Background: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) first evolved from an architectural movement. After the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 imposed requirements that public buildings be accessible to individuals with disabilities, many buildings were "retrofitted" with access ramps and other modifications that were in many cases unattractive. Universal Design was a movement which emphasized the concept of full accessibility from the earliest planning phase; and the integration of access with aesthetics. Designers quickly realized that the concept of "access" gave rise to unexpected benefits to a much wider constituency than was originally intended: curb cuts initially intended to enable wheelchair access turned out also to benefit parents pushing strollers and kids wheeling on Heelies; closed captioning technologies initially developed for the deaf turned out also to benefit yuppies exercising in gyms and opera lovers who don't speak Italian. It was inspirational.
Applying Universal Design to Education: The Universal Design to Learning (UDL) movement seeks to extent the concepts of "full access" beyond physical access to buildings to access to the curriculum itself. In so doing, it seeks to utilize technologies such as voice recognition and text-to-speech software that remove barriers to content that students with disabilities such as limited sight might experience (this would be analogous to the wheelchair-bound and deaf individuals in the architectural examples above); but also to look more broadly and apply lessons from recent brain research about learner differences and determine how technology might serve their access needs as well (this would translate to the mothers with strollers and the opera lovers in the example).
Brain research suggests that learning is distributed across three interconnected networks: recognition (which are specialized to sense and assign meaning to patterns, and allow us to identify information and concepts); strategic (which generate and oversee mental and motor patterns and plans); and affective (which are associated with emotional responses, and enable us to engage with tasks, learning and people). In each of these networks, the brain utilizes both "hierarchical" (gestalt and parts-to-whole) processing; and "lateral" (multiple simultaneous thoughts, such as recognizing multiple colors simultaneously) processing. All people utilize all three networks and both types of processing; however, individuals vary widely in both which network is best developed and in which type of processing is easier; which results in considerable learning differences.
Having identified those differences, UDL seeks to broaden access to learning through adherence to three principles: to use multiple formats to present information and enable students to demonstrate mastery; to draw upon multiple pathways such that learners are presented with the same material through formats that "hit" upon multiple senses to reinforce learning; and to draw on multiple forms of motivation to engage students.
Concept Map: Implementing UDL
Implementation of UDL: Effective implementation of UDL hearkens back to many of the same principles that Sara Dexter outlined in her eTIPs article in last week's reading. Educators must start with crystalline clarity about their instructional goals, as well as detailed knowledge about their students' individual needs and the media options that might support them. Thereafter, the educator develops a plan for differentiated instruction; drawing upon a full range of access-oriented technologies (such as text-to-speech), media that allow multiple formats to demonstrate mastery (such as allowing students to present material in a digital presentation rather than paper-and-pencil test), and formats that support multiple sensory pathways (such as using video and audio clips in addition to text-based sources). Supporting all of this, and again consistent with Dexter's eTIPS, must be sufficient support in terms of both infrastructure and professional development.
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