3. Three Principles to Guide Implementation of UDL
The Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) has developed three principles to guide the implementation of UDL. They suggest that instructors focus on planning around how they:
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- Represent course content
- Opportunities for student expression of their learning
- Student engagement with their learning
Practical UDL tools for the classroom
- Download the CAST UDL Guidelines infographic
- Download the Three Principles of UDL (PDF) to find out how to implement UDL in an actual course
- Consider what you have learned about UDL so far, create 2 summaries in your learning journal:
- Summary #1 – Pick a course you are currently teaching, describe the specific goals or essential learning outcomes for this course.
- Summary #2 – Consider what you know about the range of learning styles, abilities, and educational backgrounds of students who typically take this course.
- Now consider the two summaries you created with respect to each of the Principles of UDL described earlier. Note down some ideas of practices you are currently using, or new practices that you may consider adopting to implement each of these principles in your class.
- Note down how you will get to know your students and let them know you are open to their experience, learning needs, and feedback.
- After completing this exercise, reflect and share your thoughts around implementing UDL Principles in your classroom. Would this be realistic? What supports would you need to do this? What challenges would you face?
Group Discussion: How could the Principles of UDL be Applied in a Trades Setting?
Consider participants in the workshop, and decide on an appropriate approach for the exercise below. It may be most useful to group participants that teach similar areas together, or you may consider asking participants to work individually and then share their ideas at the end. You could also provide participants with the opportunity to complete the exercise using the approach most useful to them.
Ask participants to complete the following:
- Pick a course you are currently teaching, describe the specific goals or essential learning outcomes for this course.
- Consider what you know about the range of learning styles, abilities, and educational backgrounds of students who typically take this course. Provide a summary of these below.
- Now reference the summary you created with respect to each of the Principles of UDL described above. Note down some ideas of practices you are currently using, or new practices that you may consider adopting to implement each of these principles in your class.
- Consider and note down how you get to know your students and let them know you are open to their experience, learning needs, and feedback.
After completing this exercise, ask participants to reflect and share their thoughts around implementing UDL Principles in the classroom. Ask participants the following questions:
- Would this be realistic?
- What supports would you need to do this?
- What challenges would you face?