Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom: Examples and Strategies for Inclusive Education

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that addresses the diverse needs of all learners by providing flexibility in how they access information, engage with materials, and demonstrate their knowledge. Rooted in the broader Universal Design movement, UDL aims to create inclusive learning environments that remove barriers and empower students to reach their full potential. This approach benefits all students, including those with learning and attention issues, and is increasingly recognized as crucial for fostering equitable education.

Understanding Universal Design for Learning

UDL is not a one-size-fits-all teaching method. Instead, it provides accommodations as needed to any student, giving students an equal opportunity to succeed. It provides flexibility in the way students access course material as well as in how they demonstrate understanding of what they learn. It looks for different ways to motivate students. The ultimate goal of UDL is to remove barriers to learning by helping teachers meet students where they are and provide them with appropriate materials and motivation. UDL empowers students by allowing them to have a say in how they learn and by making assignments relevant to their lives. Most importantly, it gives teachers the freedom to use an array of teaching methods to make sure that every student is learning and growing.

The Origins of UDL

Universal Design for Learning grew out of the larger Universal Design movement, which was oriented towards Architectural design thinking. Architect Ronald Mace-who in 1987 first coined the term “Universal Design”- challenged the approach of designing for the average user and provided a template for more accessible and usable products and environments for all users, not just those with identifiable disabilities. The universal design philosophy asserts that accessible, equitable environments (such as buildings, products, or services) is not a special requirement that benefits a minority of its users, but is intrinsic to and fundamental to good design. Every user benefits from accessible, usable, convenient design. Mace and his colleagues at the Center for Universal design established seven principles for the universal design of products and environments (Connell et al, 1997).

The Three Principles of UDL

UDL guidelines, developed by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), promote the development of curriculum that includes the following three principles: engagement, representation, and action & expression. These principles are based on the idea that learners differ in how they engage with learning, how they perceive and comprehend information, and how they express what they know.

Multiple Means of Engagement: This principle aligns with the affective network and addresses the "why" of learning: why is this material relevant to students and their personal goals and motivations? Multiple means of engagement focuses on stimulating interest and motivation for learning for all students. Strategies include providing options for recruiting interest, for sustaining effort and persistence, and for self-regulation. This principle recognizes that students are motivated to learn for different reasons and vary in the types of learning activities that keep them engaged.
Multiple Means of Representation: This principle aligns with the recognition network and focuses on the "what" of learning: what are students expected to learn, engage with, and access to succeed in the course? It acknowledges that learners access information differently and that there is not one means of representation that will be optimal for all learners. Presenting course content and information in multiple formats makes it accessible to a greater number of learners.
Multiple Means of Action and Expression: This principle aligns with the strategic network and focuses on the "how" of learning: how will students engage in different learning experiences and demonstrate what they know and what they are learning? This principle focuses on differentiating the ways that students can express what they know. This includes providing options for students to engage in physical action, expression and communication, and executive functions. It acknowledges that learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know and that there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all learners.

Implementing UDL in the Classroom: Practical Strategies and Examples

While UDL is a common phrase in many schools today, it can be difficult to implement practically in the classroom. Here are some strategies and examples for implementing UDL in the classroom, categorized by the three principles:

Engagement: Fostering Motivation and Interest

Everything starts with how students engage with the class and the subject. This principle encompasses the ideas of motivation, building on the interests of the students. The area of engagement also helps students to see the reasons why they should learn what they’re learning, and makes it relevant to their life. This also includes helping students become self-motivated by guiding them through rubrics that allow for self-reflection and personal goals.

Know Your Students' Strengths and Barriers: All students are unique, and the way they learn best can be as individual as a fingerprint. Some students learn best by reading and working independently, while others excel by watching videos and working in groups. Determine strengths and barriers by asking students their learning preferences or observing them over time. Keep notes on which methods work best for which students. Be prepared to create an individual education plan for students requiring specific accommodations.
Give students specific learning goals: To help motivate and engage students, include them in the goal process. A great example of this is posting lesson goals for all the students to see in the classroom. To do this, teachers must have one clear goal for each lesson. Then, they can discuss this goal with the class at the beginning of the lesson and write it out in a visible place for the whole class to see. That way, students know exactly what to expect from the lesson, and will feel more motivated to pay attention to complete the lesson goal.
Create and follow classroom routines: Helping students to feel safe in their learning environment is essential to a productive and motivated classroom. One great example of universal design for learning is creating classroom routines that help students feel secure. While this helps adapt to students with disabilities such as autism, it’s good for all students to get used to classroom routines. This means structuring class time so that each student knows what they should be doing and when. This can still allow for flexibility in the order or time spent on subtasks, but helps students to know exactly where they are in the lesson.
Provide prompts that let students know it’s time to ask for help: Students need to know when to ask for help. For example, a math teacher could set a specific amount time that each student should spend on a problem. If they can’t solve the problem in 2 minutes, for example, they should ask the teacher or a peer for help in understanding the problem. This helps students to avoid unnecessary frustration and continue learning effectively.
Group learners with common interests or learning strengths and weaknesses: When there are several students who share the same learning style or who have common interests, these can be grouped together for specific activities in the classroom. For example, students who prefer to create a video instead of completing a written essay can be grouped together to create a video project together. Group work can help students to reinforce skills by teaching others, it can also improve their collaborative and social-emotional learning skills too.
Provide flexible classrooms: Flexibility in the classroom also involves the physical space where students are learning. Try flexible seating by switching up the furniture arrangements to make students feel more comfortable (which, in turn, makes them more productive). This could mean getting some bean-bag chairs or exercise balls, or even standing desks, mats for the floor, or stools with high-top tables. Flexible seating helps students who have trouble sitting in one place, and gives all students the ability to choose their best workspace.
Explain the importance and relevance of your learning outcomes.
Use a variety of methods for active learning, such as individual, pair, and small group activities.

Representation: Presenting Information in Multiple Ways

Allowing students to choose the methods by which they take in information allows for all types of students to thrive as they interact with subject materials. Customization is key here. This involves providing multiple ways to assimilate subject material, such as textbooks, audio files, digital books, or images and graphs. It also implies customization and flexibility within those formats. With this kind of flexibility, students have access to the material that best suits their needs. This is useful for children with disabilities such as dyslexia, as well as for average students who simply perform better when listening to instruction than when reading, for example.

Use digital materials when possible: Digital materials can make implementing UDL in a classroom much easier. With digital content you can increase font size, easily look up definitions, use text-to-speech to read text aloud, and link out to more detailed information on almost any topic imaginable. This is particularly useful for students needing dyslexia-friendly reading tools, or translation. If your current classroom materials are not in a digital format, consider ways you can change this. For example, you could replace outdated content with more up-to-date, digital content available online, or use tools like OrbitNote to convert paper-based materials to digital, accessible materials.
Share content in a variety of ways: In addition to having content available in a digital format, it’s also important to share that content in a variety of ways. For example, if you’re teaching a unit on area and perimeter, you may know that some students will do well simply reading the textbook, while others would benefit from watching a video or listening to a hiphop version of the lesson on Flocabulary. Once they’ve got the concept down, let everyone get their hands dirty by working with manipulatives on their own or in a group to solve a real-life problem. Offering multiple means of representation (UDL’s first principle) helps to ensure that students who struggle in one area do not automatically fall behind their peers.
Display Information in a Flexible Format: Teachers should be aware of how their students learn best. So, it’s time to provide flexible ways of learning. This could involve a number of different formats, including:
- Traditional paper books
- Digital books
- Text-to-speech
- Images or charts
- Learning games
- Videos
- MusicIdeally, students should also have some flexibility within these different formats. For example, using a digital textbook allows students to adjust the size of the font or the color of the background. With a video, students should be able to adjust the speed and volume. You ultimately want to foster an inclusive learning environment where the content can be delivered to suit every student's learning needs.
Adapt information for multilingual students: Whenever possible, students should be able to access information in both the dominant language of the school and in their own native language. Teachers can also provide visual aids to help clarify vocabulary that is unfamiliar to students, or provide multilingual students with dictionaries either in paper or digital format. Adaptability in this area also applies to deaf and hearing-impaired students. Teachers should ensure that there is a visual-only option for these students in all aspects of the classroom, such as assistive captions under videos, automated speech-to-text software, or at best a sign language version of the information.
Prompt students to identify key ideas and relationships: Teachers should prompt students to highlight important phrases from their textbooks, or summarize the important aspects of a video lesson in one sentence. Teachers should also guide students to build relationships between information they’ve already learned and what they’re currently learning. For example, a math teacher could help students see the relationship between addition and multiplication, prompting them to draw on past experience to help them learn new concepts.
Provide Options for Perception - Based on the premise that learners access information differently, this principle means providing flexible and multiple ways to present information.
Provide videos with transcripts or closed captions. Learners with vision challenges can access video content through the transcript text.
Provide lecture materials in Canvas. Posting lecture notes and/or slides in Canvas allows all learners the opportunity to benefit from the opportunity to revisit and reflect on your lecture content.

Action and Expression: Providing Multiple Ways to Demonstrate Knowledge

Once students have taken in the information, it’s time for them to express and show what they’ve learned. This principle of universal design for learning takes into account the differences of students’ manner of expression. Flexibility is provided in the way that students show their knowledge of the subject, meaning they can choose not to perform a test and instead opt for a more adaptive expression that fits their strengths. Action and expression also touches on the idea of goal-setting for students. Here, teachers help students set goals for learning, and guide students through monitoring their own progress.

Offer choices for how students demonstrate their knowledge: When possible however, do your best to give students options for how they share their knowledge. This could be a demonstration, slideshow, speech, essay or video. Even using simple free tools like Google Forms provides an upgrade to standard multiple choice tests by making it digital and helping you to streamline grading.
Create multiple options for expression and assignment completion: Giving students a choice of how they’ll complete assignments allows each student to demonstrate his knowledge in a way that is relevant to him or her. Some options could include:
- Creating a video essay
- Drawing a comic strip
- Completing a test in digital format, or with audio questions
- Putting on a group demonstration
- Building a physical modelFor example, a history teacher may want students to show an understanding of the events that led to World War 2. He could give his students the option to complete a written test, to create a video ‘reporting’ on the events, or to draw a comic strip that shows which main events led to the start of the war. That way, each student gets to complete the assignment in the way that is best for them, while all students demonstrate a reasonable understanding of the topic.
Take advantage of software supports: The number of apps, extensions, sites, and built-in supports available to students today is nearly infinite. If you have a student who needs support with reading, writing, math, history, chemistry, or any other subject, chances are, software exists to help. Allowing students to take advantage of these supports is critical. Not only does it give them the ability to succeed independently both inside and outside of the classroom, but it also frees up your valuable time to help even more students. A great example of a support from Texthelp that’s helping millions of students worldwide is Read&Write. This extension for the Google Chrome web browser allows anyone with a Google account to have access to reading and writing supports on the web, in Google Docs, Slides, Forms and more.
Give access to learning software: Software in the classroom is a great way to be adaptable to different students.
Provide multiple means for navigation and control: Being adaptable means allowing for adaptive software and hardware for students that have limitations. For example, with digital content on the computer, students can be allowed to control with voice, joystick, or an adaptive keyboard when necessary. Alternatives should also be available for students when it comes to the range of motor action required to interact with the materials used in the classroom.
Give regular feedback that helps students develop goals and strategies to reach them: With regular, personal feedback for students, they’re able to see where they are, what progress they’ve made, and what they still need to accomplish. Teachers should also include goal planning and achievement when giving feedback. Teachers should also help students through their own self-evaluation. For example, during feedback sessions they can ask questions as:
- Do you feel like you reached the lesson goal for today?
- How close do you think you got to reaching your goal?
- What do you think you could’ve done differently to reach that goal?
- What skills have you learned this week that you didn’t know last week?
- How do you plan on reaching our lesson goal for tomorrow?This helps students to learn how to reflect on their own activities and make plans that help them reach their own learning goals.
Provide Options for Expression - Since learners vary in their abilities to demonstrate their learning in different ways, this principle means providing flexible and multiple ways to allow students to express their knowledge or demonstrate their skills.
Allow learners to choose the means by which they will demonstrate their understanding.

Low-Tech Options for UDL

Even though the importance of digital content, software supports, and other technology-related tools is often emphasized, technology is not required to implement UDL. UDL is all about removing barriers. As mentioned, one way to do this is by providing a range of options when presenting content or asking students to demonstrate their knowledge. Instead of using technology you can still offer multiple means of representation with things like graphic organizers and handheld whiteboards that students can use as response cards. The goal is just to make sure that all students have a way to participate and learn.

Implementing UDL Incrementally

Keep in mind that UDL is a process and can be implemented incrementally and in a series of iterations. There are many ways to integrate UDL into your courses. Identifying a place in your course that bogs down your students and use that as a launch point for applying UDL principles. After you’ve identified these “pinch points,” try to find just one more way to engage learners that currently exists in your course. This can include providing an additional source, introducing an element of choice in assignments or assessments, or providing access to lecture materials, notes, etc. Another way to integrate UDL into your courses is by utilizing a lesson plan.

Proactive design: in this stage you analyze the objectives of the lesson, anticipate the variability of your students (looking at variability through the representation, engagement, and action and expression learning networks) and add design strategies into the lesson that provide options for learners.
Reflection and redesign: in this stage you evaluate where revisions and improvements of your lesson are needed.
Accompany verbal instructions with a written corollary.
Design course policies that provide clear pathways if students need to be absent, turn in work late, leave class early, etc.

Assessing the Effectiveness of UDL

How will you know if your efforts to implement UDL are effective? Your students are a great resource for feedback when implementing UDL. A UDL implementation rubric based on CAST guidelines is another useful resource you might consult in gauging and assessing the degree to which you are effectively integrating UDL principles into your course. As with any teaching strategy, reflect on how it went. Did it work for you? For your students? Were students able to attain the course learning outcomes?

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