Teaching and Universal Design - Teaching Vanguard

Universally Designed Blended Learning

Catlin Tucker

MAY 3, 2021

In my upcoming book, I teamed up with Dr. Katie Novak to explore the complementary nature of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning. UDL is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.”

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Learning Motivation

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Engagement

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that is based on a scientific understanding of how people learn. The goal of UDL is to design “barrier-free, instructionally rich learning environments and lessons that provide access to all students” (Nelson, 2).

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Metacognitive Skills Learning

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Representation

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

In my last blog, I focused on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principle of engagement. I shared strategies designed to develop self-regulation skills, sustain effort and persistence, and recruit interest.

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Learning Feedback

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Action and Expression

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 20, 2020

In my last blog, I focused on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principle of representation. As I work with educators adapting to teaching online, I emphasize the importance of variety, flexibility, and student agency.

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Learning Textbooks

Embrace Flexibility with Universally Designed Blended Learning

Catlin Tucker

JULY 8, 2021

As educators, we have the challenge and honor to teach a dynamic and unique group of students each time a class period begins. I realize that flexibility can feel a bit daunting, both in our design work and as we facilitate a learning experience. So, what might flexibility look like when universally designing blended learning? #1

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Learning Feedback

Friday 5: Universal Design for Learning

eSchool News

APRIL 19, 2024

Let’s take a look at how Universal Design for Learning can benefit students: What best describes Universal Design for Learning? Think of Universal Design principles as an operating system of sorts for your classroom, school, or district. What is the focus of Universal Design for Learning?

Universal Design

Universal Design Learning Feedback Communication

Prepare For Fall: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Blended Learning Self-paced Online Course

Catlin Tucker

JULY 30, 2021

Katie Novak and I wrote UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes to support teachers in developing a mindset, skill set, and toolset nimble enough to traverse any teaching and learning landscape with confidence. It will take time and a willingness to pursue our own learning.

Universal Design

Universal Design Blended Learning Authentic Assessment Learning

Universal Design for Learning: What is it? Why use?

Ask a Tech Teacher

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Today, we offer one more: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) What is UDL Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework based on research in the learning sciences that can accommodate individual learning differences. UDL at its core is simply good teaching.

Universal Design

Universal Design Learning Styles Disabilities Learning

What Is Universal Design for Learning in Today’s Education Environment?

EdTech Magazine

JUNE 10, 2022

Automatic doors, crosswalks with audible directions, adjustable car seats — these are all universally designed products. The Universal Design for Learning framework supports learning for all students. The Universal Design for Learning framework supports learning for all students. In today’s…

Universal Design

Universal Design Disabilities Education Learning

When Universal Design Promotes Inclusion of All Students

Edsurge

MAY 31, 2023

Christopher Bugaj Assistive Technology Specialist, Loudoun County Public Schools One way for educators to meet the needs of students is to integrate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into their instructional practices. Hopefully, the next generation won’t be chasing accessibility; it will just be normalized.”

Universal Design

Universal Design Disabilities Mobile Devices Students

Supporting All Learners: Building an Inclusive Classroom With Universal Design for Learning

Edsurge

JANUARY 13, 2025

Centering instruction in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and implementing both direct and student-driven instruction can help engage learners, address diverse needs and improve learning outcomes for all students. Universal Design for Learning provides a framework for designing inclusive learning environments.

Universal Design

Universal Design Feedback Learning Beliefs

Removing Barriers with UDL and Blended Learning

Catlin Tucker

MAY 11, 2021

Like many, this teacher felt intense pressure to teach the standards and wasn’t sure how to embrace Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning. The variability among learners demands flexibility in our design and assessment of learning. This is not unusual. Teachers want all students to be successful.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Learning Universal Design Disabilities

Utilizing Adult Learning Principles and Universal Design for Learning to Advance Student Success

Faculty Focus

MARCH 5, 2023

Andragogy, or the study of adult learning, can provide insights on how to teach adult learners more effectively. By linking andragogy to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines, I offer suggestions for how faculty can advance student success using them. In pedagogy, students are dependent on the instructor to teach them.

Universal Design

Universal Design Learning Motivation Authentic Assessment

UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes (has arrived!)

Catlin Tucker

JUNE 3, 2021

We combined our expertise on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning to write a book designed to help teachers develop a mindset, skillset, and toolset that allows them to thrive no matter the educational setting–in class, online, or a blend of the two. Katie Novak on this project.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Universal Design Learning Motivation

Fine-tuning learning spaces for neurodiverse students

eSchool News

AUGUST 26, 2024

It also explores current teaching practices and frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL), offering actionable tips to help schools support neurodiverse students and prioritize inclusive strategies and practices. Include neurodiversity in curriculum materials at an early age.

Learning Spaces

Learning Spaces Universal Design Learning Students

Designing For Deeper Learning: Identifying Challenges and Prototyping Solutions

Catlin Tucker

MARCH 28, 2023

Through our online series, we explored the power of universally designed blended learning models to achieve deeper learning outcomes. The challenges we face are complex and multifaceted, and our decision-making is impacted by the communities we serve and the students we teach.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Universal Design Learning Motivation

Utilizing Adult Learning Principles and Universal Design for Learning to Advance Student Success

Faculty Focus

MARCH 5, 2023

Andragogy, or the study of adult learning, can provide insights on how to teach adult learners more effectively. By linking andragogy to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines, I offer suggestions for how faculty can advance student success using them. In pedagogy, students are dependent on the instructor to teach them.

Universal Design

Universal Design Learning Motivation Authentic Assessment

Shifting from Time-consuming Teacher-led Workflows to Sustainable Student-led Workflows

Catlin Tucker

JANUARY 10, 2022

Teaching has always been a demanding profession, but this school year takes the cake! We demonstrate how teachers can leverage universally designed blended learning to position students as active agents in the classroom and create the time and space for these new workflows.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Metacognitive Skills Teachers Feedback

So you think you understand UDL?

eSchool News

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

I thought I had a pretty good handle on universal design for learning (UDL), but after chatting with Katie Novak , Ed.D., Our job is to teach them as they come. I realize I didn’t understand the framework at all. Novak, author of UDL Now! All students have assets and strengths and goals and interests.

Disabilities

Disabilities Universal Design Essay Beliefs

Has Teaching Changed since the Pandemic?

Ask a Tech Teacher

MARCH 30, 2022

Ask a Tech Teacher contributor, Christian Miraglia, wrote an interesting article on changes in teaching since the pandemic. I think you’ll find a lot to relate to: Has Teaching Changed Since the Pandemic? March 13, 2019, for many educators in California and nationwide, was a day that will forever be etched in their memories.

Teaching

Teaching Universal Design Intelligence Assignments

Combatting the Challenges of Whole Group Lessons with Blended Learning

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 5, 2021

These models are flexible and able to transcend any single teaching and learning landscape. I ask them to brainstorm and discuss with colleagues the benefits and challenges of teaching using the whole group, teacher-led, teacher-paced model. Below are the benefits and challenges of teaching in a whole group lesson.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Metacognitive Skills Learning Motivation

Design a Choose Your Own Adventure Learning Experience

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 14, 2020

Others are teaching entirely online. And a growing number of teachers who began the year online are now shifting to the concurrent classroom where they are juggling the demands of teaching students both in class and online simultaneously. I’d suggest providing a mix of online and offline options.

Learning

Learning Assignments Universal Design Feedback

The 3 Biggest Remote Teaching Concerns We Need to Solve Now

Edsurge

APRIL 2, 2020

With the rapid spread of COVID-19, educators across the country and around the world have been tasked with shifting to emergency remote teaching—a move from in-person to remote classes made necessary by pressing circumstances. With this rapid push to remote teaching, educators may be jumping into the use of digital technologies too fast.

Teaching

Teaching Disabilities Evaluation Internet

Leveraging collaborative e-learning to support UDL

eSchool News

AUGUST 29, 2024

But how does the concept of Universal Design Learning (UDL) fit into all this? Another example could involve students being temporary experts on particular texts, where they split into groups and read a specific text before splitting into new groups and teaching the others about what they read with the annotations.

Learning

Learning Universal Design Syllabus Quizzes

Prioritizing inclusivity in game-based learning

eSchool News

APRIL 22, 2024

The paper recommends five methods that can help increase inclusivity in teaching and learning: 1. Co-design: Bringing learners, especially marginalized learners, into the process as designers early on to understand their needs and base product designs on their ideas.

Game-Based Learning

Game-Based Learning Gamification Learning Universal Design

Steps Toward Creating a More Accessible and Inclusive College Classroom

Faculty Focus

MAY 18, 2025

Creating a classroom in the service of social justice (The Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, 2008) requires a profound understanding of the impact of human diversity on teaching and learning (Cushner et al., Ask a colleague to informally observe your teaching and provide constructive feedback on your work of being an inclusive teacher.

Accessibility

Accessibility Disabilities Learning Disabilities Special Education

Choice Boards: Benefits, Design Tips & Differentiation

Catlin Tucker

AUGUST 16, 2021

Student agency requires that we design our lessons to offer students meaningful choices. These choices can help us universally design learning experiences that strive to remove barriers and invite students to decide how to engage with information, make meaning, and demonstrate their learning.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Feedback Activities Universal Design

5 Strategies to Engage Learners Around Flipped Instruction

Catlin Tucker

OCTOBER 10, 2021

If you pair video with a meaningful activity designed to keep them actively engaged, you can maximize the effectiveness of that video, collect useful formative assessment data, and create a higher level of accountability.

Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple Choice Questions Blended Learning Discussions Art

Using AI in Service of Strong Pedagogical Practice

Catlin Tucker

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

” I remember questioning how effective those sessions would be at improving teaching and learning. The piece of the design puzzle missing for me is how educators can use these AI tools to architect student-centered learning experiences that better meet the specific needs of learners.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Knowledge Feedback Universal Design

Coronavirus Has Led to a Rush of Online Teaching. Here’s Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors

Edsurge

MARCH 11, 2020

Every day, a new batch of colleges announces that in-person classes are closed and teaching will shift online to try to halt the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. So EdSurge asked our teaching advice columnist, Bonni Stachowiak, to offer a quick primer. And his response was to remind all of us that yes, online teaching is hard.

Instructors

Instructors Teaching Multiple Choice Questions Ethics

Standard-aligned Rubrics: Assessing Progress Toward Firm Goals While Allowing for Flexible Means

Catlin Tucker

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

You can learn more about universally designing blended learning to give students more agency in my book UDL and Blended Learning or by taking my online, self-paced courses. The beauty of a standards-aligned, mastery-based rubric is that it: can be used to assess a variety of products in relation to specific criteria.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Essay Feedback Writing

How to create inclusive learning environments with UDL

eSchool News

JULY 28, 2022

To create inclusive learning environments, educators can leverage the principles of Universal Design for Learning ( UDL ). What is Universal Design for Learning?

Universal Design

Universal Design Essay Textbooks Learning

How UDL can get you to personalized learning

eSchool News

MAY 18, 2015

Yet having and using technology in teaching and learning is not enough. Universal design for learning makes that practice possible. Portable, personal computers with friendly interfaces, vast computing power, and networked capabilities make it possible to tailor learning to personal interests and needs.

Learning

Learning Universal Design Technology Teaching

10 steps for making your online courses accessible for all students

eSchool News

DECEMBER 16, 2015

New report highlights 10-step plan to applying Universal Design for Learning online. The recent report , written by three professors at Montana State University, aims to help educators involved in online learning implement UDL for teaching both general and diverse populations, including students with disabilities.

Accessibility

Accessibility Disabilities Universal Design Instructors

Kids in special education are struggling–it’s time to rethink their education

eSchool News

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Approaches we use, like Universal Design for Learning , embrace, rather than punish, diversity in learning styles and personality. But methods of teaching are just one part of meeting a student’s unique needs. A highly individualized teaching method would demand more than they could possibly provide.

Special Education

Special Education Education Teaching Methods Learning Styles

5 of the biggest education trends for 2025

eSchool News

JANUARY 31, 2025

Some schools are even piloting automated and AI-powered technologies to take repetitive and administrative tasks off teachers plates, freeing up invaluable time for them to connect with students and focus on teaching. In 2025, districts will continue to explore ways to cultivate a more positive job experience for teachers.

Education

Education Ethics Culture Universal Design

AI’s transformative role in accessibility

eSchool News

OCTOBER 3, 2024

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework provides a guiding principle for creating inclusive educational environments that cater to all students’ needs, interests, and preferences.

Accessibility

Accessibility Local Government Disabilities Ethics

Farewell, 2020: Lessons Learned

Catlin Tucker

DECEMBER 31, 2020

As I work with Katie Novak on my newest book project, I think the synergy between her expertise on Universal Design for Learning and my work on blended learning provide an exciting new way to think about thriving in flexible learning landscapes. #3 1 Relationships need to be our #1 priority. ” I hear this a lot.

Learning

Learning Blended Learning Assignments Feedback

5 ways to stay connected when going remote

eSchool News

APRIL 17, 2020

But the good news is that along with an inclusive mindset, there are simple strategies you can draw from Universal Design for Learning pedagogy, which emphasizes: ? This is especially true if your institution is suddenly transitioning to remote instruction for the first time in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Universal Design

Universal Design Communication Discussions Online Learning

Here’s how schools can better support neurodiverse students

eSchool News

JUNE 18, 2024

Implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Each student has a unique way of processing information, and research shows that multi-sensory learning helps improve memory retention and overall understanding of the subject matter.

Disabilities

Disabilities Special Education Schools Students

Pre-assessment is Key to Designing with Intention

Catlin Tucker

MARCH 11, 2024

Once teachers have a clear sense of where their students are beginning in relation to specific concepts and skills, they can use the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning models to design lessons that are accessible, inclusive, and equitable.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Coaching Knowledge Writing

Sensory spaces may help support all students

eSchool News

DECEMBER 18, 2023

As 2023 winds down, it is important to note this trend and its origins from use primarily in special education to the current, continuing shift towards universal design and inclusion. What is a sensory space? Since COVID, I have also seen an uptick in schools that are creating quiet sensory spaces for their educational staff.

Students

Students Universal Design Disabilities Physical Education

UDL and Blended Learning: Removing Barriers with Design

Catlin Tucker

JUNE 21, 2021

The more intentional our design work, the more likely we are to create learning experiences that allow all students to be successful and encourage them to think, do, make, discuss, and reflect, which are critical to deep and meaningful learning. Summer Learning Opportunities.

Blended Learning

Blended Learning Learning Lecturing Motivation

Heroes at Work: How San Diego USD made PD a pandemic priority

eSchool News

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

We’re going to have to go into how do we use a learning management system to teach? And so we really tried to focus on the pedagogy, checking for understanding of the universal design for learning, where we’re sharing different types of instruction and content with students. And so we totally shifted gears.

Universal Design

Universal Design Reading Student Engagement Online Learning

Universally Designed Blended Learning

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Engagement

Trending Sources

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Representation

Universal Design for Learning and Blended Learning: Action and Expression

Embrace Flexibility with Universally Designed Blended Learning

Friday 5: Universal Design for Learning

Prepare For Fall: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Blended Learning Self-paced Online Course

Universal Design for Learning: What is it? Why use?

What Is Universal Design for Learning in Today’s Education Environment?

When Universal Design Promotes Inclusion of All Students

Supporting All Learners: Building an Inclusive Classroom With Universal Design for Learning

Removing Barriers with UDL and Blended Learning

Utilizing Adult Learning Principles and Universal Design for Learning to Advance Student Success

UDL and Blended Learning: Thriving in Flexible Learning Landscapes (has arrived!)

Fine-tuning learning spaces for neurodiverse students

Designing For Deeper Learning: Identifying Challenges and Prototyping Solutions

Utilizing Adult Learning Principles and Universal Design for Learning to Advance Student Success

Shifting from Time-consuming Teacher-led Workflows to Sustainable Student-led Workflows

So you think you understand UDL?

Has Teaching Changed since the Pandemic?

Combatting the Challenges of Whole Group Lessons with Blended Learning

Design a Choose Your Own Adventure Learning Experience

The 3 Biggest Remote Teaching Concerns We Need to Solve Now

Leveraging collaborative e-learning to support UDL

Prioritizing inclusivity in game-based learning

Steps Toward Creating a More Accessible and Inclusive College Classroom

Choice Boards: Benefits, Design Tips & Differentiation

5 Strategies to Engage Learners Around Flipped Instruction

Using AI in Service of Strong Pedagogical Practice

Coronavirus Has Led to a Rush of Online Teaching. Here’s Some Advice for Newly Remote Instructors

Standard-aligned Rubrics: Assessing Progress Toward Firm Goals While Allowing for Flexible Means

How to create inclusive learning environments with UDL

How UDL can get you to personalized learning

10 steps for making your online courses accessible for all students

Kids in special education are struggling–it’s time to rethink their education

5 of the biggest education trends for 2025

AI’s transformative role in accessibility

Farewell, 2020: Lessons Learned

5 ways to stay connected when going remote

Here’s how schools can better support neurodiverse students

Pre-assessment is Key to Designing with Intention

Sensory spaces may help support all students

UDL and Blended Learning: Removing Barriers with Design

Heroes at Work: How San Diego USD made PD a pandemic priority

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