Why UDL? The Goal of UDL Is Learner Agency

About This Resource

Poster titled Why UDL? The goal of Universal Design for Learning is to foster learner agency. Three rows link the affective, recognition and strategic networks to the kinds of learners we are developing and to multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression. The full text follows in the text version. — The poster has a yellow border and three rows of three boxes. Each row has a box with a brain drawing and the name of a brain network, a box that names the kind of learners we are developing, and a box about the matching UDL principle. The rows have green, purple and blue outlines. The full text is in the text version below.

This poster links the goal of UDL, learner agency, to the three brain networks and the three UDL principles.

CAST describes the goal this way:

“The goal of UDL is learner agency that is purposeful & reflective, resourceful & authentic, strategic & action-oriented.”
CAST (2024)

Read The Goal of UDL: Learner Agency on the CAST website

Also available as: Accessible PDF (2 pages, 370 KB) Visual version PDF (1 page, 988 KB)

How to Use This Page

The picture is the original poster. The text version below it has every word from the poster.
Each row of the poster is one card in the text version, named in words as well as colour.
The visual version PDF matches the poster. Use the accessible PDF with a screen reader.
Links to other sites open in a new tab.

Text Version

The goal of Universal Design for Learning is to foster learner agency; individual and collective learning that is purposeful & reflective, resourceful & authentic, strategic & action-oriented.

Affective Networks

Illustration of the human brain with the affective regions outlined in green.

We are developing as learners who are purposeful and reflective.

The “why” of learning

Multiple Means of Engagement gives us a variety of opportunities to feel connected and involved as learners.

Recognition Networks

Illustration of the human brain with the recognition regions highlighted in purple.

We are developing as learners who are resourceful and authentic.

The “what” of learning

Multiple Means of Representation gives us many ways to understand information and concepts.

Strategic Networks

Illustration of the human brain with the strategic regions highlighted in blue.

We are developing as learners who are strategic and action-oriented.

The “how” of learning

Multiple Means of Action & Expression gives us a variety of ways to navigate and express what we are learning.

The goal sentence is the poster's wording. CAST's own wording is in About This Resource. The three statements and the brain pictures come from the poster. The brain picture descriptions are the poster's own alt text.

References

CAST (2024). CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. Retrieved from udlguidelines.cast.org

CAST. (n.d.). The goal of UDL: Learner agency. CAST UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/udl-goal/

This resource was created by Beth Stark, Inclusive Learning Systems. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. The UDL Guidelines are © CAST.