Universal Design for Learning (UDL) aims to make learning accessible to all students by providing multiple, flexible methods for presentation of content, student expression, and student engagement. UDL is supported by brain research showing learning is distributed across recognition, strategic, and affective networks, which vary between individuals. UDL principles include presenting content through various formats, allowing choice in how students demonstrate understanding, and providing options to engage students. Technology supports UDL by making content versatile, transformable, networked and able to be marked. The CAST organization provides resources for implementing UDL including lesson planning tools.

1. Universal Design for LearningUDL, Technology and Brain ResearchMelissa Rebecchini

2. The Inspiration:Universal Design in the Physical EnvironmentHave you ever had to…

3. What a difference one of these would have made….The term "Universal design" was coined by the architect Ronald L. Mace to describe the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_design)

4. What is UDL?Just as Universal Design in architecture aims to make the physical world accessible to all people, Universal Design for Learning aims to make learning accessible to all students. “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” (CAST.org).

5. How Does UDL Support Diversity? “From pre-kindergarten to graduate school, classrooms usually include learners with diverse abilities and backgrounds, including students with physical, sensory, and learning disabilities, differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds, varied preferences and motivations for learning, students who are unusually gifted, and many others… A universally designed curriculum is designed from the outset to meet the needs of the greatest number of users, making costly, time-consuming, and after-the-fact changes to curriculum unnecessary” (http://www.cast.org/udl/faq/index.html).

6. The Three Principles of UDL1. The “What” of Learning: Provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation.2. The “How” of Learning: Provide multiple, flexible means of action and expression.3. The “Why” of Learning: Provide multiple, flexible options for engagement. By providing a more flexible curriculum, learning opportunities are improved not only for students with disabilities, but for all students.

7. How do you provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation?Rather than relying on one means of presenting information, you could use a combination of:Audio/Speech

8. Video

9. Graphics

10. Text The more ways in which information is presented, the more likely you are to reach all learners. Click on the link to explore more ideas: http://www.pgcps.org/~tifa/udlandtech_text.pdf

11. How do you provide multiple, flexible methods of action? Allow students choice and flexibility to demonstrate what they have learned. Ways to do this include:Writing

12. Podcasts

13. Wikis

14. Blogs

15. Drawings

16. Acting

17. Building/Creating a model

18. Writing a song For more information, click on the following link: http://www.pgcps.org/~tifa/udlandtech_text.pdf

19. How do you provide multiple, flexible methods of engagement? Students come to us with a variety of learning styles, interests, and levels of motivation. To help all students engage in learning, you can:Offer choices of content and tools to tap into your students’ interests.