Building an Understanding of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
About This Strategy
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines are designed to optimize learning. These guidelines can support you to meet the diverse needs of your classroom by removing barriers to learning through varied teaching methods and strategies. The guidelines are comprised of three principles - engagement (the why), representation (the what), and action and expression (the how). Within each principle, the guidelines provide concrete strategies that can be implemented to support all students to access and engage in meaningful and challenging learning experiences.
Questions to Consider
As you review the resources in the Supporting Resources section below, consider the following questions:
- What are the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?
- How can Universal Design for Learning (UDL) support you to meet the needs of your students? How does it remove barriers to learning?
- What areas of UDL are you already utilizing in the classroom?
- Where are there areas for growth?
- What tools or strategies may you use?
- What is a concrete next step to implement based on the guidelines?
Consider filling out the UDL planning template in the resource section below.
Supporting Resources
In order to support you to develop a conceptual understanding of UDL, review the resources below. As you review the resources, think about the guiding questions above and considering completing the UDL planning template.
Action Step
Now that you have a strong understanding of UDL, identify an action step. The UDL guidelines provide ideas of concrete strategies to implement in the classroom. Some examples of concrete strategies and their alignment to the UDL guidelines are listed below.