Delaware Department of Education P.O. Box 1402 Townsend Building Dover, DE 19903-1402 UDL Universal Design for Learning: Reaching All, Teaching All Ultimately, educational goals will not be about the mastery of content, but about the mastery of learning. Grace Meo 1 Acknowledgements This paper is the first effort based on the collaborative work of many. Special appreciation goes to: Dr. Beth Mineo-Mollica, Scientist and Director, Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative, for her expertise and talent in the area of assistive technology, communication, and UDL. She talked through the concept and principles of UDL with me and framed what that might mean for Delaware. Margaret Colvin and Dr. Madelyn Jablon, from the Exceptional Children Workgroup of Delaware Department of Education, for their research, constructive comments, and organization of interviews. Lori Duerr and Debby Boyer, from the EC Workgroup and the Center for Disabilities Studies respectively, for their willingness to embrace the concept of UDLand spend their time planning how UDLmight link to other DDOE initiatives. Drs. Nancy Wilson and Martha Brooks, DDOE, for their strong professional support and substantial funding for UDLand related projects and their willingness to embrace the concept of UDL. CASTstaff for their training and information. Cynthia Curry from the Spurwink Institute for her training and information. Ethel Bright and Teresa Blythe from Mid-South Regional Resource Center, for financial and informational support. Mary Ferracci for providing staff and logistical support for all planning activities. Sincerely, Paula Burdette, Ph.D. State Improvement Grant Director Exceptional Children & Early Childhood Workgroup Delaware Dept. of Education 2 Universal Design for Learning: Reaching All, Teaching All Table of Contents 3 What UDL Is and Is Not 5 UDL & the Link to Brain Research 6 Benefits of Universal Design 8 UDL Lessons Learned 9 Implications for Teachers 10 Implementation of UDL 17 UDL Resources 3 What UDL Is and Is Not Universal Design for Learning (UDL) emerged from the field of architectural design when federal legislation required universal access to buildings and other structures for individuals with disabilities. Architects began to design accessibility into buildings during their initial design stage rather than retrofitting standing structures. Using this architectural principle, UDL is a strategy to eliminate barriers that students may encounter to learning. Universal Design for Learning was a term coined by the Center for Accessing Special Technologies (CAST). UDLincludes Universally Designed Instruction (UDI) as well as the concept of universally designed curriculum (UDC) and Universal Design in Assessment (UDA). Each of these concepts deals with the idea that education, in general, should be designed up front for access by all students, whether the curriculum, the instructional strategies, or the assessment. CASTfound that the principles of universal design could be effective in developing useful educational tools (Meyer and Rose, 2000). Aclear case has been made for the use of new technologies in the classroom today to ensure academic achievement for all students. Developing powerful technologies to overcome barriers must be balanced by designing environments with fewer barriers. The lesson of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is that small affordances built in everywhere, like curb cuts and ramps, are as critical for access as are assistive technologies like motorized wheelchairs . . . The same is true for educational materials and methods. We need to use the new technologies not only to overcome existing learning barriers, but also to design learning environments with fewer barriers right from the start. David Rose (2001, Testimony to Congress) 4 Universal Design in education means that the physical, social, and learning environments are designed so that diverse learners (including diversity in the areas of culture, socioeconomics, gender, race, and ability) are supported through powerful possibilities for teaching and learning. Universal Design is a concept, a set of principles, a framework … a frame of mind that supports designs be made accessible and usable for the widest possible number of individuals. This includes: • The built environment (e.g., homes, offices, buildings) • Consumer products (e.g., writing utensils, hand tools, keyboards.) • Technologies (e.g., computer access, the World Wide Web) • Education (e.g., curriculum, instruction, assessment) (Curry, 2004) Universal Design does not mean standards will be lowered. Universal Design is not achieved by uniformity, but rather by flexibility. Universal Design is a framework that provides alternatives to: methods of instruction; delivery of instruction; materials, and methods of student response (how students show what they know and can do) all within the general curriculum for every student, regardless of his or her specific areas of diversity. 5 UDLcan be implemented using a variety of means, including digitized materials, such as text presented in a digital, electronic format. Often accessed by computer and sometimes using an electronic reader, students with learning differences (e.g., gifted or disabled) have immediate support and feedback. Students who are physically challenged are not limited by books they cannot hold. Students who have special talents are not limited by the bound book. Students with visual impairments can hear the same materials available to their peers or have almost immediate access to text in Braille. Flexibility is of utmost importance to accessing the benefits of Universal Design for Learning. UDL & the Link to Brain Research Everyone has a somewhat different way of seeing and interacting with the world. Mild and moderate brain differences affect the way we learn (i.e., the way people need learning input – methods; need to engage in learning - materials and activities; and need to provide output of learning - response). Exciting advances in the area of brain research tell us that the ways students learn are not just student preference (i.e., auditory, visual, kinesthetic, or tactile learner), but brain driven - neurologically determined. Therefore, built-in flexibility in the design of curriculum, instruction, materials, and acceptable student response is paramount to quality education. Based on brain research , new technological tools, and Universal Design for Learning, CAST has found that learning is distributed across three interconnected networks of the brain: • Recognition network, • Strategic network, and • Affective network. The way in which we recognize information, build factual knowledge, and relate new information to our prior knowledge (recognition network) determines, in part, how we learn. Everything we encounter involves a strategic process (strategic network) to identify, plan, and 6 execute an action. The manner in which we accomplish this, determines, in part, how we learn. Lastly, the way in which we attach emotional significance to objects and actions (affective network) partially determines how we experience educational environments, tasks, materials, instruction in our own distinctive manner. Taken together, these three networks form a complex framework that we can use to analyze patterns of individual student’s strengths and weaknesses and understand their individual differences. Reiterated, recognition networks help us identify objects; strategic networks allow us to act on these objects; and affective networks attach emotional significance to these objects and actions, influencing what we see, do, and learn. (Rose & Myer, 2002) This relatively new knowledge of the way human brains function substantiates what many excellent educators have "known" for decades; that allowing for learner differences does not give students an unfair advantage, a "crutch", but gives teachers the opening to "level the playing field" of education so that all students have the best opportunity to learn that we as a society can afford them. Benefits of Universal Design Cost:Aclassic example of universal design in the area of architecture is the curb cut that was designed to increase mobility for persons in wheelchairs. This has become an essential means of mobility for bicyclers, roller bladers, shoppers with carts, parents with strollers, and others. You probably use universally designed products daily without a second thought. One may use the closed captioning to watch a movie in which the actors have a thick accent. Similar examples of the benefits of universal design abound such as automatic doors and lever handles. These have come to benefit persons with and without disabilities. Closed-captioned television included with televisions from the onset costs only a few cents rather than the several hundred dollars it previously cost when added afterward. 7 This same concept holds for UDL. Developing curriculum, materials, instruction, and assessments that incorporate universal design principles from the onset is a more sound economical practice than retrofitting. For example, time is spent more efficiently up front in developing a curriculum that is accessible by most students than by individual teachers retrofitting the curriculum for specific students on a weekly or even daily basis. The monetary cost of making inaccessible materials accessible for a small percentage of students can be exorbitant. For example, producing recordings of textbooks or scanning them into a digitized format for flexibility costs much more than receiving textbooks directly from the publisher in a digitized format. ❖ UDLis good for teachers because planning ahead saves time and money in the long-run. Provision of Access to All: Teachers want to teach all of their students. However when barriers are evident, they may see no choice other than asking a teacher with a smaller caseload to work with students who need special attention, whether they be gifted students or students with disabilities. Fewer students will need separate, time-consuming accommodations when materials are flexible. Examples of flexible materials include digitized text that can immediately be turned into speech or refreshable Braille, voice recognition software that allows students to express themselves orally, visual mapping software that supports a less traditional means of organization, interactive whiteboards that can turn text from the board into a digitized format, and captioning and described video. All students deserve the opportunity to learn and are entitled to a curriculum and materials that accommodate various learning differences. Educators today can use the concept of UDLand the technology available to adjust instruction and materials rather than expecting students to adjust to the materials. This provides a foundation for equal educational opportunities for all students. ❖ The UDLapproach promotes a more inclusive environment for all students 8 Student Engagement: Research supports the fact that students are more motivated to learn when the work is at their instructional level. Challenge with support to achieve the end outcome is rewarding. Research is also clear that many students are more engaged in their work when it involves technology. When students are engaged and learning, their self-esteem and sense of self-efficacy are enhanced, thus they learn more. ❖ UDLis good for students because it reduces frustration previously experienced with using inflexible print materials. Legal Compliance:At work and in school, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act respectively, require information and activities to be accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities. UDLhelps with legal compliance to these specific laws. UDL Lessons Learned Schools that have implemented UDLfor up to four years with extensive support from CASThave found positive changes in their schools and even recommend the infusion of UDLprinciples throughout college coursework for teacher candidates.