Universal Design Learning

While researching for a project I recently came across the website for The Center for Applied Special Technology, or CAST. I was instantly hooked by what I read there, particularly this: “Universal Design Learning (UDL) 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."

The  CAST UDL Book Builder is a "free online tool (that) enables educators to develop their own digital books to support reading instruction for children aged 3 and up. Teachers create, edit, and save resource-rich texts."

When I clicked through to the Book Builder I found a collection of multimedia resources that enable designers and instructors to embed music, audio recordings of explanations or discussions, hyperlinks, and more into the lesson books they create.

One of my favorite resources here is the student response area, which encourages active learning and meaningful interaction with educational and instructional texts. 

For me, the “wow” factor is that the site and its resources facilitate multimedia instruction for all learners, including those who do not or cannot interact with visual media.

Sally Bacchetta