The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines Graphic Organizer

Click here for the interactive graphic organizer

Let's Take a Closer Look

(Visit www.cast.org for amazing resources to continue your journey in UDL)

Every learner is unique. And every learning opportunity presents different contexts, demands and expectations. Engaging, motivating and keeping learners regulated becomes what the "engagement" guideline is all about. When we use these engagement guidelines, we are supporting learners emotions that are necessary for learning by providing flexible options that make resources accessible that support the demands for the task.

When thinking about "multiple means of engagement", there are essentially 3 things to consider - provide the "why", offer choices, and give learners autonomy over their learning.

The "why"

Learners need to see and understand the relevance in what they are learning. Why is it important for them to meet this learning goal? When learners see the relevance and purpose, and are engaged in authentic and meaningful learning, they will more likely engage in the learning and be persistent. "Hook" their interest, start the lesson with something that will get their attention. Using things such as a visual, showing a short video, offering a provocation or simply asking a thought provoking question is all that it takes to get them engaged. Be mindful though, that what motivates one student will hinder another; hence the importance of providing choice and options to making authentic connections.

When planning lessons, offer choice in everything!

For example:

• where to sit and work (desk, floor, table, alternate room)

• who to work with (independently, groups, pairs, with teacher, etc)

• what materials to work with (technology, manipulatives, paper/pencil, written text, visual text, audio text, etc)

• varying levels of challenge

The goal of UDL is to create expert learners who make good decisions for themselves. For younger learners, making appropriate choices to maximize their own learning will be a gradual process. Offering 2-3 choices (versus more than 3) may be a good way to begin. Using mini lessons such as "Is this a good fit place to work?" will help build stamina and bring awareness of making "good fit" decisions. However, simply offering choices in how students learn, where they learn and how they show their learning doesn't mean you have UDL covered. Designing these choices must be methodical and meaningful. The right kind of choice and level of independence must be optimized to ensure engagement. If not, students will become bored, frustrated and disengaged. Providing time for reflection at the end of class is also important. For learners to truly understand the impact of their choices, good or bad, they must be giving time to think about their choice and how it helped or hindered their learning.

Give up the control and let your LEARNERS have power.

This perhaps is one of the hardest things to unlearn - letting the control go and allowing your learners to co create their own learning. Co creating the learning goals, designing their own path to achieving the learning goal and deciding how to show what they have learned are all decisions LEARNERS should be making. Getting to a place where students learn how to make good decisions is a process and can not be achieved in one or two classes. How do you start? Begin by being ok with not knowing the end result, by not knowing how things will go and not having all details planned out methodically. Trust your learners. Start by asking them what they want to learn and how they would like to learn it. You will be pleasantly surprised with what THEY come up with!

Click here for an interactive list of strategies you can use to provide multiple means of engagement.

a video series explaining the guidelines

Check out the link to these infographics here. You may also wish to watch the video that explains these infographics.