Universal Design for Learning

As a future teacher, it’s crucial to know about the Universal Design for Learning, which is essentially an educational framework built around a set of principles that seek to recognize and consequently eliminate learning barriers that can stand in the way of successful learning. In following UDL principles, the curriculum is develop in a way that gives all students equal opportunities to succeed. It helps to establish flexible learning environments that can be adapted to all learning styles and learning needs. To do so, many aspects of teaching must be adaptable, such as goals, methods, materials and assessments. Here’s a short video that serves as quick intro to what the Universal Design for Learning means.

UDL’s main purpose is that everybody becomes a successful learner without forcing students with learning difference to put in the extra effort that other students might not have to put in order to succeed. Basically, there are three principles to UDL, which were outlined in the above video and can be found here: UDL Principles.

• Principle 1: the WHAT of learning. This requires educators to “provide multiple means of representation” in order to give students different options for acquiring and learning the require course content and knowledge. Because of all the differences that learners exhibit, there is no perfect way to represent material; giving options and making connections between these options is what maximizes learning for all.

• Principle 2: the HOW of learning. This is all about giving students different options to express what they know. Just like students differ in the way that they learn, they also differ in the ways that they demonstrate what knowledge they have acquired. For example, some students are better able to express themselves in written text while others prefer doing it orally. Learning will be maximized if students know that they have options when it comes to showing others what they know.

• Principle 3: the WHY of learning. This principle asks educators to engage students in the material, motivate them, challenge them and cater to their individual interests. Learners are motivated by different factors and engage in activities because of different reasons. For instance, some prefer working alone, while others thrive in group settings.

Go here to check out a clear graphic organizer of UDL Guidelines, created by the National Centre on Universal Design for Learning (2013).

After studying the principles of UDL, one main things is clear to me: It’s all about providing options, options, and more options. Inclusion and the principles described here definitely fit into my philosophy of education and of teaching because I think there’s a lot that goes into ensuring that all students succeed. Sometimes, only the results of good teaching can be seen on report cards, but what people don’t see is how the educator adapted their teaching practices in order to get that result. Although it may be difficult and easy to neglect, it’s so important for me to make differentiation strategies and universal design principles part of my teaching routine and preparations because if it’s done, students will be left behind. In my classroom, I would want my students to know that they all have valid knowledge and skills to offer and that they can demonstrate their capabilities in the way that feels most comfortable to them. However, as a teacher in training, I do struggle a bit with the limitations of UDL and differentiation. If students are never pushed out of their comfort zone and are never asked to try new things, then they won’t be growing as much as they could be. I think school should be a safe place where students have the chance develop skills in areas that they are not naturally skilled in. I also can’t forget about the curriculum requirements or competencies that educators must target. This is why I appreciate the fact that the third principle includes giving students challenges, which is how they will inevitably learn the most.

Moreover, I think one of the most important ways to practice UDL is through assessment. Assessment can be tricky, especially when a teacher has students who all exhibit different learning styles and needs. Do we assess all students with the same criteria? Should all students, despite their differences, be compared against one another. I don’t necessarily have the answers to these questions, but doing research and reflecting on UDL is helping me get there. In general, assessment is gathering information and evidence about a student’s learning, growth, and development in school. There’s ongoing, formative forms of assessment that track student progress and final, summative forms of assessment that are more conclusive. Some researchers say that there is too much focus on summative assessment, which I tend to agree with because putting too much weight on high test scores can lead teachers to only “teach for the test.” Therefore, I think planned formative assessments give teachers a better idea of who the student really is as a learner and it can be individualized/adapted for different students. This way, teachers will recognize the problem when students start to struggle and will try to improve the curriculum in order to help the child succeed.

In my own class, I would like to implement different forms of formative assessments such as self-reflections for students to complete (which I’m a big advocate for), regular check ins, conferences with students, checklists, rubrics, questions and answers, etc. The National Centre for UDL (2014) proposes the use of Strategic Reader, a prototype program that monitors progress in reading skills. It is student-directed and allows for feedback, which I think is necessary. If I were teaching an ELA class, I could have guided reading sessions with students that will inform me of their progress and will allow me to monitor their learning. When I notice that some students are struggling, my assessments and check in would allow me to make appropriate adaptations to the curriculum.

Finally, educators need specialized resources that they can use to adapt their teaching, and I was blown away by all of the options that exist to help teachers online, such as on the website UDL Tech Toolkit. The resources that I was interested in were those that “promote understanding across languages.” One of the big ways in which students can differ is language; especially in second language classrooms, students show different strengths in different languages. As a student in the Pédagogie de l’immersion Française at McGill, I will most likely end up teaching in a second language class. Th

erefore, I’m interested in the resources that could help me with this. I found a website, Unite for Literacy, that has tons of audio books available in many, many languages. I think this would be an interesting tool to show students; I could give them homework assignments that ask them to listen to books in different languages. Next, there’s Word2Word, which offers all kinds of language resources, such as dictionaries and translators, that students could use to support their language learning. I would have this site bookmarked on the class computers, and students could self-direct their learning and make use of this resource when they need help. I think these resources would assist me in ensuring that all my students succeed.

I know this post has been long but it’s because there’s so much to explore when it comes to UDL! I honestly feel like I’ve learned a lot just by familiarizing myself with the concepts of UDL and finding real ways to integrate it into my teaching. As for the MELS Competencies, I’m glad that I focused on assessment in this post because it helped me develop Competency 5, which is about evaluating student progress. I’ve reflected upon ways to not only assess students effectively, but to do in ways that correspond with the Universal Design for Learning. I’ve already designed some assessment tools in some of my classes (some of which you can find on my blog), but I look forward to develop my skills in rubric and checklist making. It’s been helpful to think of specific, informal ways that I could gather information about my students’ progress. Next, I believe I’ve been working in Competency 7 since UDL is all about adapting your teaching practices to the needs of your students. Apart from that, I think Competency 6 is also at play here because thinking about incorporating UDL principles into my classroom required me to consider how I would organize and plan my class in order to abide by UDL standards. One of the most important features of this competency is to create an environment that is conducive to learning, which I think UDL definitely helps me do. I want nothing more than to promote student learning, which is part of effectively planning and supervising a class.

After studying UDL, one of my goals is definitely to incorporate its practices into my own teaching because I think it’s the right way to teach. The more I learn about inclusion and differentiation, the more I realize how important it is in a classroom. Therefore, I hope to learn more about integrating it into the classroom during my next field experiences.

National Center on Universal Design for Learning. (2014). UDL Principles. Retrieved from: http://www.udlcenter.org/

#MELSCompetency5 #MELSCompetency6 #MELSCompetency7