Universal Design for Learning Guidelines
The UDL Guidelines were created by CAST to help further define and align practices to each of the UDL principles. The guidelines provide recommendations to ensure all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities across the curriculum.
Affective Network
The "Why" of Learning.The affective network is in charge of emotions, engagement, challenge and interest.
Recognition Network
The "What" of Learning.
The recognition network’s job is to take in and categorize information; make sense of letters, symbols, colors & shapes; to connect new learning to prior knowledge.
The Strategic Network
The "How" of Learning.
The strategic network is in charge of tasks that require planning, performing, organizing, strategizing, and expressing ideas.
What are the goals of the UDL Guidelines?
The goal of UDL is to create “Purposeful and Motivated learners who are Resourceful and Knowledgeable and Strategic and Goal Directed.” UDL uses a list of guidelines that will help you develop and deliver UDL lessons by rethinking the barriers that exist and planning for learner variability by providing options and choices. These options and choices are defined by three principles:
- The Why: Providing multiple means of engagement,
- The What: Providing multiple means of representation,
- The How: Providing multiple means of action and expression
These options and choices will help learners self differentiate and develop a growth mindset. The guidelines are not a checklist that you use to build a lesson plan. You don’t have to use all of them, in every lesson that you create. However, they can help you craft your lessons globally so that all learners have the opportunity to succeed.
The UDL Guidelines are a curriculum framework designed to address the needs of all learners. The UDL framework is based on the principle that everyone can learn, and that all learners deserve an equal opportunity to succeed. The UDL Guidelines provide educators with a new way of thinking about goals, assessments, methods, and materials that can be used to create an inclusive learning environment for all learners. The UDL Guidelines are divided into three main sections: engagement, representation, and action and expression. Each section includes a set of guidelines that educators can use to tailor their instruction to the needs of all learners. By using the UDL Guidelines, educators can create a curriculum that is accessible and engaging for all learners.
What are the 3 principles of Universal Design for Learning?
The UDL Guidelines can be applied to all areas of the curriculum. The UDL framework provides a blueprint for creating flexible learning environments that can be customized to meet the individual needs of all learners.
UDL is based on three core principles: Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression. These principles are designed to remove barriers to learning and provide everyone equitable access to the curriculum.
The Engagement principle focuses on providing learners with multiple ways to access and interact with content. This could include using pictures, audio, video, or text; providing multiple levels of difficulty; or offering different tasks that appeal to different learning needs. Focuses on providing learners with multiple ways to find relevance in their learning, to persist in learning when it is most challenging, and to develop self-regulation, self-assessment, and self-reflection.
The Representation principle ensures that learners can understand and use information in multiple ways. This could involve using different modalities (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic) to present information; using graphic organizers to illustrate key concepts; or providing summary statements after each lesson.
The Action and Expression principle gives learners multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge and skills while using a variety of tools to construct meaning and express mastery. This might include giving oral presentations, writing essays, creating digital projects, or participating in group work.
UDL is an important consideration for all educators as we strive to create inclusive learning environments that meet the needs of all learners. By implementing UDL principles in our classrooms, we can provide all learners with the opportunity to become experts in their own learning, which empowers them with the skills they need to take on any learning task in any context.. All of our learners can access and join engaging, meaningful, and challenging learning opportunities.
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