Title: Universal Design for Learning
Course: UDL & online special education > Section: Introduction. What is Universal Design Learning?

The basic concepts. The first introductory block of activities concerns the birth of the Universal Design system, its educational adaptation in the UDL, the growing social interest in inclusive education and the growing role of information technologies in this process. These basic concepts will be later expanded upon in the course, with three successive blocks dedicated to the description of the three UDL principles, with the inclusion of some practical advice for their use. Finally, a chapter is dedicated to the guidelines, in which the most complete information will be provided accompanied by pertinent references to the most recent scientific studies. This completes a gradual didactic proposal intended to familiarize teachers, psychologists, carers and tutors, etc., with the application of the UDL and the tools necessary for the didactic implementation of these training strategies.

UDL, basic concepts

Introduction: what is UDL and when was it born? Why apply it to teaching?

Birth of the model

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), before being applied to teaching, was born from the architectural concept of design universal at North Carolina State University. In the 1970s, Ron Mace envisioned universal design as a means of promoting the design of products and environments that appeal to all people, thus satisfying the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and thereby facilitating access for persons with disabilities. These principles established a framework for design standards, with the goal of enabling the highest degree of access and usability aimed at a more wide range of people. In the 1990s, Anne Meyer, David Rose and their colleagues at CAST adapted these ideas to education, introducing the Universal Design for Learning (UDL, also known as PUA), a framework for improving teaching and learning. Drawing on new approaches to learning sciences and creative uses of digital technologies, UDL can help educators enhance and optimize learning experiences for all individuals.

As in the field of architecture, CAST researchers have discovered that the technologies designed -originally intended for students with disabilities- were also used by students without any apparent need, on their own initiative. So, for example, although text to audio conversion was intended for students with some type of visual impairment, it could also be used by students who they still didn't read fluently, from those who learned better through the auditory path than through the visual one, or from those who simply preferred to listen to the text.

CAST criticizes that many curricula are designed to be suitable for the majority of students, but not for all. These curricula assume that there is a large proportion of students who learn in similar ways. For these students the objectives are determined, the means and the tasks are designed, the materials are elaborated. This means that for a minority the goals are practically unattainable. According to the PUA's approach, the curriculum itself prevents these students from learning.

Adaptation to the educational context

The UDL is, therefore, an educational framework that helps teachers, so that they in turn can support students in their learning. It is universal in the sense that it can be applied to all students and all aspects of education, from inquiry-based learning approaches to inclusion and assessment in the classroom . The application of UDL basics can be useful for teachers who teach in presence, remotely and in hybrid mode.

Students differ in the way they perceive and understand the information presented to them. For example, some students will understand content more quickly through visual means or auditory rather than printed. Other studentswith sensory impairments or learning disabilities will have specific needs. To accommodate all students, it is important that educators create multiple means of representation.

Main goal

The main objective is to eliminate the barrier that prevents the correct formation of all students in a class.

With the UDL approach it is possible to eliminate SEN student programs and thus promote inclusion. The digital context is very suitable for the implementation of UDL

Characteristics

It is simple and intuitive, accessible, requires little physical effort, provides tolerance for errors. It also has a lot of flexibility and creativity, offering the following features:

- Multimedia multiple representation of materials.
- Multiple means of action and expression.
- Multiple means to motivate the student.

Applied principles

To achieve these objectives and strategies, the principles applied were:

- Equitable use
- Flexibility in use
- Simplicity and intuitiveness
- Perceptible Information
- Fault tolerance
- Low physical effort
- Size and space for approach and use

In-depth practical activity

Watch the following video on the interest of applying UDL in teaching:

The three basic principles of the UDL

Importance of using appropriate teaching materials and a correct inclusive and participatory methodology.

Introduction

The positive results of inclusive training methods are due to their ability to stimulate the student and integrate him into the learning process.

The perception of having successfully completed a task translates into the desire to continue advancing in learning, while the continuous frustration determines the refusal to accept the cognitive challenge, since the student ends up convincing himself that he cannot control the result.

When using UDL techniques, curriculum designers and teachers need to consider all the differences such as; individual abilities, learning style and preferences, gender, culture, abilities and disabilities.

The main basic strategies that are applied are:

1- Provide multiple and flexible presentation methods.

This principle applies to curriculum design and the learning materials used to present it. In addition, various aids can be provided to improve vocabulary and comprehension. Some of the strategies used are the presentation of information in various formats, highlighting of key terms and use of graphic organizers. The information is presented in many ways (not just in the form of a lesson), to engage many senses (smell, touch, etc.). It is also advisable to connect new topics with previous knowledge and provide authentic starting points to help students understand new information. To this end, teachers use strategies that allow students to link information, contextualize it and internalize it based on the interests and experiences to which they they are associated.

2- Provide multiple and flexible methods of expression and action.

It is important to use collaborative environments in the classroom (computers and projectors, interactive whiteboards) and online (course management platforms, digital documents, collaborative resources and activities, etc.). Students must be able to demonstrate what they have learned in many ways, with multiple choice tests, term papers, oral exams, etc. It is convenient, as we shall see in later chapters, to provide students with various formats for expressing and demonstrating the acquired knowledge. From textual contents to the creation of audiovisual material, presentations of slides with comments, simulation activities, diagrams conceptual, illustrations, etc. It is necessary to create the necessary conditions for guided practices and to provide during the learning process the foundations to help students master skills and develop competences.

3- Provide multiple and flexible options for participation.

Teachers provide easily recognizable practical applications, cases and examples that have real life engagement, offering students various options according to their interests and preferences. Participation means offering students different goals and motives. Some students need little support, while others need more direction and support. It is also important to use a variety of self-assessment and self-regulation tools and methods. Rubrics and checklists help students set goals, meet deadlines and reflect on their learning . Opportunities for teamwork must be provided that allow students to learn from and with their peers, provide mutual support, develop their own knowledge and present them to others, be creative, make decisions and learn to work collectively.

The scientific research behind the Universal Design for Learning

Source: UDL Guidelines. Research Evidence

Research evidence

UDL is based on the most widely replicated finding in education research: students are highly variable in their response to instruction . In virtually every research report on education or educational interventions, individual differences are not only apparent in the findings; are prominent in all processes of teaching and learning. However, these individual differences are generally treated as sources of troublesome error variances and as distractions from the more important "main effects". The UDL, on the other hand, treatsthese individual differences as an equally importantcore of attention. Indeed, when viewed through the UDL framework, these findings are critical to understanding and designing effective instruction. Search that supports UDL falls into four categories:

- fundamental research of the UDL
- research on UDL principles
- research on promising practices
- research on UDL implementation.

Fundamental research on UDL

UDL draws on a variety of research including the fields of neuroscience, learning sciences and cognitive psychology .

Studies show that the brain has a modular structure, that is, it is made up of various regions or modules, each of which is specialized in dealing with different aspects of reality. For example, the color of an object is displayed in one form, while the shape is displayed in a different area strong>. Likewise, depending on the task at hand, certain modules or others will be activated, which implies that the learning is distributed in different regions. The modules also work in parallel , activating themselves simultaneously to treat all the elements of the same stimulus .

UDL is a research deeply rooted in concepts such as the "zone of proximal development", the < strong>scaffolding, mentoring and modelling, as well as the seminal works of Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner and Bloom which advocated similar principles for understanding individual differences and the pedagogies necessary to address them.

For example, Vygotsky stressed, as one of the key points of UDL programs, the importance of "scaffolds" graduated, which are important for beginners and can be gradually removed as the individual gains proficiency.

Graduated release scaffolding is a practice that is as old as human culture and is relevant to learning in nearly every domain, from learning to walk or ride a bicycle "without a guide", to long apprenticeships in neurosurgery or aircraft driving.

Research on UDL principles

The basic research for the general principles of UDL is rooted in modern neuroscience.

The three fundamental principles are based on the awareness that our brains - in learning contexts - are composed of three different neurological networks:

- of recognition;
- strategic;
- affective.

The guidelines of the UDL align these three networks with the three principles:

- representation recognition;
- strategic for action and expression;
- affectionate and for the commitment.

This empirical foundation in neuroscience provides a solid foundation for understanding how the brain intersects learning contexts to achieve effective instruction. This alignment is further extended and clarified by the guidelines and checkpoints.

Research on promising practices

Promising lines of research include work identifying specific practices critical to addressing the challenge of individual differences, research that has been accumulated over decades by many different researchers.  These studies are labeled "promising" because they appear to fall within the UDL framework, but have not been tested in an environment UDL or using the framework. It is important that these practices are studied within a UDL environment in order for them to be considered effective UDL practices. This is an area where contributions are greatly encouraged.

Research on UDL implementation

Fourth, there is research on specific applications of UDL within learning environments, including the conditions required for implementation, common barriers, and field lessons. This new area of research is in its early stages, but will take an increasingly important place with the development of curricular applications large-scale and system-level deployments . It should be emphasized that this is another area in which we greatly encourage contributions from the field of research.

Changing the paradigms of education. Ken Robinson and lateral thinking

The premise to Ken Robinson's thesis is very simple: today's school is a school ancient, conceived "in the cultural and intellectual climate of the Enlightenment and in the economic circumstances of the first industrial revolution".

The proof is that schools are still organized on the model of the production line, as in a factory. “There are bells, separate structures, pupils specialize in different subjects. We still educate children by years: we insert them into the system by grouping them by age".

School, therefore, is like an assembly line from which only two types of products can come out: studious and lazy.

It is an education system out of step with the times, according to Ken Robinson. Not a time in which, on children and adolescents, the information passed on by Internet, mobile phones and tv converge.

But then, what kind of education is suitable for our age?

Robinson takes into account "lateral thinking", an expression coined by the Maltese psychologist Edward De Bono which indicates an ability to solve problems in < strong>creative way and from different perspectives.

Robinson cites the example of the paper clip: how many ways can you think of to use one? “Most of us find 10-15. The best ones find even 200. And they find them by asking questions like: Could the paper clip be 60 meters high and made of foam rubber?".

The tragic thing is that children are more inclined to see things laterally – and therefore to ask more questions and find more solutions– than as are adults. This is not because growth necessarily leads to mental closure, but because the places where children grow up standardize it instead of developing and articulating their thinking.

"The crucial problem", argues Sir Ken Robinson, "lies in the culture of our institutions, in the atmosphere we breathe and in the which they have consolidated”.

What is UDL?

What is UDL? What are its principles? How translate all this into scholastic practice? With a short video lesson, Luciana Ventriglia introduces us to Universal Design for Learning, a pedagogical-didactic model designed to respond effectively to the variability and uniqueness of the methods of learning.

In this video, Mindy Johnson introduces you to the assumptions and beliefs UDL makes about learners and learning, and provides a clear, concise overview of UDL’s principles and guidelines.