Universal Design for Learning

1. Universal Design for Learning A national educational priority for classrooms that include all students, regardless of exceptionality or diversity.

2. Barriers to Learning • The single most significant barrier that keeps all students from learning is the fixed medium of presentation and assessment of knowldge. • Universal Design for Instruction (UDL) is a form of instruction that benefits all students, regardless of disability.

3. UDL… • provides equal access to learning, not just equal access to information. • allows students to control the method of accessing information while the teacher monitors the learning process. • is designed to work with all students in a mainstreamed classroom where a range of student ability levels are present.

4. UDL… • takes into account students with learning difficulties, speech or language difficulties, emotional disturbances, autims, health impairment, mild mental retardation, traumatic brain injury, hearing impairments/deafness, visual impairment, deaf-blindness, orthopedic impairments, and those with multiple disabilites.

5. UDL… • does not remove academic challenges or water down the curriculum. • removes barriers to equal access and helps to provide a “least restrictive environment” for students with disabilities.

6. Four Main UDL Components • Goals and milestones for instruction (often in the form of scope & sequence) • Media and materials to be used by students • Specific instructional methods • Means of assessment to measure student progress

7. UDL provides multiple, flexible • methods of presentation: active engagement including discovery, interactive demo, inquiry lesson, inquiry lab, PBL, case study, etc. • expression and practice: writing, oral, whiteboard, PPT, drawing, projects, etc. • options for engagement: allow students to select some of the content to study, allow for choice of tasks on tests, etc.

8. Get to know your students’ abilities, special needs, and learning styles After reviewing standards, determine learning needs Devise instructional approaches to reach greatest number of students Recognize individual needs of students Set curricular goals Determine learning supports Adapt methods and materials to individual student needs Select appropriate UDL strategies, tools, and features to adapt instruction. Framework - before instruction

9. Differentiate instruction to reach students on their own levels Special educator and general educator consult with one another Use other methods and ongoing feedback to adjust instruction Use equitable, flexible, accessible methods to fit instruction to student needs Special educator and general educator collaborate to resolve residual problems Use UDL features to determine student progress for feedback and to adjust instruction Framework - during instruction

10. Employ ongoing or alternate assessments to determine progress, needs, and future direction of class Repeat planning cycle Make sure assessments reflect UDL characteristics Assess continuously through variety of formats to track student progress Adapt delivery of instruction as needed Framework - after instruction