Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

In today's increasingly diverse schools teachers are having difficulties adapting their teaching styles to the varying learning styles of their students. In addition, teachers are being held more accountable for their students, with an emphasis on state and national standards. To accommodate students with special needs, ranging from limited English, learning disabilities, attention disorders, physical disabilities, and even gifted students, teachers are turning to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). According Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age, UDL is a set of principles based on research that forms guidelines and provides a framework for teachers to use technology to maximize learning opportunities for each student. UDL intersects different teaching styles, learning styles, intelligences, assessment techniques, and technology to help students minimize their barriers and increase their learning. In order for teachers to use UDL effectively they must be flexible in their teaching strategies and creative with their materials to accommodate each student. By applying UDL to their classrooms, teachers will transform the traditional classroom model, and help students of all backgrounds and abilities learn more effectively.

Using UDL in a history classroom will not be very difficult, and I believe it will increase the learning of my students greatly because it will allow students to experience history from more than just a textbook or document. Students will be able to use forms of technology, such as online field trips to experience the places and eras their books describe. In addition, reading resources that are now available will be extremely helpful for students with lower reading levels, or with physical disabilities. Students could use reading software not just to read the textbook, but to read primary source documents which are often difficult to read because they use a different style of English. The software could help breakdown the sentences and words, and pronunciations to enable to students to read and analyze the documents. In addition, instead of writing essays, students could use other forms of media and technology to present the material they've learned, such as a slide show, movie, or website. Similarly, for students with difficultly spelling, poor handwriting, etc., they could use laptops or a computer lab to type up their essays for a test rather than hand writing them, which would cut back on grammatical and spelling mistakes, as well as possibly help some students finish in the time limit more easily than if they were hand writing their papers.