Universal Design for Learning

The Universal Design for Learning consists of three parts including: broad learning goals for students, the ability to individualize learning to match the specific learning style of each student, and assessments to be sure that students are truly learning. With UDL the teacher takes a supporting role in helping students find meaning through analysis, problem solving, and synthesis rather than teaching one objective truth. UDL can reach all learners in the classroom because by reinforcing content with technology students who learn differently have the opportunity to learn with the method that best works for them. Additionally, teaching the material in different ways reinforces material for all the students in the class. For example, a teacher might use a website or printed materials to teach a lesson. Then, he or she might reinforce that lesson with a verbal explanation of the visual materials as well as e-text, which reads the material aloud. This way an auditory learner could better understand the material, and students who learn visually could have the material reinforced.

In my classroom I would like to use UDL principles. While teaching Shakespeare, I might find a website or e-text so that students could hear a play read aloud with headphones. I might also find visual images that represent the basic story line online and have the students put them in order. In this way, I would accomplish the general goal of teaching a Shakespeare play and the more individualized goals of matching each students learning style. At the end, I could give a brief quiz with basic material from the play to be sure students knew the necessary information.