5 Examples of Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design of Learning (UDL) is a new approach to keeping the focus on meeting all the needs of the student in the classroom.
It is an effective method to help students even though they might have learning or attention disabilities.
UDL takes careful planning on the teacher’s parts and can be tricky.
Here are a few examples of Universal Design for Learning that can work successfully in a classroom:
Lesson Goals
Having goals for your lessons is one of the most effective ways to ensure that the students achieve them.
Goals for lessons are very important and UDL understands that.
One easy way to do it is to post the specific goals in the classroom for students to write them down in their notebooks.
Assignment Options
In a traditional classroom, there is generally only one way for students to complete an assignment.
The assignment might be a worksheet or an essay. With UDL, there are several options for the students to work on.
The options for assignments include creating videos or podcasts to present their learning.
They can also create a comic strip for their assignment.
UDL offers a wide range of assignment options for the students to complete as they meet their lesson goals.
Flexible Work Space
UDL promotes flexibility in the learning environment.
UDL classrooms provide flexible workspace for students which include individual workspaces, group workspaces, and group instructions & regulations.
If a student needs to tune out the noise to meet their learning goal, they are allowed to use earbuds or headphone for their independent learning.
Regular Feedback
The Universal Design for Learning allows students to provide feedback almost every day to ensure proper learning and knowledge distribution.
At the end of every lesson, teachers may talk with individual students about their lesson goals and if they have been able to meet the goals.
These reflect on the choices made by the student in the class and encourage students to meet their goals.
If by any chance, any student fails to reach their goal, they are encouraged to do so and teachers provide the support they need.
Digital and Audio Text
Universal Design for Learning can identify if some student does not have access to the information and can’t learn from the lessons.
In a UDL, students can have easy access to all the information required for learning.
Students have several options for reading, printing, digital, text-to-speech, and audio learning options.
For digital text, there are also options for text enlargement and several variations for colors and contrast.
Videos have captions for better understanding and there are also transcripts for audiobooks for students to learn.
Wrapping Up!
Universal Design for Learning is one of the most efficient ways to ensure proper learning.
With the change in the world, there are certain developments expected in the education system and UDL is on its way to bring about change in the entire system with the incorporation of several student-centric technological developments and techniques.
