Universal Design for Learning and the Digital Learning Selector
Examine Universal Design for Learning differentiation tools and strategies. Learn which simple researched based design principles and
communication strategies can be applied using the tools and templates within the Digital Learning Selector. These strategies support personalised
learning, sustained learner engagement and comprehension and promote student collaboration. Use this document to leverage both tools and
templates on the Digital Learning Selector along with the inbuilt capabilities on student devices to ensure learning is scaffolded and supported. The
document provides clickable links to the tool or template within the DLS.
Overview of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
UDL is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences, that guides the development of flexible learning environments that can
support the variability of learning in the classroom. First defined by David H. Rose, Ed.D. of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Center
for Applied Special Technology (CAST) in the 1990s. UDL has three guiding principles. The principles encourage proactive and intentional design
focused on multiple ways to: Motivate students (engagement). Present concepts (representation). Allow students to demonstrate their learning (action
and expression). UDL is not only a set of principles but a mindset that all educators use to ensure accessibility to all learning for all students.
Multiple Means of Representation
To reduce barriers to learning, it is important to ensure that key information is equally accessible to all learners by: providing the same information
through different modalities (e.g., through vision, hearing, or touch);providing information in a format that will allow for adjustments by the user (e.g.,
text that can be enlarged, sounds that can be amplified). These representations not only ensure that information is accessible to learners with
particular sensory and perceptual disabilities, but also easier to access and comprehend for many others.
Multiple Means of Expression
Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know. For example, individuals with significant
movement impairments (e.g., cerebral palsy), those who struggle with strategic and organisational abilities (executive function disorders), those who
have language barriers, and so forth approach learning tasks very differently. Some may be able to express themselves well in written text but not
speech, and vice versa. It should also be recognised that action and expression require a great deal of strategy, practice, and organisation, and this is
another area in which learners can differ. In reality, there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all learners; providing
options for action and expression is essential.
To present information and
content in different ways
To present information and
content in different ways
To provide options for how
students show what they know
Visual task schedule Comic Strip for writing
Toontastic Apple Clips iMovie PicCollage, Canva
FlipGrid Jamboard Microsoft Whiteboard
Gallery Walk Jigsaw Think Pair Share Choose
your own adventure book
Read & Write EquatIO Visual diagrams and
charts Graphic Organisers Apple Clips Audacity
Podcasts iMovie Pages Books Slides PowerPoint
diagram directions Padlet Seesaw Bubbl.us
Microsoft Whiteboard Mentimeter Jamboard
Plickers
ABCD Cards
In built accessibility tools on student devices
Visual cue cards Rubric Learning intentions
and success criteria Learning portfolios
Learning logs Exit tickets Nearpod Google
Classroom Daily Routine Calendar
templates Organisational goals
KWL charts Concept maps Read & Write
EquatIO Books EPIC iMovie Apple Clips
Microsoft Whiteboard Geogebra
Storyboard Template Comic Strip
Toontastic Clips Virtual Manipulatives
Mini White Boards Deliberate Practice
Comic Strip Storyboard Template
Clips iMovie Books Toontastic Podcasts
Apple Books Jamboard Microsoft
Whiteboard iMovie Apple Clips
Toontastic Peer Feedback Peer discussion
Think Pair Share Quick Write Exit tickets
Classroom Screen
KWL charts Concept maps Venn diagrams
Cause-and-effect charts Keynote Cause
and Effect Writing Scaffolds Jamboard
Mentimeter Microsoft Whiteboard
FlipGrid Gallery Walk Parking Lot Thinking
Skills Deliberate Practice
Concept maps Invented Spelling (Mini
Whiteboards) Graphic Organisers
Collaborative writing (Jamboard, Mira,
Microsoft whiteboard etc) Think Pair Share
Naming emotions Plickers Kahoot Scaffolded
answers (Google Forms, Rubrics
To stimulate interest and
motivation for learning