Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

by MU Instructional Designers
October 3, 2024
25-30 min read

Why?

Another excellent perspective on why UDL is so important for an inclusive learning environment is that of Kevin Kelly’s “Fostering Inclusion with Universal Design for Learning.” Kevin Kelly is an instructor at San Francisco State University, and the article was published in the Association for American Colleges & Universities’ Diversity and Democracy quarterly publication. It provides a faculty perspective on the need for UDL in inclusive teaching and offers a few practical suggestions in a narrative format.

What?

After that video introduction, we recommend you explore two helpful websites:

How?

CAST’s UDL Guidelines

CAST’s UDL Guidelines website is homebase for learning about the UDL guidelines, including more specific suggestions for strategies and checkpoints. If you click on the graphic organizer, you can navigate to specific details within the framework to increase your understanding and your implementation.

However, this might be overwhelming. If you’re just getting started, consider our Top 5 Tips:

  1. Articulate the “Why?”
    How does your assignment meet the course learning objectives? How might it be relevant outside of the classroom? Be sure this is clear to your students. (UDL checkpoints 7.2 & 8.1)
  2. Highlight connections.
    Within your content, what are the patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships? Are you unintentionally making the assumption that students see those connections? (UDL checkpoint 3.2)
  3. Offer another format for content.
    Do you have any topics that are only presented in one way (e.g. textbook, lecture)? Consider adding one more form of media for that topic (e.g. video, infographic, podcast). (UDL checkpoints 1.2 & 2.5)
  4. Incorporate voice & choice in assessment.
    Where in your assessment could there be options for students while still meeting your learning objectives (e.g. topic, format)? (UDL checkpoints 7.1, 4.1, & 5.2)
  5. Scaffold group work/collaboration.
    How can you help students build the collaboration skills they need (e.g. group worksheets/inventories, groupwork contracts, peer review scaffolds)? (UDL checkpoints 8.3 & 8.4)

CAST’s UDL on Campus

For a stronger focus on higher ed in the UDL context, CAST’s UDL on Campus provides some great advice and information. The site provides strategies for a UDL-infused syllabus, for more accessible media/course materials, for executive functioning in fully online learning environments, and for many more topics.

If you’d like to learn more about UDL, you can check out our UDL annotated bibliography for further resources.