According to the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), the Universal Design for Learning "is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs." Basically, this ideology states that teachers should design each lesson around the needs for every student, thereby ensuring that each student is given the tools to learn and succeed every day.
This is a topic that I believe in whole-heartedly! I believe that one instructional method for all lessons every day just isn't good enough. I have always focused on differentiated instruction within my classroom and worked to incorporate its principles into all of my lesson plans. This does take time, effort, imagination, and organization among other things; but, I believe my students deserve nothing less. In learning about UDL, I was surprised to find how closely I adhered to their guidelines in some areas and how far off I was on others. As part of my assignment in one of my classes I was to apply the UDL Guidelines to a previously completed Goal-directed Instructional Design Plan and take note of the lessons strengths and barriers under the principles of UDL. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my lesson stood up to these guidelines in the majority of its elements. This activity also gave me moments of reflection where I saw areas of weakness in my lesson design; you can see a copy of my completed checklist here -My UDL Checklist.
The ideology of UDL and its guidelines are an important tool in the educational practice and I strongly urge you to use the guidelines in your lesson plan creation; the guideline checklist can be found here - http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/downloads.
You did a fine job!
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