Universal DesignEDP 279 Anne Meuser

Universal Design

Universal Design is a movement that, with regard to education, aims to provide one educational design that can help all students to achieve to their fullest potential.

With Universal Design, accommodations would be unnecessary as they would be incorporated into the original lesson design.

Implementation

Universal Design in Education involves these three considerations:

Lessons represented in multiple ways

Students’ methods to present knowledge

Student engagement in learning

Is this a deer or a bunch of dots? People engage with, perceive, and learn in the world differently, so there is never one right way.

RepresentationLessons should provide multiple modes for

understanding meaning.

Multiple ways to perceive contentNot every student engage with the lesson through sight, physical participation, hearing, etc.

Language and symbolsTeachers make accommodations for students who are not familiar with certain language conventions and symbols

Multiple ways to understand contentStudents understand lessons differently based on how it is presented. Multiple means for presentation help all learners understand the same lesson.

Presentation

PhysicallyStudent ability to physically interact with materials and lessons should be considered in the classroom.

FluentlySome students work more fluently in writing, speaking, building, etc.

CognitivelyHow do students manage their work best? How do they plan, practice, or work toward lesson goals?

Students have different ways of expressing themselves. In the classroom, teachers should be aware of how students are able to perform:

Engage-itationStudents manifest their engagement differently and are engaged by different methods. With Universal Design implementation, teachers would provide many different methods for students to get involved.

Observation, lecture, visually, auditorily, kinesthetically, physically?

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