Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for guiding educational practice that aims to reduce barriers in instruction while maintaining high expectations for all students (and lower needs for accommodations) by providing flexibility in the ways students access, use, and reflect information in the classroom.

Provided by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA).

UDL Principles

UDL encourages flexibility in three specific areas, encouraging instructors to design learning that provides students multiple means of:

Representation: varied ways for students to take in information (printed text vs concept maps/diagrams vs videos)
Engagement: active learning (instead of passive instruction) involves students with the content, each other, and instructor and connects concepts to the real world
Expression: varied ways for students to show what they’ve learned (action, lab practicals, verbal or video reports, etc.) and when possible, give them choice to select the mode they prefer

Representation

Because all people perceive, think, and learn differently, UDL encourages instructors to provide a variety of modes and formats for students to access material, especially in ways that target multiple sensory inputs (auditory, visual, tactile, etc.). This could be as simple as providing more than one definition for a term, using different levels of language for each definition, or as complex as providing both written and video overviews of a concept. Graphic organizers (like concept maps, flowcharts, venn diagrams, and infographics) are also good ways to provide multiple ways for students to access information in a course. For more about Representation, view the video below or check out the UDL-Universe page about Representation, which includes links to examples of graphic organizers.

Engagement

Not only do learners all process information differently, they differ in their motivations for learning and how they prefer to engage in the process of learning. The UDL principle of Engagement encourages instructors to tap into students' natural motivations for learning in two ways: (1) making sure the content they teach is relevant to real-world scenarios, and (2) connecting students not just to the content (student-content), but also to each other (student-student) and to the instructor (student-faculty). Learning is fundamentally relational, so helping students facilitate those relationships (between the content and the real world as well as between themselves and their peers/colleagues) increases student engagement broadly. For more about Engagement, view the video below or check out the UDL-Universe page about Engagment, which includes examples of in-class activities instructors can use to facilitate engagement. (You might also check out the TLA Toolkit page about Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) for other ideas!)

Expression

We all express ourselves differently and have varying degrees of confidence in different modes of expression. Some of us could write a book about an idea but don't enjoy talking about it in front of a group, while others would rather tell you about their ideas than have to write them down. When the goal of assessment is to discover what a student actually knows, we may get the most accurate snapshot of their understanding by letting them choose the mode they are most comfortable with for expressing those ideas. UDL instructors might provide students the option to either write an essay or record a vlog to share their learning on a given topic or assignment. Other ways to provide multiple means of expression is to provide a variety of question types on exams (multiple choice, matching, written answer, etc.) and providing clear rubrics for students on all forms of assessment. For more about Expression, view the video below or check out the UDL-Universe page about Expression, which touches on the ideas of rubrics.

Resource: UDL Universe