Universal Design for Learning: What is it? Why use?

Education has come a long way since the focus on “reading, writing, ‘rithmetic”. In Ask a Tech Teacher posts, we’ve covered many teaching strategies:

Any of these might be perfect for your classroom. Today, we offer one more: Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

What is UDL

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences that can accommodate individual learning differences. It is based on the idea that no one-size-fits-all. It aims to remove barriers to learning by proactively addressing challenges students may face, such as disabilities, language barriers, or differences in learning styles.

Here’s a good six-minute video overview of UDL:

Basics of UDL

A big part of UDL is personalizing the “Why, What, and How” of learning. This generation’s children are going to need to be lifelong learners and adapt to changes as technologies move us forward. In order to do that, students need to be motivated, resourceful,  and self-directed.

credit: Matt Bergman (https://youtu.be/2k3VY6qwrV4?si=vZ897PcAV7BAXOLN)

The three principles of UDL are:

  1. Multiple Means of Representation: provide information in multiple formats (such as text, audio, video, graphics) to accommodate different learning styles and preferences. By presenting information in various ways, educators can ensure that all students access content.
  2. Multiple Means of Engagement: offer various ways to motivate learning by providing options for students to become interested and stay engaged with material.
  3. Multiple Means of Expression: allow students to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge in different ways. This could include options for written assignments, oral presentations, artistic projects, or multimedia creations, enabling students to choose the method that best suits their strengths and preferences.

Education applications

Instead of me writing a bunch of words about UDL in action, check out this nine-minute video on UDL in the classroom.

 

UDL at its core is simply good teaching. For more about UDL, here are some resources to check out:

UDL: The UDL Guidelines

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

How you can implement Universal Design for Learning

Here’s the sign-up link if the image above doesn’t work:

https://forms.aweber.com/form/07/1910174607.htm




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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

Author: Jacqui
Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, an Amazon Vine Voice, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.

1 thought on “Universal Design for Learning: What is it? Why use?

  1. That is a lot of different teaching strategies and UDL sounds interesting. Everyone has their own learning styles. I am good with numbers, graphs, and visualization but my listening skills and verbal skills are lagging behind. I excelled in physics, math, and most science topics, but I had a hard time with learning new languages and I also had a hard time with art and the homemaking classes such as cooking and knitting. A teacher with lots of kids in the class cannot easily accomodate everyone. Hopefully a tool like UDL might help.

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