Provide multiple means of engagement. Provide multiple means of representation. Provide multiple means of action and expression. At a glance, it is easy to interpret the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for what they are: offering options to students. It seems like a simple feat.

But offering choice is just skimming the surface of full-scaled UDL implementation. When UDL is done well, its efforts result in expert learners: students who are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgable, strategic and goal directed. When you examine this – the end goal of UDL – it’s clear that you will need to go far beyond offering choice in order to fully implement UDL in your classroom.

How can you help learners become expert learners?

In personalized learning environments, learners understand their strengths and challenges and are able to deploy strategies to support their learning. Daily, they are developing the skills needed to be self-directed learners, able to monitor their progress and make connections to prior learning.

These learners can also choose and use the right technologies for the task. As they progress, the anticipated result will be expert learners who are truly prepared for their future. The continuum toward mastery provides learners of all ages with a blueprint for building expertise. Lets take a look at the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments and how we can develop expert learners by helping them develop the skills at each stage along the Continuum of an Expert Learner.

The UDL core principles, multiple means of engagement, representation and expression, are the cornerstones of UDL. In this module, you will learn how to apply these guidelines during the design of lessons, materials and instruction. You will discover that many classroom strategies you already use are compatible with UDL, and you will add new strategies to your UDL toolkit. Some of these strategies will require the use of technology and others will not. You don’t need to embrace technology to begin applying the UDL Guidelines.

Each core principle is divided into 3 guidelines and each guideline is further divided into checkpoints.Collectively, these are known as the UDL Guidelines. Please print a copy of the UDL: Theory and Practice version of the Guidelines (2014)(link is external) from the National Center on Universal Design for Learning(link is external) to use while exploring this module. In the UDL 2.0 version of the UDL Guidelines (2008), the core principles appeared in a different order: Representation, Expression and Engagement. Both versions are currently in use.

In today’s complex and dynamic classrooms, educators know they will be supporting students with very diverse learning needs. It can be challenging to craft learning opportunities that meet the needs of such a wide variety of learners. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an approach to curriculum design that can help address the challenge. This course is designed to introduce the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) educational framework. By completing this course, you will gain an understanding of the basic principles of UDL, how to implement a variety of UDL strategies, and become part of a Professional Learning Community striving to improve teaching practice.

How to use this resource:

This course can completed many different ways.

• You can work through the course as a self-directed study, setting your own pace and accessing the course whenever or wherever you wish
• A school team interested in implementing UDL can work together according to an agreed-upon schedule. For example, individuals could explore a module and then come together, physically or virtually, to discuss and extend their learning
• If you are facilitating learning opportunities in your school or district to help educators develop knowledge of UDL, you can use the course curriculum and resources as part of your own face-to-face or eLearning course