Instructional MaterialsUniversal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that helps shape learning environments to be accessible, inclusive, equitable, and challenging for every learner. UDL's core aim is to promote learner agency, enabling students to take an active role in their education by making informed choices that contribute to achieving their learning objectives. This approach encourages engagement and autonomy in the learning process, ensuring all students can thrive. (CAST, 2024).
As individuals process information differently, the need arises for multiple means of accessing course materials. By using varying combinations of textual and multimedia materials, students are exposed to new material in different ways, allowing them to learn optimally.
Video Credit: UDL on Campus This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. (2015)
As advantageous as multi-modal material may be, its primary purpose – communication, may be lost if the material is not perceptually, physically, or cognitively accessible to students. Therefore we need to keep the usability of the online environment in mind, and respect all types of learners; including those with different processing styles and physical attributes.
Many students may not share the same cognitive, perceptual, and physiological schemas as ours, and will require assistance through assistive technologies. Assistive technologies are translators, as it were, of the material you prepare. Your online course material needs to be comprehendible by the technology to be comprehendible to students who need it to understand the lessons you prepare.
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