Foundations

Background

As educators, we should make every effort to ensure our courses and learning materials are as accessible to as many students as possible. NorQuest’s Values clearly demonstrate the College’s emphasis on

• empowerment,
• fostering creativity,
• innovation,
• critical thought,
• and building on the diversity of our learners.

We can help fulfill these College Values by applying the principles of Universal Design for Learning, which the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), defines as follows:

“Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn” (CAST, 2018).

UDL Guidelines

To promote accessibility and individualize the learning environment as much as possible, CAST has developed three major UDL guidelines for you to follow (Meyer, Rose & Gordon, p. 51):

• Provide multiple means of engagement 
  Try to determine what motivates your students. Learners become engaged with learning for a variety of reasons, depending on their personal characteristics or cultural background. Student motivation can vary, for example, according to the subject material or the group size. Some students prefer to work individually, some in groups, etc.
• Provide multiple means of representation:
  Try to use a variety of learning materials in your courses – video, audio, reading materials, etc., since students have different learning preferences.

• Provide multiple means of action and expression:
  Allow students to express their understanding in a variety of ways. For example, it may be the case that a learning outcome in an English course is to describe the importance of irony as a literary device. To fulfil this learning outcome, an instructor might give students the opportunity to express themselves in multiple ways, such as a written assignment, a short video or podcast, etc. (Meyer, Rose & Gordon, p. 51).

Association for Higher Education Access & Disability (2017). [Multiple Means of UDL]. Retrieved from https://www.ahead.ie/udl-framework

A larger, more detailed chart of the Principles is available from CAST. 

References

Bowe, F. G. (2000). Universal Design in Education: Teaching Non traditional Students. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.(MT)

CAST. (2018). About Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.W_V8NehKiUk

CAST (2018).  Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http: //udlguidelines.cast.org

Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal Design for Learning: Theory and practice. Wakefield MA: CAST. Retrieved from http://udltheorypractice.cast.org