Universal design for learning: a benefit, a challenge and a solution

Transcript 

Universal design for learning (UDL). It sounds spectacular, grandiose, full of important ideas about inclusive learning that meets diverse needs. And it is. Universal design for learning, or UDL, is a useful framework of principles and practices. But there’s a big problem.

But UDL is big and sometimes it can just feel a little bit overwhelming. So, how do we use it effectively? Come with me for five minutes and find out.

Yo, it’s Pablo. I’m Dr Pablo Dalby. I’m the inclusive education tutor here at the University of East Anglia and a national teaching fellow in the United Kingdom. This video focuses on three things:

• One, a major benefit of UDL, offering choices
• Two, a tricky challenge to providing those choices
• And crucially, three, my innovative solution to overcoming those challenges.

Section one, a big benefit of UDL. Universal design starts from the assumption that learning design, not learners, is the problem.

And one problem with conventional learning design is that it asks diverse learners to learn the same thing in the same way at the same time.

For example, this model is used in lectures or even activities like discussions where an educator tries to lead a group of students through an activity together.

Though there are some positive aspects to this approach, it can never be fully inclusive because it asks students to do things in one way, but people aren’t one way. People are diverse with multiple different needs. UDL understands this. A core concept at its heart is to provide multiple means to learn.

Section two, a tricky challenge for UDL. 

So UDL recommends that students have variety in their learning and crucially choices about what they learn and how they learn it.

Not only is this inclusive because students can choose what best meets their needs, but it helps develop agency.

OK, sounds good to me. However, applying UDL in practice can be unwieldy and overwhelming – for students and educators.

Let’s be honest, sometimes having choice is confusing and just too much to cope with. So the challenge is how can we design choice into the learning experience in a way that’s clear, manageable and meaningful.

Here’s my solution. Section three, my solution, democratic learning pathways.

I’ve developed a structured, supported approach to democratically choosing personal learning pathways. It empowers agency by inviting students to make choices individually and collectively about what and how they learn using democratic methods like voting.

Here’s a brief step-by-step guide to how it can work for a learning experience that combines asynchronous learning with real-time group learning.

First, create an accessible place where useful content for the learning experience can live. For example, this could be a simple Microsoft Word document or something like this Padlet I’m showing you now. This is like a self-access learning headquarters for everyone. Organise the content in a suggested sequence for students to engage with.

For example, here I’ve got zone A for information, zone B for resources and zone C for activities.

Share the learning headquarters with students well in advance of the session and invite them to engage with it before, during and/or after the session. During the session, everyone uses the learning headquarters on a device. Invite students to make a choice as individuals. They can stay and do the activities guided by the session facilitator or lead their own learning by doing self-access activities on the learning headquarters alone or with others.

The activities could be anything – videos, articles, games, quizzes, discussions. For the facilitator-led group activities, the facilitator can also invite the students to collectively choose what activities to complete. For example, I use an online participant interaction system so students can vote between activity options.

It’s important not to provide too many choices here. I find two to three distinct activities is manageable and meaningful. 

Here’s a conclusion with key takeaway points. 

• Number one, doing things one way usually isn’t inclusive.
• Number two, universal design for learning offers multiple means to meet multiple needs.
• Number three, offering choices for individual and group learning pathways can be the way forward.

It transforms educators from controllers to facilitators that guide by students’ side. But it needs well-designed structure and support to avoid overwhelm.

My democratic learning pathway’s approach does this, providing a clear map with flexible learning pathways through the learning journey. Why not try it out?

Pablo Dalby is an inclusive education tutor at the University of East Anglia, UK.

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Key details

This video includes: 

0:00 The problem with UDL

0:32 Introduction and outline

0:58 Section 1: a benefit of UDL

1:47 Section 2: a challenge for UDL

2:28 Section 3: a solution

4:17 Conclusion

For helpful information about the video, including accessibility guidance, please access the video description section on YouTube.

Inclusivity Network YouTube channel 

www.powergogy.com