Part 6: Before You Go

What We Covered

• The goal of UDL is learner agency.
• There is no average learner, so we design for variability from the start.
• The UDL Guidelines are a scaffold, not a checklist. Access is a good place to begin.
• UDL resource collections are full of ideas to try.
• Barriers live in the design, and teams can reduce them together.

Plan Your Next Step with LUDIA

Throughout this tour I asked you to keep a real lesson, unit or meeting in mind. LUDIA is where you can take it next.

LUDIA = AI + UDL. It is a no-cost, multilingual AI thought partner for educators and learning leaders. Jérémie Rostan and I created it, as two educators, so that every educator can have access to Universal Design for Learning.

• Shaped around your context. Tell LUDIA about your learners, your plan or your question, and it helps you think through UDL for your own class, school and learners.
• Design-first. LUDIA looks for barriers in the design, not in the learner.
• Grounded in CAST’s UDL Guidelines. LUDIA refers to the CAST UDL framework and points you back to CAST as the source.
• No cost, no catch. No paywalls, tiers or subscriptions, and no account to create.
• Private by architecture. Your chats are not stored on LUDIA’s servers.
• Multilingual. LUDIA works in 13 languages, with more coming.

Go Deeper

• UDL Essentials LiveBinder: essential information about UDL for all educators and school leaders, by Dr. Loui Lord Nelson and me. The two short reads on bias and identity come from here.
• The UDL Gears and UDL in 15 Minutes: Dr. Loui Lord Nelson’s graphic, and her podcast where educators share how they use UDL.

Stay Connected

Subscribe to UDL Connections, the quarterly newsletter from the Ohio UDL Collaborative, and go back to the UDL resource collections from Part 4 when you plan.

And when you need a pause, UDL Resources has a place to take a break.