Introduction

After awareness about the populations served in an CTP program, the second topic of concern for all programs is the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a way to make the content of any course more accessible for a variety of learners. It is an offshoot of the engineering and architectural field called Universal Design (UD). This field seeks to make the environments we travel in more easily accessible for everyone. The use of curb cuts and flipper handles on doors are most frequently cited as common examples of UD in architecture.

The best thing about UDL is that what a faculty member produces using UDL guidelines not only makes the learning more accessible for individuals with disabilities, but it also makes the content more accessible for all learners. For example, the use of captions for videos used on a course site or in class help student with hearing, cognitive, and reading disabilities, as well as those with limited or spotty internet connections or who are second language English learners. The use of captions serves those with identified disabilities along with those who may need minimal or temporary supports. That is the essence of UDL. When technology and design are maximized to provide greater access, more individuals will have access to the essential content. By applying UDL, the instructor is not “watering down” the content, rather they are enhancing the content for all learners.

Making the Connections to the Strategic Planning Tool

This section of the faculty toolkit will help program administrators identify essential content and resources to be shared with teaching faculty as they learn how to include students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in their college classes. By applying the principles of UDL, the program designers are assisting teaching faculty to:

  • Benchmark 2.1 : Faculty engage in professional development to adapt teaching practices that meet the needs of all learners.
  • Benchmark 2.2: Faculty and staff ensure service, learning, social, and academic environments are accessible to support all learners.
Faculty Toolkit Universal Design for Learning Logo

Where to begin?

In defining UDL, we can access foundational material at the CAST website, under the resource labelled UDL Guidelines. There are several resources that are helpful in presenting the concept of UDL to instructors.

Elements of UDL:

Let’s look closer at the essential elements of UDL included on the infographic linked above. The first column indicates that the instructor should look at evidence-based practices to provide multiple means of engagement. This relates to the “WHY” of learning. Faculty should consider: “Why is this content important? Why do students in this class need to master this content? Why do we teach this content in this timeline of instruction? The answers to these questions help instructors find ways to motivate students to learn the content and engage in the lesson being taught.

The component parts of Engagement include:

  • Motivation to learn the content.
  • Student connection to the content.
  • Clarity of purpose for learning the content.
  • Goals and objectives within the content.
  • Self-monitoring and regulation of progress toward those goals.

Listen to several faculty members in higher education talk about multiple means of engagement in their classes.

It is important to keep in mind that the experiences they share do not specifically relate to teaching students with intellectual disabilities. Rather, the strategies they used are ones that engage all students in the class.

This is an essential concept. What is done to promote UDL is not only done for accessibility for students with disabilities but for all learners.

  • Integrate podcasts/video/video conferencing options for lectures.
  • Accept format choice (oral, written, visual) in assignments.
  • Create safe, welcoming learning environments.
  • Integrate service-learning opportunities.
  • Allow video, audio, or written options for self-reflection.
  • Use individual response system such as clickers or response cards.
  • Include scaffolding to support novices.
  • Incorporate individual, partner, small group, and large group activities.
  • Use rubrics to heighten salience of objectives.

    • College STAR: Multiple means of engagement (2012)

  • Record an introductory video to introduce the course and yourself to students.
  • Use discussion boards for introductions and connections.
  • Select rotating class notetakers to take notes and share with all students in the class. This does not relieve individual students from taking notes, rather allows students to check what they heard with what others heard.
  • Use gradebooks within the Learning Management System (LMS) used at the college to share grade feedback and encourage students to self-regulate progress.
  • Use Lecture-Pause technique to give short 4-minute breaks in class to recap and refocus lecture.
  • Consider “game-ification” within your course. Use games for practice, application, reinforcement, collaboration.
  • Combine self and peer assessment along with traditional methods of measuring progress.
  • Think College’s resource on UDL for CTE programs may prove helpful when attaining the balance between industry standards and individual needs.

The second column on the infographic describes the concept of multiple means of representation. As Rose and Meyers (2002) write, this is the “What” of learning. The thought process that connects to this phase of UDL design answers questions such as: What are the important ideas within this content? What does this mean to the students? What do I expect them to come away with when finished? To answer these questions the instructor needs to think about the tools to be used to understand the content, but it also includes the variability of the learners who will access the content.

Some learners will have background knowledge related to the content and will be able to incorporate the content much more quickly. They may need few examples. They might prefer to read primary sources connected to the content. Other students may have limited or no background knowledge of the content and will likely need several opportunities to engage with the material to master the content.

That is to say, they will certainly need the text or assigned texts, but they may also need reference material to make sense of the content or new vocabulary and build background knowledge. The refence materials may include videos, webpages, succinct summaries, glossaries, etc.

Listen to this faculty member talk about how she provides multiple means of representation in her college class.

  • Provide comprehensive print and electronic syllabus specifying course requirements, course expectations, and due dates.
  • Give multiple forms of instructor contact information.
  • Include examples or illustrations of all major course assignments or activities.
  • Use advanced organizers to highlight essential course concepts.
  • Present course content using visual, auditory, graphic, and verbal formats.
  • Ensure accessibility of course content and materials by using accessible documents and websites.
  • Use captioned videos.
  • Select textbooks that offer e-book options.
  • Incorporate cooperative group activities.
  • Encourage use of software which reads websites and documents.

    • College STAR: Multiple means of representation (2012)

  • Connect new content with previously learned material. Show the linkages between concepts being taught.
  • Highlight patterns across content presentations. Again, show how the material taught is link to past material.
  • Providing the same information through different modalities (e.g., through vision, hearing, or touch).
  • Providing information in a format that will allow for adjustability by the user (e.g., text that can be enlarged, sounds that can be amplified).
  • Provide language equivalents for mathematical expressions. For example, and equal sign may help learns understand that two sides of an equation are balanced.
  • Use of images and pictures to accompany written explanations. Be sure to use “Alt Text” to describe the images.
  • Provide specific directions for translating text information into paraphrased information. This may be done by using study guides with partial information left out to direct students to “fill in the blanks”.
  • Use of graphic organizers to help students get the big picture of how concepts relate.
  • Allow for customization of display information. For example, allow students to change background colors or size of item displayed on a course website.

The last column of the UDL Guidelines infographic encourages teaching faculty to consider multiple means of action and expression. This part of the UDL instructional process encourages instructors to look for options to include students in the instruction, evaluation, and assessment processes.

This video shows the connection between what happens within the strategic network and multiple means of action and expression.

This part of the UDL instructional model is the “How” of learning new content. Instructors should think about how to present the content to be learned and how to evaluate proficiency. Inherent in this phase of the UDL process is consideration of the learner needs. Teaching faculty consider the variability of the learners in the class and what options might allow more students to access the content. Examples of multiple means of action and expression include:

  • Provide options for student response.
  • Allow multiple formats for demonstrating knowledge—oral or written.
  • Incorporate a variety of assessment formats.
  • Establish framework for planning through detailed descriptions of assignments.
  • Encourage use of technologies to ensure students accurately express their understanding.

College STAR: Multiple means of action and expression (2012)

  • Provide options and choice with no penalty for choosing one way over another.
  • If choice within an evaluation setting is not permitted, consider options for support (modeling, examples, rubrics, checklists, grouping options, practice opportunities).
  • Use a variety of evaluation methods to allow students to express what they know in multiple ways. Example: Introductory Biology may include quizzes, case studies, model building, and oral presentation rather than just traditional tests and a final exam.
  • Provide students options to demonstrate mastery of the course learning outcomes. These may be different than the ones selected by the teacher but should focus on the objectives and how the student can demonstrate mastery of those objectives.
  • Provide students the opportunity to choose which type of assignment they would like to complete. For example: a choice between multiple options such as a poster presentation, research report, or creating a video.
  • Use of discussion boards or blogs also allow students who need more time to reflect on a topic and to participate.
  • Use of virtual clickers allows all students to participate without feeling like the center of attention.
  • Guide students to set and work toward appropriate goals.
  • Teach planning and problem-solving strategies.
  • Provide immediate feedback (or as close to immediate as possible) to encourage students to manage their own progress.
  • Scaffold lower-level skills so that mastery of the easier tasks require less executive processing.

Pulling this section together

Programs serving student with ID whether in K-12 or college settings can benefit from the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) tactics and strategies in the classroom. Faculty in higher education settings will likely need support to learn how to apply UDL principles to their teaching. Assuring teaching faculty that whatever they do to support students with ID in terms of changes to instructional presentation will be of benefit to other learners in their classes may help to ease the faculty into the UDL habit.

  • UDL on Campus in Higher Education: A general resource for program administrators and teaching faculty. This resource can be part of faculty professional development materials or can be shared in pieces in monthly newsletter to program faculty and staff.
  • Accessing Higher Ground: Conference recording/Online Class This presentation focuses on Accessibility and Universal Design for Online Courses: Making the practice practicable and a bit less scary! Lengthy recording. This may be a useful option for some faculty. Afterall, UDL is all about options. As this is offered as a class, you can access the recording by logging in with your college/university email. There is also a PowerPoint presentation that can be downloaded that mirrors the conference presentation.
  • UF CEEDER Center: UDL Course Enhancement Module This module is an example of a thorough professional development package for educators. While focused on k-12 educators, use of the materials have applicability to the postsecondary education setting. Facilitation guides and handouts are provided to assist the presenters.

  • UDL on Campus: Designing the UDL Syllabus This site provides examples of how to organize a college syllabus to reflect UDL principles and offers suggestions for applying UDL principles to introductory activities in class.
  • Project EnAct, a federally funded program to build capacity and quality in CTP programs designed a checklist that compares a traditional syllabus to one that infuses UDL principles. This is a helpful checklist for faculty looking to increase accessibility in course documents.
  • Creating Accessible Course Content: Application of UDL principles to course materials. This link takes users to other sites that provide examples of how to redesign course materials with UDL principles in mind.
  • FDLRS Galaxy resource for k-12 teachers. This webpage, developed by FDLRS Galaxy staff has overview information on UDL. However, the resource LiveBinder included on the site has more resources for designing options for student engagement, representation, and expression than other sites. This LiveBinder resource can be used as part of the professional development or as inserts in program updates or newsletters for teaching faculty.

Readings to share with faculty

Some faculty and instructors prefer to read research or articles related to the topic. This is a non- exhaustive list of readings that can be shared with faculty in professional development settings or as part of ongoing communication. It is a mixture of research-based articles and pragmatic, user focused materials.

  • Boothe, K. A., Lohmann, M. J., Donnell, K. A., & Hall, D. D. (2018). Applying the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) in the college classroom. Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 7(3), n3. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1201588.pdf
  • Burgstahler, S.E. (2020). Creating inclusive learning opportunities in higher education: A universal design toolkit. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. ISBN: 978-1-68253-540-0
  • Burgstahler, S. (2015). Universal design in higher education: Promising practices. Seattle: DO-IT, University of Washington. Entire book available in pdf format from https://www.washington.edu/doit/universal-design-higher-education-promising-practices-pdfs .
  • Griful-Freixenet, J., Struyven, K., Verstichele, M., & Andries, C. (2017). Higher education students with disabilities speaking out: perceived barriers and opportunities of the Universal Design for Learning framework. Disability & Society, 32(10), 1627-1649.
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