Universal Design for Learning

"Designing activities that let ELL's leverage the skills they bring to the classroom provides a more inclusive, additive, strengths-based approach to classroom instruction instead of one that marginalizes them and focuses on their lack of English fluency as a deficit" (Rao & Torres, 2017).

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a "framework developed to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn" (CAST, 2024). The UDL Guidelines offer a "set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities." The three domains of UDL revolve around multiple means of Engagement, Representation, and Action & Expression (see image below). 

Some strategies for incorporating principles of Universal Design for Learning into our curriculum design include: 

• Allowing students to use their first language, and if possible, translate content for deeper understanding.
• Accessing prior knowledge and building on former learning of concepts.
• Using learning materials and resources that are published in other languages.
• Utilizing translanguaging. 
• Translating test items for content area assessments.
• Using explicit language instruction to develop vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammatical awareness.
• Providing Differentiated Instruction that meets all student's learning needs.
• Using scaffolding techniques to model and support language development.
• Incorporating SDAIE strategies (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) for content learning.
• Providing multimodal learning opportunities and ways for students to demonstrate their understanding.

Video: Making Sense of Universal Design for Learning