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UDL Research & Resources

"In the past decade, there have been unprecedented ways to examine the living brain and to better understand what happens during learning. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was inspired by such advances in cognitive neuroscience research and offers a framework that integrates what we know about the learning brain to inform the design of environments that support all learners."

CAST (2018). UDL and the learning brain. Wakefield, MA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/products-services/resources/2018/udl-learning-brain-neuroscience

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Interactive UDL 3.0 Guidelines

The Open Access Interactive UDL 3.0 Guidelines provide educators with a dynamic, user-friendly tool that supports the intentional design of flexible learning experiences by offering practical strategies and examples for fostering multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression to meet the diverse needs of all learners.

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Engagement

Design Options for
Welcoming Interests and Identities

  • Optimize choice and autonomy

  • Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity

  • Nurture joy and play

  • Address biases, threats, and distractions

 ACCESS

Representation

Design Options for Perception

  • Support opportunities to customize the display of information

  • Support multiple ways to perceive information

  • Represent a diversity of perspectives and identities in authentic ways

Action & Expression

Design Options for Interaction

  • Vary and honor the methods for response, navigation, and movement

  • Optimize access to accessible materials and assistive and accessible technologies and tools

Engagement

Design Options for 
Sustaining Effort & Persistence

  • Clarify the meaning and purpose of goals

  • Optimize challenge and support

  • Foster collaboration, interdependence, and collective learning

  • Foster belonging and community

  • Offer action-oriented feedback

SUPPORT

Representation

Design Options for 
Language & Symobls

  • Clarify vocabulary, symbols, and language structures

  • Support decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols

  • Cultivate understanding and respect across languages and dialects​

  • Address biases in the use of language and symbols

  • Illustrate through multiple media

Action & Expression

Design Options for 

Expression & Communication

  • Use multiple media for communication

  • Use multiple tools for construction, composition, and creativity

  • Build fluencies with graduated support for practice and performance

  • Address biases related to modes of expression and communication

Engagement

Design Options for 
Emotional Capacity

  • Recognize expectations, beliefs, and motivations

  • Develop awareness of self and others

  • Promote individual and collective reflection

  • Cultivate empathy and restorative practices

EXECUTIVE FUCNTION

Representation

Design Options for 
Building Knowledge

  • Connect prior knowledge to new learning

  • Highlight and explore patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships

  • Cultivate multiple ways of knowing and making meaning

  • Maximize transfer and generalization

Action & Expression

Design Options for 
Strategy Development

  • Set meaningful goals

  • Anticipate and plan for challenges

  • Organize information and resources

  • Enhance capacity for monitoring progress

  • Challenge exclusionary practices

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