UDL: Sharing Ideas, Building Resources

By: Lindsi Allen

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What is UDL?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) “is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn” (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

“UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone—not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

Inspiration and Examples UDL was designed to

“anticipate the needs of individuals with disabilities and accommodate these needs from the onset” (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer, 2003).

Example: A curb, with a ramp, serve for those in wheelchairs, however they also benefit those with strollers, young children, bicyclists, runners, and even a walker. “And so, the process of designing for individuals with disabilities has led to improved usability for everyone” (Hall, Strangman, & Meyer, 2003).

Examples of UDL in the Physical Environment

Alternative to Stairs Automatic Doors

Handle bars in bathrooms

Three Principles of UDL

Retrieved from http://www.classroom-aid.com/blog/bid/64103/Digital-Learning-should-be-Personalized-Learning

UDL Principles and Practice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGLTJw0GSxk&feature=

player_embedded

National Center on UDL Director David Rose explains how UDL helps meet the most pressing issues facing educators today. Drawing on brain research and the latest learning sciences, Dr. Rose describes the three UDL principles and what they mean for classroom practice.

Instructional Examples of Recognition:

Digital Books

Interactive Whiteboards

Computers

Colored Overlaysto highlight text

Instructional Examples of Strategy:

Concept maps (Inspiration or Kidspiration)

Text-to-speech Software (Kurzweil)

Cooperative LearningGroups

Instructional examples of Affect:

Songs

Games

Working with Peers

Central Role of Technology Used In UDL

Technology plays an important role when developing and executing UDL. Technology individualizes teaching methods and allows teachers to accommodate diverse learners. The technology can be separated into two categories, assistive/ adaptive technology and supportive technology (Bray, Brown, & Green, 2004).

Assistive/ Adaptive Technology Examples

Hearing Aids Visual Aids (Screen magnifiers, Braille

note-taking devices) Voice-recognition software Adapted learning tools, such as a

modified keyboard Translation Software (text-to-speech,

language translation)

Supportive Technology Examples

Web pages Electronic text books Captioned videos Word processors Calculators Drill and practice software

Potential Impact of UDL In My School

Lakelands Park Middle School is part of a pilot project “to develop models for school-level implementation of Universal Design for Learning funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA)” (MCPS, 2012).

Click below to view video examples of UDL practices in the middle school classroom.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/udl/video/list.

shtm

Potential Impact of UDL In My School Continued

By implementing UDL within our own walls, we are able to adapt lessons, instruction, and assessments to meet the needs of all learners. Although special education students and English Language Learners would greatly benefit from UDL, as would our accelerated students and average students. Students would have more choice and interactions within their own learning. “Each learning experience would directly effect the three learning networks, increasing understanding of how students learn, and how they prefer to learn, the use of multiple strategies to solve problems, demonstrate knowledge, or accomplish goals, as well as motivation in the classroom as a result of choices in student learning” (Universal-Design-4-Learning, 2012).

Brain Research and Learning Differences

Within the large network of the brain are many smaller networks. Three primary networks are recognition, strategic, and affective networks.

Recognition Network: “are specialized to sense and assign meaning to pattern we see; they enable us to identify and understand information, ideas, and concepts” (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

Strategic Network: “are specialized to generate and oversee mental and motor patters. They enable us to plan, execute and monitor actions and skills” (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

Affective Network: “are specialized to evaluate patterns and assign them emotional significance they enable us to engage with tasks and learning and with the world around us” (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

Brain Research and Learning Differences

An example CAST uses is an activity many of us have participated in multiple times, signing a birthday card. The recognition network allows us to identify a birthday card, pen, our hands to write and our signature. The strategic network sets the goal of signing the birthday card, forms a plan of picking up the pen and moving it to create a signature, and make corrections, such as making letters smaller to fit the words in a certain space. Finally, affective networks connect our feelings to our friend, motivates us to sign and stay on task. (Rose & Meyer, 2002).

How Does UDL Support Diversity and Instructional Implications

In order to accommodate all diverse learners, we must use a variety of teaching strategies for each of the brain networks.

Network-Appropriate Teaching Methods

To support diverse recognition networks: • Provide multiple examples• Highlight critical features• Provide multiple media and formats• Support background context

To support diverse strategic networks:• Provide flexible models of skilled performance• Provide opportunities to practice with supports• Offer flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill

To support diverse affective networks:• Offer choices of content and tools• Offer adjustable levels of challenge• Offer choices of rewards• Offer choices of learning context (Rose & Meyer, 2002)

CAST Online Tools and Resources

Image Collector: “This Image Finder and Image Describer tutorials teach you how to find images and create educationally meaningful text descriptions to make images accessible and useful to all of your students. The Image Collector tool helps you find, describe and save images to use in your classroom” (Rose & Meyer, 2002). › This can be extremely helpful within my own classroom

due to the diverse needs. Many of my students are special education students and English as a second language students. Therefore, by incorporating images and pictures to lessons, the students are able to make further connections and understandings.

CAST Online Tools and Resources

TES Journal: “…Online journal to record your ideas, insights, reflections and thoughts” (Rose and Meyer, 2002).

› It is important for every educator to reflect on how the

lesson went. It is important to acknowledge what went well and what adjustments need to be made. Reflection allows us to be better educators. When we reflect, we make adjustments to ensure all students are able to be successful. By using this journal, we are able to reflect, and review our reflections because they are kept online. Also, we are able to record any ideas or insights we may have. Often times we think of something and do not record the thought, then forgetting our ideas. By using this journal, we are able to record our thoughts and have them in one area. We are then able to implement these newly thought ideas within our lessons and ultimately reflect on how the insights went.

CAST Online Tools and Resources

UDL Goal Setter: “The UDL Goal Setter helps you define clear goals for your class that represent the core instructional purpose of the learning activity and support multiple pathways for achieving the goal” (Rose & Meyer, 2002). › Goals are very important to set as an educator. Not

only is it important for you to know your goals, but also the students. Everyone within the lesson should know the desired outcome of the lesson. Also, as you set the goals, it is important to refer back to the goals throughout the lesson. As everyone is made aware of the overall goal, a self-check can be done to monitor progress.

References Bray, M., Brown, A., & Green, T. (2004). Technology and the diverse learner: A guide to

classroom practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

CAST, Inc. (2002–2011). Teaching every student: Tools and activities. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/tools/

Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved March 25, 2012 from http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/differentiated_instruction_udl

MCPS. (2012). Video examples of UDL Practices in the middle school classroom. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/udl/video/list.shtm

Rose, D. (2010). UDL: Principles and practice. UDL Center. Retrieved on March, 25, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGLTJw0GSxk&feature=player_embedded

Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/

Universal-Design-4-Learning. 2012. Impact of UDL. Retrieved March 25, 2012. Retrieved from http://universal-design-4-learning.wikispaces.com/Impact+of+UDL