What is UDL?

Here begins my Assistive Technology Journey!

One thing I noticed right away when I took my first ‘Introduction to Special Education’ course is there are a lot of acronyms when talking about special education.  Here’s another one: UDL.

UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning.  UDL is a set of principles for curriculum development with a goal of providing all students an equal opportunity to learn.  Providing all students with an opportunity to learn can be achieved by multiple methods of representation, engagement, and expression.

UDL is often used hand-in-hand with Assistive Technology (AT), to make all curricular areas accessible to as many students as possible, in an inclusive classroom.  A common misconception is that Assistive Technology needs to cost a lot of money.  This is not true!  Assistive Technology can be as simple as a pencil grip or a magnifying glass.  There are also a lot of free options (many can be found online), such as audio books or text-to-speech programs.  Check out the link below for some free Assistive Technology options.

This is a great (short) video that gives an overview of UDL: Universal Design for Learning

Reference: UDL Tech Toolkit