December 4, 2024
Good Teaching Strategies vs. Universal Design for Learning “It's just good teaching,” or “It's just a bunch of good strategies.” These are two comments I've heard many times when educators are introduced to UDL. There is, though, a significant difference between using good strategies and applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Specifically, UDL is what […]
October 16, 2024
Using UDL to Create Trauma-Informed Instruction This week's episode with Zacham Kabantiok focuses on teachers who are using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support out-of-school learners who are experiencing trauma in Northeastern Nigeria. Zacham's story is framed around the trauma that learners experience in areas of conflict. It introduces how the UDL framework can […]
October 7, 2024
Embracing Flexibility via UDL: The Power of HyFlex Learning in Higher Education Today's higher education institutions are constantly seeking innovative ways to meet the diverse needs of their students. One approach that has gained significant traction is HyFlex learning, a model that combines the best of face-to-face and online instruction to provide maximum flexibility for […]
June 5, 2024
Lowering Barriers and the Dignity of Risk: Using Universal Design for Learning to Achieve Both In episode 121, Heather Avery and Anthony Carey frame their conversation with one question: “Am I leaving anyone out?” It is a powerful question for any learning context, but Anthony is asking it while teaching a fully inclusive technology course. […]
March 27, 2024
How UDL Transformed My Professional Learning Design During episode 117, Tracy Dabbs starts with her Universal Design for Learning (UDL) back story and it is one that is familiar to many who apply UDL – Tracy wanted a checklist. She read about UDL, she talked about UDL, but she wanted a checklist to help her […]
March 12, 2024
A popular way to talk about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is to emphasize choice. Choice is fabulous. Choice is essential. Every guideline begins with “Provide options for,” which encourages us to add in choice. But when the conversation (or workshop instruction) ends there, no one benefits. UDL exists to help instructional designers plan lessons […]
Two important points before we get into the how: Instruction happens everywhere. It is not limited to the K-12 environment. Every single learner experiences barriers. Barriers are something we all experience. They are not within us, they are within the environment. To lower a barrier, you must know the goal of your instruction. What specific […]
Let’s make that statement a bit more clear: The barrier is in the design and implementation of the environment, not the learner. Wait, what? The environment: It is made up of resources, physical structures, delivery methods, relationships, and beliefs and attitudes. The learner: Everything about that person that makes them an individual. The learner and […]
February 22, 2024
Building Authentic Learning Communities: Taking One Step In her return to the UDL in 15 Minutes podcast, Liz Hartmann shares how her understanding and implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has evolved over time. Liz is a professor who teaches both pre-service and graduate students about UDL and reflects on how the shift to […]
January 18, 2024
Building UDL Fluency Do you speak two or more languages? For example, you grew up speaking one language and then learned another as a subject in school or maybe you grew up in a bilingual or multilingual household (if so, I am totally jealous of you). Regardless of how you learned the languages, you communicate […]
