Module 4: UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a Design Menu

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Audio Framing 🎧 UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a Design Menu
From Menu to Action
Why Alignment Matters
Feedback and Iteration
Modeling UDL
Continue Your UDL Journey

Audio Framing 🎧 UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a Design Menu

Listen to a 90-second audio framing that highlights how the UDL Guidelines 3.0 can support intentional, manageable design choices.

Transcript

In this module, you've explored the UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a design menu—a set of 9 guidelines and 36 considerations that offer multiple ways to reduce barriers and strengthen learning.

Like any menu, you're not expected to order everything.

The purpose is not coverage. It's selection.

As you browsed the engagement, representation, and action and expression guidelines, you may have noticed certain considerations standing out. Some may have felt immediately relevant. Others may have felt less applicable to your context—and that's okay.

The power of the UDL Guidelines is not in implementing all 36 considerations. It's in making intentional choices that align with your teaching goals and essential learning outcomes.

Which option helps address the barrier at your pinch point?
Which one feels manageable and meaningful right now?

Choose one consideration—or perhaps a pairing—and treat it as a small design experiment.

Test it. Notice what shifts. Listen to your learners. Refine.

The UDL Guidelines are not a checklist to complete. They are a flexible design resource you can return to over time.

That's how the menu becomes part of an ongoing design practice.

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From Menu to Action

In Module 1, you identified a pinch point—a course element where learner and instructor variability, contextual factors, and barriers intersect. In Modules 2 and 3, you explored that pinch point through dimensions (methods, materials, environments) and scaffolds (access, support, executive function). Now, in Module 4, you've expanded your toolkit with the UDL Guidelines 3.0 menu, grounded in the learning sciences and cognitive neuroscience:

Engagement (appetizers, Guidelines 7–9)
Representation (entrées, Guidelines 1–3)
Action and Expression (desserts, Guidelines 4–6)

Each principle offers guidelines and considerations that can reduce barriers and open pathways for learners. But you don't need to order everything at once. Like a meal, it's enough to choose one appetizer, entrée, or dessert—or pair a few items—that fit your context right now.

Pause for Planning: Try One Thing

Return to your notes from 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5. Ask yourself:

Which of the considerations from the menu feels like the right starting place?
Is there one option you could test on its own?
Would a pairing across principles better address your barrier?
What feels realistic and sustainable for your next teaching cycle?

Some instructors like to think of this as a Plus-One (adding one more option to increase access or flexibility). Others prefer a Minus-One (removing a barrier or unnecessary step that causes overload). Either approach works, as long as it helps reduce friction at your pinch point.

For example, if discussion participation feels uneven, a Plus-One might offer an additional way to contribute (such as a written response), while a Minus-One might reduce the number of required prompts to focus on deeper engagement.

Record your one consideration—or a combination—in the Try One Thing section of your U Design Learning Action Plan. Be specific about the barrier it addresses and why you chose it.

Need implementation support? Connect with colleagues or your local teaching and learning centre.

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Why Alignment Matters

As in earlier modules, alignment keeps small changes purposeful. A new strategy is most effective when it not only removes a barrier but also connects to your values, teaching goals, and course outcomes.

Think of alignment as a compass that orients your design choices. A small change can drift unless it points toward three directions:

Learners: Does this adjustment address a real barrier my students face?
Learning: Does it reinforce the outcomes and skills at the heart of my course?
Values: Does it reflect the commitments I want to model in my teaching?

When your compass points to all three, your Try One Thing becomes more than a small tweak—it becomes part of an intentional design practice.

Pause for Planning: Alignment Check

Once you've chosen your Try One Thing, pause for a final alignment check. Use these three guiding questions to filter your choice:

What barriers am I reducing or creating?
How am I welcoming learner variability?
Does my design align with my values, goals, and outcomes?

If the answers feel clear and positive, you can move forward knowing your adjustment is both practical and meaningful.

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Feedback and Iteration

Selecting from the UDL menu is about starting a design cycle. After trying one guideline or pairing, pause to reflect:

What shifted in student engagement, clarity, or performance?
What surprised you?
What would you refine next?

Proactive design choices open pathways, but responsive adjustment keeps those pathways aligned with learner variability. Student experiences and feedback are essential data in the design process.

When learners see you experimenting, listening, and adapting, they come to understand teaching and learning as shared, evolving practices. Iteration is not only about fixing problems—it's about strengthening alignment while preserving essential learning outcomes.

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Modelling UDL

Did you notice that this program modelled UDL?

In Module 1, we named a common barrier: many instructors at U of T wanted more scaffolding to connect the UDL Guidelines 3.0 to daily practice.

To address that, the program was designed to welcome variability—providing multiple pathways into UDL, layering examples, and supporting reflection through the U Design Learning Action Planner.

The three approaches you experienced mirror UDL itself:

Methods, materials, and environments dimensions provided access;
Access, support, and executive function scaffolds helped sustain learning; and
The UDL Guidelines 3.0 menu invited you to plan strategically using a structured design framework.

Along the way, we also linked out to the CTSI UDL in Practice strategy libraries, now with over 800 strategies and counting—a living resource you can continue to explore and adapt.

In short, the UDL Foundations program was designed to be flexible, usable, and iterative—the same design values we hope you'll carry into your teaching.

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Continue Your UDL Journey

Your UDL Foundations experience doesn't end here. Explore how colleagues across U of T are applying these ideas in practice and building accessible, inclusive, and usable learning experiences through the UDL Conversations and UDL Express series. Both series extend what you've explored here in UDL Foundations—connecting design principles to real teaching practice and continuous learning.

UDL Conversations

View video highlights and read summaries from UDL Conversations, where U of T instructors and staff share how they apply UDL in their teaching and professional contexts. Each conversation highlights everyday strategies, diverse perspectives, and practical insights you can adapt to your own courses.

UDL Express

Explore recordings and summaries from UDL Express—a series of short, practical sessions based on the SLIDE (styles, links, images, design, evaluation) framework, developed by Dr. Luis Pérez (CAST). Each session focuses on one element of accessible document design: styles, links, images, design, and evaluation.

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Select the "Next" button in the bottom right to access Module 4 References and Resources.

University of Toronto, Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation