By: Jayne Bischoff

Effective implementation of UDL facilitates teachers making connections to students that effectively acknowledges learner variability, and centers a commitment to developing expert learners.

Learner variability is the norm. Learner variability is known and predictable.

Learner variability is something to make visible, share, and hold in honor of what it means to be human.

Do we not already realize that there’s truth in the brain-based evidence confirming, for example, that when information is presented in a singular format, the learning experience is restrictive as it allows for some (not all) to access and engage in the information?

Do we understand how internalized and systemic biases, prejudices, and stereotypes are as automatic in our response to our experience as blinking and swallowing?

There are UDL fundamentals that come well before the UDL Guidelines and offering choices. The “on-ramp” to equitable educational opportunities requires design thinking because we understand learner variability and the ways it manifests in learning.

Can we commit to accepting learners as they are, and relentlessly see and dismantle barriers in design that are under our influence and use a thinking framework like UDL?

Inclusion to access, engage and make progress in learning that matters is for everyone, not just students identified to receive specially designed instruction.

That’s why it’s Universal.

It’s for all.

It’s for learners who vary in natural and beautiful ways.

Please Read: Implementation of Universal Design for Learning in the Classroom: Teacher Professional Development and Student Outcomes, by Elizabeth Hartwell Saliba (Dissertation, 2019)

By: Beth Clarke

Mircko Chardin made one point very clear in his opening keynote at the Wisconsin UDL Virtual Conference. He reminded us that impact mattered regardless of the intent. It's not enough to have good intentions when the impact of those intentions may be harmful.

Teachers and school leaders have good intentions. Educational law has good intentions. IDEA calls on us to identify and support students based on their identified needs. As a result, students are labeled as all sorts of things: gifted and talented, special ed, autistic, athletic, physically disabled, English learner, and others. These labels are intended to support students in getting the services they need to be successful in school.

The intent of going through the process of supporting a student is good, and the labels that result as a piece of that process have an impact on the learner's experience. We cannot deny or ignore the impact.

Cornelius Minor, the author of We Got This recently wrote, “Those labels cannot cover our whole humanity. Neither can those we apply to students - language learner, special education, gifted. All are problematic. As are those that we apply to society at large - woman or man, rural or urban, poor or wealthy, minority or white.” He goes on to say that as educators, we lose the insights of what assets the whole child brings to their experience of school, and that labels condition educators to ignore genius.

Based on research from learning sciences and cognitive neuroscience, learner variability is the idea that all individuals are unique in how they experience learning, but in known and predictable ways. All humans change in response to the environment in real- time. Did you catch that? Our abilities and behaviors continually change in response to the environment in real- time.

We cannot ignore the context of a learning experience anymore. Context includes a learner's lived experiences, the environments at home and at school, their social network, and what is happening in the world around us at any given moment. All of that impacts the personal learning experience.

The strategies we employ to support learners need to take into account the impact of the environment and context. We can make adjustments to the environment that have a big impact on learning. When we make adjustments to the environment, we may recognize the learner doesn't need additional support beyond that to succeed. Making adjustments to the environment creates more opportunities for independence in the learning journey.

Together, we need to strive to eliminate the impact associated with a label. You see, labels don't only impact learners with the label. There are lots of instances where a learner could benefit from support being provided to a learner with a label, but because the learner doesn't have a label, they cannot get access to the support. Cory Welke, CESA 10 UDL Consultant, once said, "The only label we should put on kids is learner."

Educators can go beyond labels and design learning experiences that have an impact on each learner. Multi-modal experiences, various pathways, and pace will look different but when we are listening and responding to our learners, as a team, we know we need to design in ways that eliminate the predictable barriers so our learners can move along the learning continuum.

It is my dream in education that educators will serve every learner as they show up on their learning continuum. Designing will happen for each student regardless of an assigned label because educators know that each student will need something different, something personal. I dream of an education system where no one needs a label to get what they need.

James Ackley, principal at Royal Oaks Elementary School in the Sun Prairie School District, leads the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) implementation for all learners, including staff and students. The Royal Oaks team continues to make UDL a priority in professional learning, professional learning communities, and especially in lesson plans for all learners. In this podcast, they focus on how educators specifically design learning experiences with learner variability in mind. You will hear from James Ackely as well as Joan Bartel - Associate Principal, Kari Reneau -1st grade teacher, Tammy Olson - School Counselor, and Kaitlyn Curtin - School Social Worker.

“UDL is transforming our learning experiences by looking at each learner, as an individual learner with certain goals in mind. We ultimately want them to become an expert learner and the way that we've articulated that to kids is that we want them to be their own best teacher because they're the only one going with them to the next grade, and the grade after that and then eventually into college and career. So, we really want to transform learning experiences so students become expert and independent learners.” - James Ackley