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Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) creates flexible learning environments for diverse learners by offering multiple ways to access information, demonstrate understanding, and engage with content. This is especially valuable in adult education, where varied backgrounds and abilities are common, fostering inclusivity and maximizing learning for everyone.

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/udl/510118

UDL Classroom Activities*

Encouraging Honest Goal (Setting Activity 1)

Cost/benefit Analysis (Approx. 30 minutes)

Have students take a sheet of paper and draw two columns; costs and benefits. In the costs column list everything that not trying is costing you e.g., success, self-esteem, loneliness, unhappiness.

In the benefits column write every benefit of trying to achieve the goal e.g., happiness, connection, money, improved self-esteem, decreased symptoms of depression or anxiety, the list is endless.

If you truly desire the goal, you will often find that the benefit column will far outweigh the cost column. Students don't need to share their lists, but you can lead a class discussion on how it felt for students to complete this activity. Encourage students to keep this list to remind themselves of the reasons why they need to take a chance to work towards their goals.

Make a copy of the attached document to use in your classroom.

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Encouraging Honest Goal (Setting Activity 2)

Life story draft (Approx. 30 minutes)

Ask students to draft their own life story. Set a time or sentence limit and provide some life story examples for references. Provide students with a handout that includes the following questions:

Would your life story reflect that you have lived your best life by taking chances to go after your goals, or would it say that you lived a safe, predictable life until you died?
Will the person delivering your life story be in a room full of people who love you, that you have had an impact on, or will there be no one attending because you didn’t take a chance on friendships or relationships?

Reflecting on the answers to these questions could help motivate learners to decide what they want out of their life, and to move towards achieving those goals. You could modify this activity by having learners select a famous living person and write a life story for them.

*These activities are taken from the courses mentioned at the bottom of the page.

udlg3-graphicorganizer-digital-numbers-a11y.pdf

Would you like to learn more about applying UDL in your adult education classroom? Check out the series of free self-paced courses offered on LINCS: https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/udl.

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