Succeeding in the Inclusive Classroom: K–12 Lesson Plans Using Universal Design for Learning

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Frey ◽  
E. Ann Knackendoffel

Today’s K-12 classrooms are learning environments that present teachers with the challenge of meeting the diverse needs of learners. Utilizing technology and the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help teachers to meet the exceptional needs of learners in a variety of areas. This chapter presents ideas and strategies to utilize technology to facilitate the implementation of UDL principles (using multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression in the design of instruction) in teacher education and K-12 classrooms. Each principle of UDL is described, and examples of technology that can support implementation of the principle are shared. The chapter concludes with considerations for teacher education programs including providing modeling of UDL instruction and designing instruction with UDL in mind.


SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401668068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavita Rao ◽  
Grace Meo

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework can be used to proactively design lessons that address learner variability. Using UDL guidelines, teachers can integrate flexible options and supports that ensure that standards-based lessons are accessible to a range of learners in their classrooms. This article presents a process that teachers can use as they develop standards-based lesson plans. By “unwrapping” academic standards and applying UDL during the lesson planning process, teachers can identify clear goals aligned with an academic standard and develop flexible methods, assessments, and materials that address the needs and preferences of varied learners. General educators and special educators can use this process to develop inclusive lesson plans that address all learners, with and without disabilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-451
Author(s):  
Mary Dane F. Leonardo ◽  
Jeongho Cha

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has led teachers in the Philippines to rely on technology to provide and support continued education for K-12 students. However, it is not only technology, but also the interactive online learning environments crafted by teachers that impact student science learning. To support teachers to cope with pandemic teaching, the government provided professional development in the form of teacher-training webinars. This study evaluated the webinars using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to understand the impact these professional development sessions had on science teachers’ self-efficacy for delivering science instruction during the pandemic. The study found that webinars including UDL design elements improved science teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching science and there were no significant differences in teacher perceptions relative to gender or teaching experience. Implications for the use of UDL to design long-term professional development offerings beyond the pandemic are discussed.


Author(s):  
Stephen D. Kroeger ◽  
Susan A. Gregson ◽  
Michelle A. Duda ◽  
Anna DeJarnette ◽  
Jonathan M. Breiner ◽  
...  

Creating inclusive classrooms is a challenge in general education. To prepare new teachers for diverse K-12 classrooms, faculty at one Midwestern university redesigned their education program to prepare preservice teachers for dual licensure in general and special education. The redesign required middle childhood faculty to learn more about complex conceptual frameworks that are prioritized in school districts across the country. One of these, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), became a non-negotiable component of the new program. An essential learning outcome became preparing pre-service teachers to utilize UDL. After the program was approved, content-area faculty questioned whether they were prepared to implement the framework. Having varied expertise in UDL, faculty wondered if they were teaching UDL effectively, and questioned whether they were modeling UDL concepts with fidelity in their own teaching. Thus, the Dual Licensure Implementation Team (DLIT) was born. This case study describes the process and product of the team's effort to implement UDL with fidelity.


Author(s):  
Mary Lou Duffy ◽  
Valerie C. Bryan

The inclusion of individuals with disabilities in concept and practice is not new to education. However, the attainment of inclusion has been a struggle in most Western countries since the 1980s. The application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to classroom practices has the promise of making the goal of inclusion more attainable. In this chapter, the authors outline a definition of inclusion as a foundation for the need for Universal Design. Then a description of the important principles of UDL is described, with attention to the research that supports its use and application. Lastly, the authors describe the technology trends that, along with UDL principles, have the greatest impact on education in K-12 classrooms, higher education, virtual settings, and in community settings with adults and seniors.


Author(s):  
Frederic Fovet ◽  

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has gained momentum in K-12 education over the last decade. It enables educators to go beyond deficit model approaches to inclusion, and offers sustainable practices for the inclusion of diverse learners through intentional design for instruction and assessment. Promotion of UDL has taken many forms, from provincial projects to school communities of practice. A challenge remains, however, when comes time to widen implementation efforts. There remain specific challenges with regards to the scaling up of implementation strategies across schools and school boards. The process of management of change towards wider UDL buy-in is complex and leads to a necessary questioning of current professional development practices for in-service teachers, and of pre-service teaching in its present format. This chapter will explore these contemporary issues, as well as the wider reflection around leadership that must accompany this process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen

This essay explores how one enlisting the spirit of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” approach to accepting major papers or projects might support students who are learning to take agency and understand themselves as political negotiators in the classroom and in their own learning. To that end, this essay will first briefly explore the method of Universal Design for Learning in the classroom, and then survey how dedication to an inclusive classroom can assist and encourage students of multiple identities in taking responsibility for the management of their own time and their learning.


2022 ◽  
pp. 841-864
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Kroeger ◽  
Susan A. Gregson ◽  
Michelle A. Duda ◽  
Anna DeJarnette ◽  
Jonathan M. Breiner ◽  
...  

Creating inclusive classrooms is a challenge in general education. To prepare new teachers for diverse K-12 classrooms, faculty at one Midwestern university redesigned their education program to prepare preservice teachers for dual licensure in general and special education. The redesign required middle childhood faculty to learn more about complex conceptual frameworks that are prioritized in school districts across the country. One of these, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), became a non-negotiable component of the new program. An essential learning outcome became preparing pre-service teachers to utilize UDL. After the program was approved, content-area faculty questioned whether they were prepared to implement the framework. Having varied expertise in UDL, faculty wondered if they were teaching UDL effectively, and questioned whether they were modeling UDL concepts with fidelity in their own teaching. Thus, the Dual Licensure Implementation Team (DLIT) was born. This case study describes the process and product of the team's effort to implement UDL with fidelity.


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