1. Universal Design
For Learning:
An Introduction
Presented by Danielle Brandt

2. UDL: A Brief Explanation
 Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to
teaching that focuses on developing curriculum that
gives all students an equal opportunity to learn
(CAST, 2011).
 UDL advocates providing options.
 Physical Examples of UDL that provided the inspiration
for UDL in education:
 Architecture
 Ramps and elevators vs. Stairs
 Buildings should be designed from the beginning, providing
alternative ways to successfully navigate a building.
 Television captions
(Laureate, 2011)

3. UDL Principals
 In order to help you better teach all students in your
classroom, UDL has identified 3 basic principals to
guide curriculum planning.
1. Multiple Means of Representation
2. Multiple Means of Action/Expression
3. Multiple Means of Engagement
(CAST, 2011)

4. Principal 1:Multiple Means of Representation
 Informationshould be presented to students in
multiple formats:
 Visually
 Auditorily
 Kinesthetically
This gives ALL students a chance to learn
how they learn best.
 Teachers
should provide students with the
necessary scaffolds to help ensure learning:
 Background knowledge
 Strategies to interpret new information
 Etc.
VARIETY (CAST, 2011)

5. Principal 2:Multiple Means of
Action/Expression
 Students should be allowed to demonstrate their
knowledge and understanding in a number of
different ways.
 Instead of teachers dictating exactly how students will
demonstrate learning (i.e. tests), they will instead give
students a variety of options from which they can
choose.
(CAST, 2011)

6. Principal 3:Multiple Means of Engagement
 Everystudent should be engaged in classroom
lessons
 Teachersmust work to ensure they are
providing a variety of engagement
opportunities for students:
 Group work
 Whole-group discussion/collaboration
 Hands on activities
 Instructional games
 Independent work
 Etc. (CAST, 2011)

7. UDL & Technology
 Technology can be used to enhance all three
UDL principals by providing variety and
differentiation.
Technology Presentation Representation Engagement
Presentation Software X X X
Online Games X
Audio books/texts X X
Social Networking websites X X X
Online Multimedia X X X
SMARTboards X X X

8. Impact on Student Learning
 When students are given opportunities to learn
in fashions that personally resonate with their
learning styles and strengths, they are going to
be more successful.
 Belowis a video demonstrating one teacher’s
idea on how to use UDL in her own classroom:
http://udlspotlight.wordpress.com/2009/0 9/15/going-global-with-digiteen-and-udl/

9. UDL & The Brain
• Different students learn best with different networks of their
brain. Some students do much better utilizing one area of
their brain than the other. The UDL framework encourages
teaching to all three different strengths.
Affective
Recognition Strategic
Networks Networks
The "what" of learning Networks The "why" of learning
The "how" of learning
Planning and performing tasks. How learners get engaged and stay
How we gather facts and categorize what we
How we organize and express our motivated. How they are challenged,
see, hear, and read. Identifying letters,
ideas. Writing an essay or solving a excited, or interested. These are affective
words, or an author's style are recognition tasks.
math problem are strategic tasks. dimensions.
CAST, 2011

10. UDL & Diversity
 The backbone of UDL is providing ALL students a
better opportunity to learn.
 This philosophy naturally advocates for
embracing diversity in the classroom, as each
student is honored as an individual and
provided with an engaging , differentiated
education.

11. UDL Resources
 As
a teacher, there are many resources
available for you as you work to incorporate the
UDL philosophy into your teaching.
 The CAST website(www.cast.org) provides
multiple resources for your benefit, including the
following:
 UDL Goal Setter –
http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/tools/udlgoalsettertool.cfm
 UDL Strategy Tutor – http://cst.cast.org/cst/auth-login
 UDL Lesson Builder – http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

12. References:
CAST, Inc. (2011). Teaching every student, tools and activities. Retrieved
from www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/tools/
Laureate Education, Inc (Executive Producer). (2009). Universal Design
for Learning [webcast]. Reaching and engaging all learners
through technology. Baltimore, MD: Author