Keeping up with UDL: It’s about Learner Agency
This guest post is by Celine Greene, Senior Digital Teaching and Learning Strategist at the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) employs and encourages in course design and instruction.
In late July, updated guidelines for the framework were announced at UDL-Con International, a conference exploring UDL’s impact world-wide. UDL remains focused on the learner. However, its ultimate goal has shifted from developing expert learners to designing for learner agency: “the capacity [for learners] to actively participate in making choices in service of learning goals.” (CAST 2024) The recommendation to reach this ultimate goal has shifted from principles centered on instruction and facilitation to those that are focused on student advocacy and activity: from providing multiple means to designing multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression.
In the Introduction to UDL, on CTL’s Teaching Toolkit Site, we state why UDL is important; this includes providing educational experiences optimized for all learners. We also suggest some initial steps for getting started. This Toolkit page has recently been edited to reflect the next iteration of the framework.
Learner Agency
What is meant by learner agency? How does UDL lay the foundation for this? The revised framework recognizes and promotes:
- self-efficacy (recognizing personal intent)
- self-awareness (identifying and adjusting the balance of external influences and internal motivation),
- resourcefulness (understanding and applying personal strengths, cultural capital, and other assets),
- authenticity (having “real” takeaways that lead to increased comprehension),
- intentionality (strategizing in a manner that reflects individual, personal circumstances), and
- taking purposeful actions (individually, focused on personal goals and collective acts with shared objectives).
The Research
Forty years ago, CAST’s original research that led to the UDL framework was grounded in neuroscientific investigations. These studies proved learning occurs when three areas of the brain are sparked: the strategic, recognition, and affective neural networks. UDL’s foundational principles and supporting guidelines created more opportunities for this neural activity. But over the years, gaps in the framework were recognized as greater perspectives were taken, more voices were heard, and a greater understanding developed around intersectionality and multidimensional identities. The original research and framework had overlooked many personal, societal, structural, and systemic barriers. In response, the investigations expanded to include cognitive psychology and studies that addressed pedagogical impacts and influences of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging. (Learn more about this research on CAST’s site: Research Evidence.)
The New Guidelines
The extensive research and corresponding feedback led to the UDL Guidelines 3.0. In addition to the goal of UDL shifting to learner agency, the three foundational principles were revised. They have gone from providing to designing multiple means to reach the neural networks: the why, what, and how of learning. In support of these revised principles, many of the individual guidelines have been updated, and checkpoints under these guidelines are now replaced with considerations. One example of an updated guideline: “Design Options for Welcoming Interests and Identities” replaces “Provide Options for Recruiting Interest.” And one consideration for this particular guideline, addressing designing multiple means of engagement, is to “Address biases, threats, and distractions.” Learn more by visiting the complete set of UDL Guidelines 3.0 on CAST’s site.
Become more familiar with the UDL framework using CTL’s resources and those provided by CAST, including the individual pages linked in this post. Our Toolkit page: Best Practices in UDL provides a clear direction to incorporating the framework in your course design and facilitation.
References
CAST (2024). CAST: Until learning has no limits. https://www.cast.org
CAST (2024). Research evidence. The UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/research-evidence/
CAST (2024). UDL-Con International. https://udlconinternational.cast.org/
CAST (2024). Universal design for learning guidelines version 3.0. The UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org
CTL (2024). Introduction to universal design for learning. CTL’s Teaching Toolkit. https://www.ctltoolkit.com/introduction-to-udl