculum or software program can provide all of the flexibility needed to create a UDL environment. This requires assembling a variety of tools, programs, materials, and Web sites that can be used in different combinations for different learners and for different teaching purposes. The flexibility comes in part from the collection itself, which enables varied approaches for reaching a given instructional goal, and in part from the inherent flexibility of each component.