By: Kellie Ferguson, Faculty Developer of Integrative and Experiential Learning
This year, the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) had the opportunity to attend the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) conference, which was hosted right here in downtown Denver. This conference offered us the valuable opportunity to consider how we support faculty in bringing principles of access and inclusion into their teaching and interactions with students.
We gathered many ideas through this opportunity to reflect and learn, and we wanted to share a few of them with the DU campus. In our first blog post, we’ll dive into our key takeaways around the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Stay tuned for our reflections around what it means to set up accessible spaces, as well as some insights and reflections from a few of our cross-campus partners!
UDL Guidelines Update
First, there was useful discussion to remind us that the UDL Guidelines recently underwent some major revisions. In July of 2024, CAST updated the UDL framework to the UDL Guidelines 3.0. In this update, CAST “builds upon previous iterations and emphasizes addressing barriers rooted in biases and systems of exclusion for learners with and without disabilities” (CAST 2024).
CAST updated the UDL guidelines in several key areas. There was a shift in focus from creating “expert learners” to supporting learner agency. The updates include emphasizing the “who” of learning by highlighting that a learner’s identity is a core part of their variability. The framework also acknowledges that barriers to learning exist at the individual, institutional, and systemic levels. Additionally, there’s a greater emphasis on interdependence and collective learning. Finally, the language has shifted to be more learner-centered, making it clear that both educators and learners can apply these principles.
- To view all of the changes to the UDL Guidelines, please visit CAST’s “About the Guidelines 3.0 Update”
A Flexible Framework
Second, while many of us have traditionally viewed UDL as a way to remove barriers related to course accessibility, the discussions at AHEAD reminded us that its scope is much broader. While accessibility is absolutely a part of UDL, it isn’t the limit, and the new UDL guidelines recognize and incorporate this. As Lexi Schlosser, Faculty Developer of Online Learning sees it, “Universal design allows you to demonstrate your own values with inclusive teaching. It is a framework that you get to decide how it works for you. It is not something you have to fit into.” The UDL Guidelines can be a flexible framework not only for proactively designing accessible courses, but also for creating learning opportunities that help students connect their unique backgrounds and experiences with their learning.
If you have never seen the UDL Guidelines, check out version 3.0 below!
Addressing Common Teaching Challenges Through UDL
In considering the UDL Guidelines and their recent updates, we were struck by the ways in which this framework can not only be used to support accessibility in classes, but also how it can be used as a tool to address many common faculty concerns around teaching and learning.
Generational Learning Shifts
One common challenge we have encountered in our work in the OTL is faculty grappling with how much learner needs have shifted generationally, and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emphasizing a UDL approach can help faculty be more adaptable to these learning changes.
Consider the Designing Multiple Means of Action and Expression guideline. Let’s think about how the suggestions offered here can help faculty prepare for the characteristics and challenges of students. For instance, this guideline suggests:
- Offer students opportunities to use multiple media for communication, allowing and even encouraging that they express their learning through newer mediums like social media or interactive web and technology tools.
- Design options for strategy development to support executive functioning skills. This might occur by helping students set goals, anticipate and plan for challenges, or learn how to enhance capacity for monitoring progress. The guidelines suggest using tools like checklists and rubrics, along with reflective prompts and strategic scaffolding, to help students understand their own progress and challenges. This support empowers learners to not only tackle new challenges but also overcome individual obstacles they may face.
Maintaining Course Engagement
Another common challenge for faculty is engaging or re-engaging learners throughout the term. The UDL framework offers strategies to help faculty consider ways to connect with and motivate students throughout the term.
For example, the Design Multiple Means of Engagement guideline offers several strategies to engage students more deeply in their learning.
- Since learner motivations can vary depending on the context, activity, or even the day, offering variety and optimizing choice and autonomy throughout the course is key to keeping all students engaged.
- Nurture joy and play by incorporating storytelling, opportunities for experimentation and discovery, and ways for students to express and connect with their communities, identities, and sense of self.
- Ensure the meaning and purpose of goals is clear, and students have opportunities to explore the relevance of this goal to their own life or purpose.
Designing an effective course means creating a learning environment where students feel seen, and their unique backgrounds, interests, and identities are valued. The latest updates to the UDL guidelines highlight that designing for all learners includes but doesn’t end with accessibility; it’s also about integrating other teaching methods that center and value the diverse cultures and experiences students bring to the classroom.
If you need help working through these goals or want support in learning how to apply the UDL guidelines to your course, please reach out to the OTL at otl@du.edu.
