You Design Learning: Your Learners, Your Context, Your UDL Design

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) isn’t about making things easier—it’s about unlocking learning for everyone. In this interactive workshop, we’ll dive into the three pillars of UDL Guidelines 3.0: Engagement (the why of learning), Representation (the what of learning), and Action & Expression (the how of learning). However, we’ll shift the focus from “Universal” to “You”, because inclusive design begins with your learners, your context, and your teaching goals. Together, we’ll explore the three key dimensions of UDL course design—methods, materials, and environments—and how scaffolding learning through access, support, and executive function can reduce learning barriers and welcome learner variability. Using the Plus-or-Minus-One approach, you'll discover how making one small, intentional change can have a big impact.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• recognize how course elements (methods, materials, and environments) and learner variability can intersect to create or reduce learning barriers;
• describe and apply core UDL principles (engagement, representation, action & expression) and scaffold learning (access, support, and executive function); and
• use the Plus-or-Minus-One approach to begin designing more inclusive, flexible learning experiences, reframing UDL as You Design Learning.