- It applies the idea of built-in flexibility to the educational curriculum.
- It pushes universal design one step further by supporting not only improved access to information within classrooms, but also improved access to learning.
- Provide Multiple Representations of Information
- Provide Multiple Means of Expression
- Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
An elaboration of these principles and strategies for their use in postsecondary settings begins in Unit 3.
For an example of a web site developed from the principles of Universal Design for Learning, visit Inclusivemedia web site, the companion site to the course Neuropsychology and Instructional Design: Meeting the Challenge of Individual Differences taught by David Rose at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
The "Calendar" section entries in the Spring 2003 session provide an example of how an online environment can provide both organizational and study supports.
Point of Interest: When submitting "online papers" in this graduate level course, students are limited to using only 1500 words maximum, but there is no limit to the amount of visual elements (graphics, images, video), auditory elements (audio files, music) or hyperlinks that can be used.
Access to Learning. Non-educators often make the mistake of equating access to information with access to learning. In reality, these are two separate goals. In fact, increasing access to information can actually undermine learning because it sometimes requires reducing or eliminating the challenge or resistance that is essential to learning.
- The distinction between access to information and access to learning is analogous to the kind of heavy lifting done by a professional mover versus that done by a body builder.
- The professional mover is interested in getting the sofa from point A to point B as quickly as possible and with the least wear and tear on his muscles. Therefore, he uses tools such as a dolly, a hydraulic lift, and a truck to reduce the challenge of the work—a goal that suits the mover very well.
- The body builder has a different goal: increasing muscle. He seeks opportunities to lift weights, undertaking long workouts and increasing the weight as his strength improves. He uses tools that selectively support the muscles not being trained and increase resistance for those that are.
- The goals of learners more closely resemble those of the athlete-in-training than those of the mover. UDL is predicated on that difference. As educators, our aim is not simply to make information accessible to students, but to make learning accessible. This requires resistance and challenge. Much as the body builder needs to know which muscle group requires strengthening before he can structure his training, the instructor needs to know the academic goal in order to appropriately structure teaching.
Accessibility. Access to content (readings, information, etc.) and activities (assignments, explorations) is often essential for learning. However, access alone is neither sufficient for nor synonymous with learning. Knowing the instructional goal is essential for determining when to provide support and when to provide resistance and challenge. With this balance, students gain access to learning. The UDL framework provides guidance for using technology to support that balance.
 | Video Clip: UDL in Education Duration: 2.0 minutes  |
 | Video Clip: Learning from Each Other Duration: 0.7 minutes |
UDL and Assistive Technology. Universal design (and particularly the branch that focuses on education, Universal Design for Learning) has much the same goals as the field of assistive technology – increasing the access, participation and achievement of students with disabilities in our institutions. The approaches differ, however, in four important ways:
- Assistive Technology (AT) is the application of electronic and other tools, to the task of providing access to otherwise inaccessible learning tasks or environments. Although relatively "low-tech" assistive technologies (like canes, wheelchairs, eyeglasses) have been in place for a century, the addition of "high-tech" assistive technologies over the last two decades (e.g. electronic mobility switches and alternative keyboards for individuals with physical disabilities, computer-screen enlargers and text-to-speech readers for individuals with visual and learning disabilities) has provided the most dramatic impact on education and captured the imagination of the public.
- Assistive technology is a set of tools employed to "assist" individuals in adapting to the barriers that exist in their environment.
- In universal design, faculty create learning environments that, by design, do not contain barriers.
- Both assistive technology and universal design are essential. However, relying exclusively on AT is expensive, time consuming and does not address the underlying issue of inaccessible materials.
The Broad Impact of UDL Anticipating the learning needs of people with disabilities increases usability for everyone, which greatly justifies the upfront effort. One example of this is television captioning.
When captioning first became available, it was intended just for persons with hearing impairments who had to retrofit their televisions by purchasing expensive decoder boxes to access the captions. Later, decoder chips were built into every television, making captioning standard and available to all viewers. This universal design feature now benefits not only for individuals who are deaf, but also exercisers in health clubs, diners in noisy restaurants, individuals working on their language skills, and couples who go to sleep at different times. Further, access to television captioning costs a few cents rather than several hundred dollars. Finally, as cable and broadcast content producers have begun to realize that captions reach a large segment of the population, the number of television shows providing captions has expanded exponentially, resulting in greater access to more information for everyone.
Universal Design for Learning and Multiple Intelligences – What is the relationship between UDL and Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences? UDL promotes flexibility in all aspects of instruction, and is designed to address the needs of a wide variety of learners. For a more detailed summary of the complimentary nature of these two approaches, read Technology and Multiple Intelligences: New Possibilities and Tools for Teachers and Students by Ann Thompson, Journal of Computing in Teacher Education, Volume 19 / Number 3 Spring 2003, International Society for Technology in Education, http://www.iste.org/jcte/pdfs/te193070tho.pdf
| Video Clip: Individualized Instruction Duration: 0.8 minutes |
 | Video Clip: Meeting Learning Needs Duration: 0.7 minutes |
