Universal Design for Learning

Presuming Competence By Design: A tutorial for systems, environment, curricular, and materials design in learning systems

Requirements

The Four Premises in YOUR Life:

UDL in Your Day-to-Day Life

Take a moment to really stop and reflect on these four basic premises.  Think on this question, and then share your thoughts in our blog we’ve set up for discussion.

How are these four premises true for you?  In other words, if others put Universal Design principles into practice, how would this impact you in your personal lives, both now and in the future or with circumstances you’re facing?

1. Varying ability is not a special condition of the few but a common characteristic of being human and we change physically and intellectually throughout our lives;
   
2. If a design works well for people with disabilities, it works better for everyone;
   
3. At any point in our lives, personal self-esteem, identity and well-being are deeply affected by our ability to function in our physical surroundings with a sense of comfort, independence and control (Weisman, 1999);
   
4. Usability and aesthetics are mutually compatible.

Take Two: UDL in Your Learning Experiences
Now think about these premises from a different perspective.  Reflect on learning environments you encounter – as an educator, administrator, OR the learner.

If learning environments took these premises into account, would they look and function like the ones you’ve encountered?  If not, how would they be different?  Has the lack of any of these ever limited YOU as a learner?  Explain in detail on a separate blog.  Explore what learning environments would look like and be designed like if they reflected these four premises:

1. Varying ability is not a special condition of the few but a common characteristic of being human and we change physically and intellectually throughout our lives;
   
2. If a design works well for people with disabilities, it works better for everyone;
   
3. At any point in our lives, personal self-esteem, identity and well-being are deeply affected by our ability to function in our physical surroundings with a sense of comfort, independence and control (Weisman, 1999);
   
4. Usability and aesthetics are mutually compatible.