In reflection on my own UDL experience at the Center and now, after facilitating 3 UDL Institutes with CLE, I have noticed that sometimes people wrestle with, “What is this thing called, Universal Design for Learning?” It can seem and feel like a nebulous and overwhelmingly HUGE concept.

As a side note, this is why the UDL training with CLE is a year-long, continuous and on-going professional program. Coming to understand, then to utilize the principles of UDL in the classroom, and finally to see the rewards in student learning - is a process.

During the first days of the ULD Institute, we read an article about Universal Design for Learning and conduct a text-rendering. Through this activity, participants highlight critical features from the text, share sentences and phrases that are of importance, identify the single word that sums up the document and then discuss new insights about the topic.

This picture from our group debrief of the text-rendering shows what the participants now understand about Universal Design for Learning. (Click on photo for larger view.)

P.S. View all of our pictures at Flickr.