Universal Design for Learning (UDL) was the subject of the third keynote delivered by Dr Katie Novak (USA) at Ulearn14. Giving UDL such prominence at Ulearn14 was no accident.
Kia ora Katie
Thank you for making the journey to us from Boston. Thank you too for sharing your passion for learning, and your knowledge and experience of implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support inclusive practices in the US.
It was really exciting to see awareness of UDL among participants at ULearn increase tenfold. The large show of hands indicating no knowledge of UDL at the beginning of your keynote seemed to indicate that those of us implementing UDL are still running below the radar. The response also highlighted that, although the “Effective Governance Building Inclusive Schools information for school boards of trustees 2013 guidelines identify UDL as a tool to support best practice (p.11), there will need to be a concerted effort across the sector to support a deepening understanding of UDL and how it can be used to support inclusive practices in all learning contexts.