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Universal Design for Learning - Coggle Diagram
Universal Design for Learning
Key insights
Learner Variability & Barrier Reduction
🚧 Barriers in instruction often come from the design, not from the learner
🔄 UDL encourages proactively designing flexibility to reduce barriers
🧩 No “one size fits all” for learners — differences in strengths, needs, preferences
Three Core Principles
🔍 Engagement (the “why”) — multiple ways to motivate, sustain interest, regulate effort
👁 Representation (the “what”) — present information in varied formats (audio, visuals, text, manipulatives)
✍ Action & Expression (the “how”) — let students show what they know using different modes (writing, speaking, art, digital media)
Focus on Agency & Inclusive Design
🎯 UDL aims to give learners more control over pace, method, and means of engagement
🤝 UDL complements, not replaces, accommodations—universal design + individual supports work together
🧠 UDL is grounded in neuroscience — links to different brain networks (affective, recognition, strategic)
Implications for teaching
Design Lessons with Built-in Flexibility
📚 Use multiple representations of content from the start (text + visuals + audio + manipulative)
🔄 Provide varied ways for students to interact with and express learning (e.g. project, oral report, drawing)
Scaffold Toward Student Agency
🛠 Start with more supports (choice scaffolds, guided options) then gradually remove support
💬 Involve students in choosing how they learn/express — co-design elements of tasks
Question
🤔 How can teachers effectively manage and assess learning when students choose widely different ways to engage and express understanding, especially under time or resource constraints?