Universal Design For Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles that provide all individual students equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a plan for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that can be adjusted and customized for all students. UDL is an educational practice that allows multiple ways of the curriculum to be presented to each student, it allows multiple ways for the individual student to demonstrate the knowledge and it allows multiple ways for the individual student to be engaged in learning the curriculum. UDL provides accommodations, supports and challenges for the individual student while maintaining high expectations.

There are three principles of UDL. They are: Representation- the “what of learning,”

Many students need different ways of approaching content. Some students are visual learners; some students are auditory learners, while some students are kinesthetic learners. Learning occurs when multiple representations are used. Using multiple representations of the content allows students to make connections with what they are learning. It is important that key information is equally understandable by all students. This includes providing the same information through different modalities. An important instructional strategy is to ensure that there are alternative representations provided to provide clarity and comprehensibility. It is essential that educators provide many forms of representing the content to students. Some examples of providing different ways of representation include providing alternatives for visual information. This consists of providing descriptions, text or spoken, for all images, and graphics. Another example is clarifying vocabulary and symbols by providing graphic symbols with alternative text descriptions. Another form of representation can include the use of outlines, graphic organizers, unit organizer routines, and concept organizer routines to emphasize key

Neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, and background knowledge all influence a student when it comes to being engaged and motivated to learn. Some learners may like to work alone while some learners like to work in groups. Students differ in what attracts their attention and engage their interests. The same student overtime will change his or her interests depending on the environment. It is important to have alternative ways to recruit student interest.Students have difficulties in developing self-regulation and self-determination skills. Modeling and prompting in a variety of methods can increase a student’s self- regulation and self-determination skills. A successful approach provides alternatives to support learners manage their own engagement and