Universal Design for learning is a framework, a mindset, a way of reaching, engaging, and empowering all students. It is defined as a “research-based set of principles to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible and effective for all” (CAST, 2018a). Before we explore some of the UDL Principles in a little more depth and to understand how we can use the principles to engage the FET student, watch this short clip below from AHEAD. It explains UDL way better than text, so have a listen as it sets the stage for what comes next.
UDL is important in FET as not only is the sector and provision itself so diverse, but the 200,000 students we work with nationally are becoming increasingly diverse. The cohorts we work with include asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, those who are prison experienced, students from the Traveller community, students with low literacy and numeracy levels and early school leavers in addition to those who are returning to education to reskill and who may have master's degrees! We are also working with learners (and indeed educators) with varying digital literacy skills. In 2019, SOLAS reported that we had 190 different nationalities enrolled in FET; 30.8% of students with lower secondary education and 14% of students reporting at least one disability. With the current need for many people to return to education and reskill due to job loss resulting from the pandemic, never has there been a more opportune time for us to make inclusion everyone’s business. UDL can do just that.
To visualise the UDL guidelines and explore them in more detail, check out the image below. Click on it and it will lead you to more information! In this blog, we are really looking at how we can engage students in being more motivated and engaged in learning how to learn. The intention is to build on Touria’s blog, but it is important to understand the UDL mindset and approach at a holistic level first.
Table 1: CAST UDL Guidelines
I put up a little image coming from one of my main go-to books “Innovate Inside the Box; Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator's Mindset” by George Couros and Katie Novak. In it, they tell us that we need to learn about, for and from/with our students. As mentioned in the video, the UDL Guidelines identify that one of the key principles of UDL is the provision of multiple means of engagement. Our goal as educators is for our students to be engaged and motivated to learn, right? Otherwise, what are we doing? We want our students to leave our classes, modules and courses feeling empowered and impassioned to continue to learn, either by continuing their education or when in employment. We want to ingrain that passion for lifelong and lifewide learning. But that doesn’t just happen by chance. Each student we meet is individual and varied. They come with their own life experiences, neurological make-up, culture and background knowledge. They have been impacted by education in many ways. Some will be driven, engaged, highly motivated, and primed to learn. Others will be disengaged, disenfranchised, demotivated and in need of some additional support along the way. Some like to work alone; some learn better working with others (CAST, 2018b). If we think of our students in this way, then it follows naturally that we are not going to be able to engage all our students in one way; we need to be able to engage students in multiple ways. It is this diversity and variability in our students that both challenges us and provides us with opportunities to innovate inside the box in how we approach our class groups, our modules, and our individual students. This is where UDL comes in.
In Packham’s model, outlined in Touria’s blog, some of the extrinsic elements that can impact on motivation and commitment are the student’s study skills and time management. This involves executive functioning skills. Executive functioning skills involve an ability to set long term goals and to see beyond the here and now, as well as being able to put strategies in place to reach these goals. A student needs to be able to monitor their progress as they work toward their goals and then be able to make changes to the strategies, they are using to ultimately achieve those goals. Easy, eh? Even as I am writing this, I am trying to think of how many short-term reactions I make to my environment without setting long term goals. And even if I set long term goals, do I put strategies in place to enable me to get there and then monitor my progress? How can you support your students to do this?
This is where it all comes together- UDL isn’t something we do to our students, it’s something we do with our students. We learn from them; we connect with them and we learn alongside them. By learning about our students, we are then better able to learn with them and to harness their strengths and guide them on their journey to becoming more purposeful and motivated, more resourceful, and knowledgeable and more strategic and goal directed. Be a little vulnerable and learn with them. Encourage them to try out different ways to organise themselves, different ways to study using different modalities and reflect on them. Help them to work out what works best for them by learning from them and with them.
If you want to learn a little more about how “UDL” you are, complete this short quiz.
Then identify your own short, medium long-term goals, put a plan in place about how you are going to reach those goals and then monitor them along the way! How are you going to level-up? Walk the talk- be a motivated, engaged and self-directed learner yourself. Reading this blog is learning for our students; reflecting on your practice is learning for your students; clicking on the links above and doing the “extension activities” is learning for your students. Throughout this blog we have maintained a focus on the importance for us as educators or administrators involved in education in truly knowing our learners. It is through this understanding of their needs as individuals, and our acknowledgement that the average learner is a myth, that we can truly begin to reach all learners. Designing the learning environment and each and every learning experience with a UDL framework and mindset to the fore can help us to better reach, engage, include, empower and truly motivate our learners.
CAST (2018a) Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Available at http://udlguidelines.cast.org [Accessed 1 October 2021]
CAST (2018b) Provide multiple means of engagement. Available at https://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement [Accessed 1 October 2021]
Table 1: CAST UDL Guidelines © CAST, 2021.
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