Learning – the Universal Way

You may be familiar with the term universal design (UD). It originated back in 1961 as barrier-free design and eventually became law in 1990 with The Americans with Disabilities Act. UD allows for the design of public buildings, environments and products so that they are accessible to everyone, specifically individuals with disabilities. We use UD everyday and most of the time without realizing it. Curb cuts are needed by people who use wheelchairs, however, mothers with strollers and bicyclists benefit from them as well. Automatic doors, toggle light switches, ramps, closed captioning, lever sink handles are just some examples of universally designed products in our environment.

What about universally designed curriculum? UDL or Universal Design for Learning is the practice of making every lesson in the classroom accessible to all learners. We all know that learning styles differ vastly, but a lot of the time, the lessons presented do not accommodate for each student’s individual learning style.

UDL is made up of three primary principles (taken from http://www.cast.org/index.html):

• “Multiple means of representation, to give diverse learners options for acquiring information and knowledge.”
• “Multiple means of action and expression, to provide learners options for demonstrating what they know.”
• “Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation.”

So, what does this all mean? Well, to put it in very basic terms:

1)      Provide the lesson in many different formats: text (digital and/or print), video, audio, hands-on activities, etc.

2)      Provide students with many different ways to show what they have learned: tests, verbal presentations, papers, blogs, video presentations, etc.

3)      Provide different ways to learn and demonstrate what has been learned: rigid and spontaneous learning opportunities, working in a group or working alone, etc.

Each student has their own preference and interests when it comes to learning and these should be used whenever possible.

Here is an example of a universally designed reading assignment – students need to read a particular book and answer specific questions.

-          Students are provided with the book in both print and digital formats.

-          The digital format has the following features: ability to read on own, ability to have it read to them, additional auditory feedback as appropriate (sound effects related to text).

-          Worksheets with questions are presented in both print and digital format. (Again, the digital format will provide text-to-speech capability.)

A great resource for learning more about UDL is CAST: www.cast.org/udl

CAST also has several great learning tools that I highly recommend. Here are just a few:

-          UDL Book Builder (create your own digital text or use books already developed)

-          UDL Lesson Builder (help make your lessons accessible to all learners in your classroom)

-          WiggleWorks (interactive books)