Overview
This page serves as a quick reference to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) 3.0 Guidelines. Below you will find brief explanations and links to resources to reacquaint yourself with the UDL Guidelines as well as how you can incorporate UDL into your course design. As you explore the content, reflect on ways you already implement UDL and additional strategies you can try to integrate into your design.
UDL Defined
The nonprofit education research and development organization CAST developed the UDL framework to optimize instruction that empowers learners across age groups and contexts. This framework, rooted in scientific evidence of how people learn, informed the creation of the UDL Guidelines, a set of concrete considerations for applying the UDL principles. At the heart of UDL is the learner’s agency. “UDL aims to change the design of the environment rather than to situate the problem as a perceived deficit within the learner. When environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers, every learner can engage in rigorous, meaningful learning,” (CAST, 2024).
The UDL Guidelines are organized into three overarching design principles—representation, action & expression, and engagement. Providing multiple means of representation honors various perspectives and ways of making meaning, while providing multiple means of action & expression enables learners to navigate the learning process and expand how they express their learning. Offering multiple means of engagement taps into learners’ interests, increases their motivation, and bolsters their persistence. Each of these principles contains guidelines with specific considerations for implementation. Additionally, the guidelines across the three principles are organized to increase access to the learning goal, support the process of learning, and reinforce executive function. Designing courses that follow these guidelines allows students to connect to and process the content more deeply.
In July 2024, CAST released the UDL Guidelines 3.0, their latest iteration that addresses systemic barriers to equitable learning. These updated Guidelines embrace learners’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds as strengths, advocate for authentically representing diverse perspectives, and highlight the importance of collective learning.
Resources
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Examples of Multiple Means of Action & Expression
Overview Offering multiple means of action & expression honors the different ways learners approach the learning process. Each guideline shares considerations for interacting with materials, expressing learning, and strategizing how to meet learning ...
Examples of Multiple Means of Engagement
Overview Offering multiple means of engagement honors learner variability by optimizing individual autonomy and collective learning. Each guideline shares considerations for tapping into learners’ interests, fostering collaboration, and nurturing ...
Examples of Multiple Means of Representation
Overview Offering multiple means of representation honors the different ways learners approach content. Each guideline shares considerations for ensuring information is accessible, comprehensible, and encompasses diverse perspectives, along with ...
Guides & Resources
Overview All ELS, ID, and ELD staff are trained in the basic features and requirements to make most of our course assets accessible. Everyone creating and receiving digital assets should check for accessibility issues and remediate as needed. The ...
Transcription Guidelines
Overview Basic, descriptive, and indexed transcripts are text-based documents for speech in an audio track. Transcripts provide a media alternative for people with hearing loss. Basic transcripts are adequate for speech-only presentations, such as ...