Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework intended to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people. Scientific insights help to guide the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials.

UDL’s three guiding principles focus on three major cognitive domains of learning in the brain. Recognizing the diversity of learners, these principles provide learners with flexibility and multiple means of

  • engagement (the why of learning),
  • representation (the what this is telling me), and
  • action/expression (how I can show I understand).

Underlying all of the principles, accessibility of all course materials, activities and assessments is ensured.

 

UDL Instructional Series

The Office of Teaching and Learning, in collaboration with the Learning and Applied Innovation Center, is producing a new instructional series of videos. Each video focuses on a teaching activity, identifies challenges, and discusses strategies that can be used within the UDL framework.

We have selected different teaching activities that can present challenges to you and your students. Choose an activity for the class you want to work on and get started today. New instructional videos will be posted monthly.

 

Principles of UDL

Learn what the principles of UDL are. 

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Group Work

How to apply UDL principles to group work. 

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Facilitating Discussions

How to apply UDL principles to the facilitation of classroom discussions. 

Learn More >>

 

UDL Resources

Here is a list of resources for designing your course with students of all abilities in mind.

Universal Design for Learning: A Holistic Approach to Course Design

Learn how making simple changes based on the Universal Design for Learning principles can address common accessibility issues students face while meeting the needs of diverse learners.

Tip Sheets - Creating Accessible Documents
Use these tip sheets as a checklist to ensure the documents used for your class meet accessibility standards. Also be sure to check each document's accessibility indicator in Blackboard (looks like a speedometer). Click on the speedometer for your document's accessibility score and view suggestions for improvement.

 

Emails: Microsoft Outlook

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Microsoft Word  

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Microsoft PowerPoint

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PDFs

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