What is Universal Design for Learning?

Hello to another new month of instructional design tips and strategies for effective and engaging learning programs! This month we will be taking a deep dive into the Universal Design for Learning framework, a refreshing resource to help instructional designers and educators worldwide!

Humans are an interesting species, always hungry for information to learn and to grow. What is even crazier to think about is how different we all are, even though we are the same species. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework was developed by scientific insights into how humans learn (in other words, brain science)!?

This initiative began in 1984 when Dr. David Rose and Dr. Ann Meyer, two researchers from the Harvard School of Graduate Education, incorporated CAST, Inc., The Center for Applied Specialized Technology.

“The goal of UDL is to create “Purposeful and Motivated learners who are Resourceful and Knowledgeable and Strategic and Goal-Directed.” UDL uses a list of guidelines that will help you develop and deliver UDL lessons by rethinking the barriers that students face and planning for student variability by providing options and choices.” - novakeducation.com

The human brain has three major networks: Affective, Representation, and Strategic.

• The role of the Affective Network is emotion regulation and processing and is associated with the why of learning and is focused on multiple means of engagement.
• The Representation Network dives into the what of learning and is focused on how one could present knowledge and understanding in different ways.
• The Strategic Network represents the how of learning and enables us to plan and monitor our actions and expression.

So the Universal Design of Learning guidelines gives actionable steps in which to trigger and utilize all areas of the human brain when learning. How cool is that?!

This month I'll dive deeper into these guidelines, so be sure to subscribe if you haven't already so you get notified when the next articles come!

For now, I want to shed some light on these resources and start you off the month with some inspiration to innovate your next lesson, workshop, online course, webinar, WHATEVER you plan to do next to teach others and share your message with the world.

This work was originally built to help with accessibility and to not treat all learners the same, because there is no average learner. Think about what you're doing to provide multiple means of engagement.

Can you vary the difficulty in which your core activities could be completed? A level system perhaps based on where your learns are at the start of your program?

Think about what you're doing to provide multiple means of representation. Are you clarifying vocabulary? Offering alternatives for visual information? Have ways to support auditory learners?

Think about what you're doing to provide multiple means of action and expression. Do you have opportunities for your learners to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways? Do you give the power of choice in your program?

If you've decided to dive into these guidelines like I have, it's good to have someone to tell you that this is NOT a template or a checklist for your next program. You don't need to incorporate everything in this graphic organizer, but it is an excellent tool to help you think and reflect about your programs and give excellent action steps to innovate what you already have.

What are the ways you have designed your programs to reach as many different types of learners as possible? I know in the classroom, centers were my game. I LOVED doing centers because I was able to manage a busy classroom, have up to 7 different activities going on at the same time that helped the auditory learner, the visual learner, the hand-on/kinesthetic learner, the independent learner, the collaborator, and so on!

It was always more prep work, I won't sugar-coat it... but what you will realize as you go about innovating your programs for accessibility is that the outcome is so worth it. The learning environment was engaged, classroom management was never an issue, and the whole time period ran like a well-oiled machine. It also gave me an opportunity to be more of a facilitator and circle around, asking questions, assessing learning, and just be able to be apart of their learning journey.

I look forward to writing more about these UDL guidelines this month! Please comment below on how you have designed your programs to reach as many different types of learners as possible! Comment with links to resources and all that good stuff so everyone can learn together!