Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can positively address the dynamic learning needs of diversified student populations. Using applied classroom scholarship, this book showcases UDL-based projects, across diverse majors, conducted by instructors at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Each one contains a personalized introductory story, an analysis of the learning needs of their students and what faculty did to address those needs, the specifics of the projects developed, and reflections on lessons learned. The book provides a summary of higher education, noting that its origins were based on exclusion and elitism, affecting both those who could and could not access learning. What this disparity in education looks like in recent times is then linked to an explanation of Universal Design, and specifically Universal Design for Learning and a discussion of public policy. It traces the difficult journey that teachers, families and legislators have undertaken to realize equitable educational access for children with disabilities, and what led to the eventual adoption of principles associated with Universal Design, and ultimately UDL. Chapters describe the personal struggle that instructors underwent as they grappled with the difference between UDL and “good teaching”, the grounding of content in the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) Model and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning framework, and how the cross-disciplinary UDL research project was structured and implemented. The final chapter provides “pearls of wisdom” for those seeking to infuse UDL principles into their own courses and to more effectively teach all students in higher education.