Universal Design for Learning

How do we gather information? The traditional lecture where the instructor reviews and summarizes the course information for students is passive and generally not a good use of your time or your students’. Additionally, while you think the contents of an entire chapter are interesting, what do your students actually need in order to achieve the student learning outcomes? Focus on those parts of the material and you’ll be able to more effectively focus your UDL efforts. With the vital parts of the information your students need identified, think about the best way to present them.

Video Overview – record a short video (2-3 minutes) highlighting the important portions of the module or topic information. Your facial expressions and vocal inflection will reinforce what content they need to focus the attention on. This is where you may want to consider using subtitles as well as providing a transcript.
PowerPoint Presentation – narrated PowerPoint slides combine the passion in your voice with the text and other visual cues. Keep them short and as topic specific as possible so your students can select just the items they need. A transcript may be useful here if you used technical terms or jargon that the students may want to refer to later. Give your students the ability to download the slides to take notes on.
Electronic Textbook - For some there’s no substitute for the feel of paper in your hands. For others there is nothing more convenient than a searchable version of a book that fits in the pocket and can be accessed whenever they have a free moment. Book readers frequently allow for highlighting, note taking, text resizing as well reading the text aloud. WCU’s current book rental program can make providing this option challenging, so check with the bookstore.
Web Sources – Your course topics may be so dynamic that a traditional textbook is out of date nearly as soon as it is printed. The web can be a replacement or a supplement to your course materials.
Let someone else do the talking – There may be a YouTube or TED Talk video that covers your topic as well as one you could make. They will frequently come with closed captions and transcript options as well – completely free of charge!

How do we express ideas? You’ve presented your course information in a variety of ways and now it’s time to assess your students’ learning. If you’ve got an accrediting agency to contend with, your options may be limited. If not, think beyond the traditional term paper or exam.

Recorded Lecture – If it worked for you, why not for your students? Have them prepare a PowerPoint (or another presentation tool) lecture on a course topic. You’ll need to give guidelines regarding format, narration, captions, etc. as may be new ground for your students.
Video Presentation – This is a variation of the recorded lecture but doesn’t rely on slides so much as it does the students’ stage presence. Students use a web camera, whiteboard (virtual or actual), green screen or other presentation technology. These can take the form of a traditional lecture, a newscast, or even a one act play.
Journal Article – Have them prepare a paper for publication. This can range from a formal research focused topic for peer review to a casual informative document designed for public consumption.
Graphic Novel – These are not your father’s comic books! They can be sophisticated story telling devices that your students may be very familiar with.
Let them choose – It can be tough designing multiple assessment techniques that all assess a student’s learning with equal rigor, but you may find that given a choice of assessment options they may get more engaged with the topic.

How do we motivate learners? It can be difficult to get students interested and engaged with course information, each other, and the instructor – especially online. Giving the students multiple ways to engage with the material can take the form of providing an e-version of the text, breaking a lesson down into short instructional videos, or augmenting PowerPoints with links to TED Talks or YouTube videos. We’ll explore this further when we discuss the Plus-One approach to UDL.