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.

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.

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

Websites and Webpages

• Universal Design for Instruction
• Creating Accessible Content
• Reserving Textbooks and Materials
• Promoting Student Success
• Use of Video to Supplement Course Instruction
• Miscellaneous Teaching Tips
• Universal Design at a Glance (plus more resources)
• YuJa Auto Captioning and Making Edits

Books

• Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education
• The Accessible School

NDSU Certification Course

• Universal Design for Learning and Digital Accessibility Certification Course (6-8 hours - cohort or self-paced available)

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.