I really struggle when someone asks me, “What does UDL look like?” It is not because I don’t know the answer. It’s because I don’t know exactly what it will look like for you and your learners. UDL is something you will co-create based on your goals, your learning environment, and, most importantly, your learners.
There is no UDL lesson plan, strategy, or choice board that works for everyone. If there were, we would all know about it already and teaching and learning would be a breeze. Wouldn’t that be magical?
Creating learning experiences that work for all learners isn’t something we can do easily or overnight, but it is something we can absolutely work toward over time when we are committed to building relationships with our learners, listening to what they need, and designing with firm goals and flexible means.
So maybe the better question is: How can we intentionally design our classrooms to create learning experiences that have the potential to meet the needs of all learners?
Before we dig into what that looks like, let’s clarify what we mean by curriculum. Curriculum is more than the materials we adopt, purchase, or download. It includes five interrelated components: the learning environment, goals, methods, materials, and assessment. When we design using UDL, we think about firm goals and flexible means. We start by getting crystal clear about what all learners need to know and do and what success looks like, and then ask: Where can we be flexible?
Five Components of Curriculum (UDL Edition)
Learning Environment
Before we think about methods or materials, we have to think about the environment where learning happens. After all, we can design the most beautiful lesson in the world, but if learners don’t feel like they belong, can’t access what they need, or don’t have the skills and supports to manage their attention, emotions, and interactions, learning is going to be really hard for them and really frustrating for us as educators!
The learning environment includes both the physical environment and the social-emotional conditions that shape how learners experience school. Designing this environment means creating predictable routines, offering flexible and accessible spaces, making tools and resources available, explicitly teaching collaboration skills, and providing strategies learners can use to manage their attention and emotions.
And remember, it’s not just about flexibility. A universally designed learning environment is not one where every learner can sit wherever they want, listen to music whenever they want, or grab a fidget simply because we have a basket of them in the corner. We have to teach learners how to use the environment strategically and responsibly. Over time, we want them to understand what they need to be successful and increasingly access those supports independently.
Goals
Within the UDL framework, we start with learning objectives aligned to grade-level standards and clear success criteria. Together, they provide instructional clarity so learners know what they are working toward and what success looks like. This is the firm part of firm goals and flexible means.
The clearer we are about the learning objective and success criteria, the more flexibility we can build into everything else. For example, if the grade-level standard requires learners to write arguments, the learning objective needs to stay focused on writing arguments. The success criteria then clarify what a successful argument needs to include.
From there, we can ask: What needs to remain firm because it is essential to the grade-level standard and success criteria? And where can we provide flexibility in the environment, methods, materials, and assessments?
Methods & Materials
Methods are the instructional approaches, strategies, procedures, and routines we use to support learning, while materials are the tools and resources learners use along the way. In practice, these two components often work hand in hand, so it makes sense to think about them together.
In the example above, once we know that learners need to write an argument and we are clear about what a successful argument includes, there can be lots of flexibility in how they get there. Some learners may complete a graphic organizer while others create an outline. Some may handwrite while others type or use voice-to-text. Learners may peer review with a classmate, conference with the teacher, or use an exemplar and the success criteria to review their own work.
There is no single “UDL method” or magical set of UDL materials. The key is providing options that help learners make progress toward the same firm learning objective and success criteria while giving them flexibility in how they get there.
And over time, we want learners to become increasingly purposeful about those choices. Instead of choosing voice-to-text because it seems easier or working with a partner because their best friend is there, they begin to recognize, “This strategy helps me organize my thinking,” or “This is the kind of feedback I need right now.”
Assessments
Assessment is how learners provide evidence of what they know and can do. And just like with methods and materials, the learning objective and success criteria determine where we can provide flexibility.
In the example above, learners are working toward a grade-level standard that requires them to write an argument, so writing has to remain firm. Learners can’t create a podcast or record a video instead because then we would no longer be assessing their ability to write an argument. However, as discussed above, there can still be lots of flexibility in how they get there.
This is why UDL is not about giving learners unlimited choices in how they demonstrate learning. It is about getting crystal clear about what we are actually assessing and then removing barriers that have nothing to do with that goal. If the method of demonstrating learning is not part of the standard, we may have much more room to flex. When we do this well, assessment gives us a much clearer picture of what learners actually know and can do, rather than how successfully they navigated barriers that weren’t relevant to the learning goal.
What If I Have an Adopted Curriculum?
You can absolutely use UDL with an adopted curriculum. Remember, materials are only one part of the curriculum, and there are often many opportunities to provide flexibility while maintaining the integrity of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM).
Start by getting clear about what needs to remain firm, and then look for opportunities to flex. If a lesson asks learners to “discuss,” for example, explode that verb. Learners might discuss with a partner or small group, participate in a chalk talk, use sentence stems, or choose to sit or stand while they talk. If learners need to access a specific text, they might read a hard copy, access it digitally, listen to audio while following along, or read it with a small group. When implementing UDL, we’re not changing what learners need to learn; we’re expanding the pathways for getting there.
And ultimately, that brings us back to the million-dollar question: What does UDL look like?
So, here is my official answer: If everyone is included, all learners are working toward the same firm, rigorous goals in an environment designed to reduce barriers, and they have meaningful choices that allow them to honor their strengths, challenge themselves, and follow their passions, then that’s what UDL looks like.
Our Teacher’s Guide to UDL walks you through the five components of curriculum and provides practical strategies and examples to help you design learning experiences with firm goals and flexible means.
Editor's Note: This post has been updated from its original publication.
