Details for Instructors
This section is designed to:- Assist you in using the modules
- Provide you with strategies, resources, and activities that support your students’ understanding of UDL and
- Create a productive and engaging learning experience for your students.
This module can be implemented in many different ways: an online or in-class experience, a combination of the two (hybrid), a one-day workshop, an in-service session, or part of an independent study. The time to complete the required elements of the module is approximately four to six hours.
This instructor’s manual consists of the information on this page as well as ‘instructor tips’ that are embedded in the module. These tips can be accessed by clicking on the purple "instructor tip" buttons. These tips provide the pedagogical rationale behind the module’s design the choice of multimedia and readings and the theoretical rationale behind UDL. Guidelines for student assessment are also included.
For a short tutorial on how to use this module, click on the "Details for Students" tab on the home page. Throughout the modules multimedia elements (images, audio, video, interactivity) are embedded in the text. Callout boxes emphasize module goals, questions to guide students in their reading and completing of the section and examples. Finally, several prompt buttons are embedded throughout the module for specific purposes:
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Instructor Tips are embedded throughout the module and provide instructors with information on the instructional design and ways to use the module. |
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Information provides students and instructors with additional resources and other information to extend learning. |
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Did You Know provides fun facts and other trivia related to the material being covered. |
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Models of UDL points out areas in the module that model the UDL principles. |
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Your Turn provides students with an opportunity to think deeply about the content and to check their understanding. |
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Module One: Introduction to UDL
UDL Pedagogical considerations
The elements of this course have been chosen not only to help the participant understand UDL, but also to model the three principles of UDL in delivery wherever possible. As mentioned above, the module includes callouts where UDL is being modeled.
Conceptual change: In order to successfully embrace and implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL), educators must complete a shift in the way they view the curricula (the goals, method, materials, and assessments) that have traditionally been used in schools. For this reason, UDL requires a conceptual change. The module was designed with this in mind.
UDL is based on the concept that the primary barrier to achievement of many students is the inflexible, “one-size-fits-all” curricula that raise unintentional barriers to learning. A student who is unable to circumvent these barriers is considered disabled. Typically, curricula are designed to meet the needs of the broad middle range of students. Consequently, not all of today’s students can achieve high standards. Therefore, UDL is based on the assumption that it is the curricula (not the student) that fail to provide all individuals with fair and equal opportunities to learn. Traditionally, the approach has been to focus on “fixing the student” and retrofitting the curricula to meet the student—often resulting in lowered expectations and less than optimal learning opportunities for these students. From a UDL perspective, the focus for change is on the disabled curricula and not on the student. UDL assesses curricula (goals, methods, materials and assessments) rather than students for their strengths and challenges, and the curricula are designed or redesigned more broadly to meet the needs of a diverse group of students.
Module One design: Teaching for conceptual change requires an understanding of the process that the participants will go through as they consider and possibly make the conceptual change. A conceptual change requires participants first to be presented with a dilemma that the current conception cannot solve. From this, the student becomes aware of a discrepancy between the new information and his or her current thinking. This is sometimes referred to as a discrepant event. Next, the student is presented with a plausible solution to the dilemma. Then, the student is given an opportunity to consider, try out, and reflect on the new solution or conception. This step aids in conceptual restructuring. Finally, if the new conception is more successful in solving the current dilemma, the student is likely to adopt the new conception as a more viable solution to the current dilemma. This change does not occur seamlessly. In order to navigate this change, the student will need scaffolding in the form of feedback from the instructor and peers. This provides the student with the opportunity to consider the viability of the new conceptual framework.
In this module, the discrepant event is set up in Teaching Every Student … by Rose and Meyer as well as in The Future is in the Margins article (2005) (one of the required readings) where Meyer and Rose suggest that disability is defined by the intersection of the individual and the environment rather than being inherent in the individual:
In addition, the more differentiated use of media for instruction reveals that individuals who are defined as learning disabled within print-based learning environments are not the same individuals who are defined as learning disabled within video- or audio-based learning environments. Such revelations splinter the old categorical divisions between disability and ability and create new descriptors that explicitly recognize the interaction between student and environment in the definition of strengths and weaknesses (Meyer & Rose, 2005).
Recognition of this discrepancy sets the stage for the conceptual change to the idea that it is the curriculum, and not the student, that is disabled. As such, the onus for change is on the curriculum rather than the student.
Each element of this model is designed to assist with the conceptual change in the following ways:- Readings present theoretical background for UDL (the new conception).
- Multimedia sections help guide the conceptual restructuring by giving the student an opportunity to evaluate and gain confidence in UDL as a plausible solution to existing problems with which they are faced.
- Discussion questions assist in conceptual restructuring by providing the participants with an opportunity to grapple with the dilemma and assimilate the conceptual change within a scaffolded environment. Feedback from instructors and peers assists in guiding conceptual restructuring.
- The practical application assignment provides the student with an opportunity to use the UDL Guidelines to identify elements of a lesson that maximize learning for ALL students and to identify potential barriers in a lesson that prevent ALL students from learning. This assists in being able to transfer the new knowledge to practice.
Module Two: Applying the UDL Framework
UDL Pedagogical considerations:
As mentioned above, in order to successfully embrace and implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL), educators must complete a shift in the way they view the curricula (the goals, method, materials and assessments) that have traditionally been used in schools. For this reason, UDL requires a paradigm shift. Module One takes the student through this paradigm shift and is, therefore, a prerequisite to this module.
This module takes the student through the UDL lesson planning process. In the process, the module unpacks the elements of the lesson (goals, methods, materials, and assessments) and examines each for strengths and challenges beginning the process of design or redesign of a lesson using the UDL guidelines. The culmination of the module is the final assignment at which time the student is expected to either design or redesign a lesson. This step assists in transfer of the new knowledge and skills to practice.
Each segment of this module is designed to assist the students in learning the UDL lesson planning process in the following ways:- Readings present theoretical background.
- Interactive multimedia sections help the student understand the process of UDL lesson planning.
- Discussion questions provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on their own thinking and learning within a scaffolded environment. Feedback from instructors and peers assists with transfer to practice.
- The practical application assignment provides the student with an opportunity to use the UDL framework to evaluate the lessons they create for this methods course. This assignment is designed to assist students in transferring their knowledge of UDL to practice.
Additional Resources
For additional resources on Universal Design for Learning:
For more information on the research basis for the UDL Framework:
CAST staff developed this module to provide future and current educators with an overview of how to apply the UDL framework to lesson development. Development of this module was made possible by the generous support of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation.