scholarly journals The Goal of the Universal Design for Learning: Development of All to Expert Learners

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-57
Author(s):  
Julita Navaitienė ◽  
Eglė Stasiūnaitienė
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Development

AbstractOver the past 10 years, every learner’s ability to achieve the highest level of learning success has become quite an important topic. The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) sets a goal to allow all learners to achieve their optimal learning experience that matches inclusive education. Learners who can assess their own learning needs set their personal learning goals, and monitor their progress are termed the expert learners (McDowell. Developing expert learners: a roadmap for growing confident and competent students. Corwin, 2019). This chapter focuses on theoretical backgrounds for expert learners’ paradigm. It starts from fundamental constructivist theories and moves towards the theory of self-regulation and cognitive neuroscience approach. It concentrates on the theory of self-determination, which, in our opinion, validates in the best way the nature of the expert learners’ development. Implementation of the Universal Design for Learning allows all learners to access, participate in, and progress in the general-education curriculum. This chapter presents the specific profile of the expert learners covering their main characteristics and qualities and revealing the essence of the UDL framework. Educators could use the profile as the educational guidelines conductive to understand how the process of becoming the expert learner proceeds.

scholarly journals Universal Design for Learning to Support Access to the General Education Curriculum for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Nasser Al Hazmi ◽  
Aznan Che Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Intellectually Disabled ◽  
Students With Special Needs ◽  
Disabled Students ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning

The issue concerned with enhancing support to the intellectually disabled students for enabling them to access thegeneral education has gained significant importance in the recent years all over the world. The intellectually disabledstudents suffer from neurodevelopmental disorders that acts as a barrier to the normal functioning of the brain andslow down the learning abilities and proper development of an individual. The presence of intellectual disabilitiesaffects both the mental and physical well-being of the students by causing issues for them to understand, thinklogically, speak, remembering things, and find solutions to the problems. Many research studies are conducted acrossthe world for finding the ways and designing innovative models that can help in increasing the access to generaleducation for these students with special needs. The universal design for learning framework also aims at providingsupport to the intellectually disabled students for gaining access to general education by enhancing their intellectualfunctioning and ability to adapt.

Inclusive Education and Universal Design for Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 107-125
Author(s):  
Megan E. Cartier
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Related Service

Special education is filled with variations of service delivery models, collaboration among multiple service providers, ongoing documentation, frequent testing, and the creation of individualized plans all designed to help a child with a disability access the general education curriculum. Many education and rehabilitation preparation programs across the country are compartmentalized. Although these preparation programs include overviews of other related service providers outside of their fields, often the overviews are cursory at best. Inclusive education and Universal Design for Learning offer a way to help bridge the gap across programs. This chapter will demonstrate why educators and multiple related service providers should work together as a team to provide students with disabilities with thoughtful and intentional supports that strive toward a collaborative goal of increasing access to the general education curriculum.

Assistive Technology, Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning: Improved Learning Opportunities

2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuck Hitchcock ◽  
Skip Stahl
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
General Education Curriculum ◽  
Learning Assessments ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Improved Learning

This article addresses the benefits that are likely to derive from shifting focus to developing and implementing a universally designed curriculum. It considers the goals for learning, the learning materials, the instructional methods, and the learning assessments. Benefits are expressed in terms of improved access, participation, and progress in the general education curriculum. Some of the forces that support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and possible barriers are addressed, as well as appropriate uses of technology within educational learning environments. Assistive Technology (AT), Universal Design (UD) and UDL are briefly defined and pointers to additional resources are included.

Collaborative Planning Using Universal Design for Learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patti Kelly Ralabate ◽  
Rachel Currie-Rubin ◽  
Alyssa Boucher ◽  
Jennifer Bartecchi
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
High Level

Speech language pathologists (SLPs) working in inclusive classrooms bring a different orientation toward developing student goals and delivering language instruction than do general education classroom teachers. It is critical for SLPs and classroom teachers to find cohesive ways of addressing students’ needs while also teaching to high-level state standards. This article discusses Universal Design for Learning, a framework derived from research on neurodiversity and the learning sciences, which accepts learner variability as a strength to be leveraged, not a challenge to be overcome. Further, this article explores the ways in which SLPs can use the Universal Design for Learning framework to leverage their knowledge of student learning needs and language development to work in complementary ways with classroom teachers, set appropriate goals for their students in conjunction with the classroom teacher, and allow both SLPs and classroom teachers to attend to the variability of all their students.

scholarly journals Reimagining Disability and Inclusive Education Through Universal Design for Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Doolittle Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
White Male ◽  
Instructional Materials ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Regular Classroom ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Design For Learning

In 1975, Congress enacted a law eventually known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which ensures that children with disabilities receive a free, appropriate, public education. Since then, scholarly and popular debates about the effectiveness of inclusive education have proliferated and typically focus on the ability or inability of students with disabilities to succeed in so-called regular classrooms. These debates reflect widespread assumptions that the regular classroom is rightly the province of nondisabled students and a neutral, value-free space that students with disabilities invade and disrupt via their very presence and their costly needs for adaptation. But as many scholars in the field of Disability Studies in Education (DSE) have argued, these discussions often fail to recognize that the space of the regular classroom, far from neutral, is constructed for a nondisabled, neurotypical, white, male, middle-class "norm" that neither reflects nor accommodates the wide range of diverse learners within it, regardless of whether these learners have been diagnosed with a disability. A DSE perspective sees the educational environment, not students with disabilities, as the "problem" and calls for a Universal Design for Learning approach to education, or the design of instructional materials and activities that allows the learning goals to be achievable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities and backgrounds. Agreeing with this DSE perspective, this article uses an autoethnographic approach to reexamine inclusive education and to consider how university classrooms, pedagogy, and curricular materials can be improved in order to accommodate all students, not just those with disabilities. Ultimately, the article argues that Universal Design for Learning has the potential to radically transform the meaning of inclusive education and the very concept of disability.

Enhancing Instructor Capacity Through the Redesign of Online Practicum Course Environments Using Universal Design for Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jennifer V. Lock ◽  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Noha Altowairiki ◽  
Amy Burns ◽  
Laurie Hill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Experience ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Bachelor Of Education ◽  
Recommendations For Practice

A current trend in practicum or field experience programs is online and blended learning approaches being implemented alongside traditional classroom experiences. Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) should be integrated in the design of these online environments in order to better support learning needs of all students. Instructors must also have confidence and competence in designing and facilitating learning within technology-enabled environments. This chapter reports on research conducted using design-based research to support instructor capacity development within field experience in a Bachelor of Education program. Three strategies are identified and discussed to enhance instructor's capacity: scaffolded support, modeling UDL practice in the online environment, and coaching to foster developing capacity using UDL. The chapter concludes by reporting on a new study that emerged as a result of this work, along with recommendations for practice.

Barriers With Implementing a Universal Design for Learning Framework

Inclusion ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 274-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
LaRon A. Scott
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Administrative Support ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Teacher ◽  
General Education Teacher ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Service Training

Abstract Inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings is often contingent on teachers' liberties to use inclusive instructional strategies. The current qualitative investigation used focus group, observation, and interviews of 9 special education teachers to understand their attitudes and beliefs concerning challenges with implementing the universal design for learning (UDL) framework to meet the needs of students with and without disabilities. A constant comparative analysis method was used to categorize the data into the following themes that emerged as barriers for implementing the UDL framework: (a) general education teacher support for inclusion, (b) need for administrative support, (c) need for improving general education teacher knowledge of UDL, (d) additional preservice field-based training on UDL, and (e) additional in-service training on UDL. Although the teachers in the study continued to indicate a passion for implementing the UDL framework, the need to address the barriers faced by teachers, and future research and implications significant to moving UDL forward as an inclusive teaching framework are underlined for discussion in the study.

scholarly journals A practice-based intervention to prepare preservice teachers for inclusion using universal design for learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mary Elizabeth Decker
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
General Education ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Diverse Learners ◽  
Fundamental Knowledge ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
The Impact

General education pre-service teachers are expected to teach diverse learners, including those with disabilities, in the general education settings. Yet many are not adequately prepared to teach all students. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to increase inclusive practices, however, it is unknown how to best teach this to pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of using a practice-based approach to teach UDL as compared to a lecture-based approach to teach UDL to better prepare general education pre-service teachers. Constructs of interest include pre-service teachers' fundamental knowledge including UDL, self-efficacy and UDL application. A mixed methods triangulation design was employed. While pre-service teachers from both groups had significant gains in their foundational knowledge, reported self-efficacy, reported UDL knowledge and ability to apply UDL ideas, participants in the practice-based group did have some advantages, specifically in the area of UDL application.

scholarly journals Ready-Made Technologies: Incorporating Universal Design into Everyday Activities

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Smith ◽  
Anya Evmenova ◽  
Kara Zirkle ◽  
Courtney Shewak ◽  
Korey Singleton
Keyword(s):  
Universal Design ◽  
Universal Design For Learning ◽  
Learning Preferences ◽  
Learning Curves ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Design For Learning ◽  
Education Courses

Universal Design for Learning is the scientifically valid framework for developing educational practices that provides flexibility in how information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students engage in learning. Instructors who adopt UDL principles in their teaching can reduce barriers and support all students regardless of their abilities, needs, and learning preferences. This presentation will focus on ways to establishing UDL environments in higher education courses through "ready-mades," hi-tech platforms with low-tech learning curves, while simultaneously energizing learning and nurturing collaborations.Attendees will learn to provide three principles of UDL, which include multiple means of:Representation: Screenchomp, Jing, Video presentationsAction and expression: Voki, Glogster, Popplet,Engagement: Dipity timeline, Voice Thread, PrimaryPadSuch ready-mades also energize collaboration between students. To demonstrate the flexibility of ready-mades, we shall execute an interactive presentation via some of these tools and challenge participants to a hands-on application of these tools to their own learning goals.

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