Universal+Design+for+Learning

Universal Design for Learning page created by Susan **Learning ?** || media type="youtube" key="bDvKnY0g6e4" height="390" width="480" align="center"
 * **What is Universal Design for**

Universal Design for learning is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, including cognitive neuroscience, that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can accommodate individual learning differences. UDL is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn.  Universal Design for Learning supports:


 * Greater accountability by guiding the development of assessments that provide accurate, timely, and frequent means to measure progress and inform instruction for all students.


 * Greater flexibility and choice for teachers, parents, and students by guiding the development of curricula that provide high expectations for every student and meaningful choices to meet and sustain those high expectations.


 * Greater use of evidence-based practices by guiding the design of high-quality curriculum that include research-based techniques for all students, including those with disabilities.

 ** How does Universal Design for Learning help guarantee students equal opportunities to learn? **  Both IDEA and NCLB recognize the right of all learners to a high-quality standards-based education. The laws preclude the development of separate educational agendas for students with disabilities and others with special needs. They also hold teachers, schools, districts, and states responsible for ensuring that these students demonstrate progress according to the same standards.  Neither law adequately addresses the greatest impediment to their implementation: the curriculum itself. In most classrooms, the curriculum is disabled. It is disabled because its main components—the goals, materials, methods, and assessments—are too rigid and inflexible to meet the needs of diverse learners, especially those with disabilities. Most of the present ways to remediate the curriculum’s disabilities—teacher-made workarounds and modifications, alternative placements etc.—are expensive, inefficient, and often ineffective for learning.  By addressing the diversity of learners at the point of curriculum development (rather than as an afterthought or retrofit), Universal Design for Learning is a framework that enables educators to develop curricula that truly “leave no child behind” by maintaining high expectations for all students while effectively meeting diverse learning needs and monitoring student progress. ||  One especially promising program is Scholastic/Tom Snyder’s Thinking Reader® editions of leading middle-school novels. These digital books—titles such as The Giver, Tuck Everlasting, Bridge to Tarabithia —provide built-in supports based on reciprocal teaching, which two decades of research has shown to be an effective approach to reading comprehension instruction.  The Thinking Reader editions include supports for physical access, such as text-to-speech and synchronized highlighting features. They also include supports for intellectual/cognitive access: reading-strategy prompts, model answers, background knowledge, and vocabulary support. All of these can be accessed and responded to in multiple ways, depending on what students need. Progress monitoring tools also help teachers identify who is learning—and who needs more individual attention. These are powerful supports for teachers and students that technology makes possible in a busy classroom setting. ‍    ||  However, curriculum modification can be problematic. For one thing, modifying the general education curriculum is a challenging and time-consuming process, especially when the task is left to individual teachers. Few teachers have the time, resources, or training to modify curricula effectively. In addition, many modifications may not provide adequate instruction to the neediest students—which may violate such students’ right to equal opportunities to learn from a high-quality curriculum. <span style="color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"> Replacing barriers in the curriculum with flexible learning options for teachers and students through Universal Design for Learning may be a more effective way to ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, make the kind of academic progress envisioned by NCLB and IDEA || Together, you could start by jointly using one or more of the <span style="color: #00669c; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">goal setting or lesson planning tools available from CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology (a national center focused on expanding learning opportunities for all students by promoting the use of UDL principles. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Why is UDL necessary ** ||< <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 12px; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">UDL is necessary because every student has the right to learn and every student learns differently. Universal Design for Learning helps breaks down the barriers in the classroom and allows for the highest potential of learning. Individuals bring a huge variety of skills, needs, and interests to learning. Neuroscience reveals that these differences are as varied and unique as our DNA or fingerprints. Three primary brain networks come into play: recognition networks, strategic networks and affective network. Recognition learning is the "what of learning." How we gather facts and categorize what we see, hear, and read. Identifying letters, words, or an author's style are recognition tasks. The strategic network is the "how" of learning. This is the planning and performing of tasks. How we organize and express our ideas. Writing an essay or solving a math problem is strategic tasks. The affective network is the "why of learning. How learners get engaged and stay motivated. How they are challenged, excited, or interested. These are affective dimensions. Universal Design for learning presents information and content in different ways. It differentiates the ways that students can express what they know, and lastly is will stimulate interest and motivation for learning. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Are classroom materials based on Universal Design for Learning already in available in the marketplace** ||< <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 70%; line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"> <span style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> There are some but not many. However, many organizations and companies are referencing Universal Design for Learning as a needed model for the development of more effective learning materials, including Kurzweil, Scholastic, Pearson Education, and others.
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">What are some modification when using UDL? ** ||< <span style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 25px; text-align: justify;"> Modifying existing general curriculum has long been the primary way to create more accessible learning environments to support all students and their teachers in various educational contexts.
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">How can you implement UDL? ** ||< To implement UDL well, we start at the beginning – as the curriculum is being defined by the state or school board, and as the textbook companies are developing their books and supplementary materials, and as the teacher is designing his or her lesson plan – using UDL principles as our guide. ||
 * **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">What are some strategies of using UDL? ** ||< This is a perfect opportunity to model UDL principles in an inclusive classroom. Working together with the general education teacher(s), you can help to design lesson plans that incorporate the principles of UDL:
 * 1) Multiple means of presentation;
 * 2) Multiple means of engagement, and
 * 3) Multiple means of expression.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">**What are the difference between assistive technology and Universal Design for Learning** ||< <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"> Children with physical or language disabilities may need properly designed wheelchairs, adaptive switches, speech synthesizers, and other assistive devices. Assistive technologies will always have a role in the education of learners with disabilities, and Universal Design for Learning will not eliminate the need for personal assistive devices.

<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"> However, exclusive emphasis on assistive technologies places the burden of adaptation on the learner, not the curriculum. The idea that students must procure or be prescribed special individual tools whenever they cannot use standard curricula essentially burdens the victims of poor curriculum design. Curricula should be flexible enough to meet the needs of the greatest possible variety of learners.

<span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"> As Universal Design for Learning becomes more viable and pervasive, the power of assistive technology can be devoted to providing more efficient interaction with a curriculum that is already access-aware. For students who need it, assistive technology will no longer be required to overcome barriers in a poorly-designed curriculum, but will enhance active interaction with a curriculum that has been designed at the outset to be accessible to all. || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">-﻿>Founded in 2009, the National UDL Center supports the effective implementation of UDL by connecting stakeholders in the field and providing resources and information <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;">Cast <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">->CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through Universal Design for Learning.
 * < **<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Helpful Websites to learn more about UDL. ** ||< <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;">National Center on UDL

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST has earned international recognition for its innovative contributions to educational products, classroom practices, and policies. Its staff includes specialists in education research and policy, neuropsychology, clinical/school psychology, technology, engineering, curriculum development, K-12 professional development, and more.

<span style="cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">UDL toolkit <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">Free technology for all UDL classrooms.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Helpful Answers to UDL -> This is where I found a lot of information that is on this page.

More helpful answers ||