Designing for Emotional Capacity (Guideline 9)
Emotions are part of the human experience and central to learning. Learners vary in how they recognize, regulate, and express emotions, as well as how they empathize with others. When emotional capacity is treated as part of the “implicit curriculum,” some learners may be excluded. Designing intentionally for emotional growth helps build resilience, empathy, and trust. Designing for emotional capacity helps learners navigate challenges, build confidence, and participate fully in inclusive communities.
Strategy Library: Designing for Emotional Capacity
This strategy library focuses on emotional capacity, with four key areas that reduce barriers and support learner variability. Each strategy comes from the UDL Guidelines 3.0 and is paired with practical approaches you can apply right away using U of T’s Academic Toolbox.
Recognize expectations, beliefs, and motivations (9.1)
CAST 9.1 definition: Learners benefit from support in setting personally meaningful outcomes, managing frustration, and reflecting on their strengths. Clear prompts, reminders, and supportive expectations can help build motivation and confidence.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- iClicker: Use live polls to surface learners’ beliefs, expectations, or motivational factors.
- Microsoft Forms: Run periodic check-ins or reflections on motivation, expectations, or self-assessment.
- Microsoft Word: Provide checklists or structured templates to help learners articulate goals and track progress.
- Quercus Announcements: Reinforce high but supportive expectations, and provide timely reminders.
- Quercus Calendar and To-Do List: Support learners in managing expectations and tracking progress toward goals.
- Quercus Course Analytics: Track engagement and participation trends to surface motivation and expectations.
- Quercus Discussions: Create reflective prompts where learners can share expectations and strategies with peers.
- Quercus ePortfolios: Invite learners to reflect on personal growth, strengths, and evolving motivations over time.
- Quercus Rubrics: Clarify expectations and reduce ambiguity in evaluation.
Develop awareness of self and others (9.2)
CAST 9.2 definition: Learners benefit from opportunities to process emotions, reflect on strengths and challenges, and build social awareness. Scaffolds and models can support coping strategies, empathy, and perspective-taking.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Hypothesis: Annotate readings collaboratively to surface diverse perspectives and practise perspective-taking.
- Library Resources: Curate materials that foreground diverse voices and lived experiences to deepen awareness of others.
- Microsoft Forms: Prompt brief self-checks, emotion logs, or empathy reflections (anonymous or attributed) to encourage honest insight.
- Microsoft Teams and Zoom Breakout Rooms: Host guided peer dialogue, debriefs, or restorative circles.
- Microsoft Whiteboard: Use empathy maps, identity wheels, or journey maps to visualize perspectives and social dynamics.
- peerScholar: Exchange structured peer feedback to practise giving and receiving perspectives respectfully.
- Quercus Announcements: Post prompts that encourage self-reflection or reinforce community values.
- Quercus Discussions: Facilitate guided prompts with community norms to share experiences, coping strategies, and insights.
- Quercus ePortfolios: Curate artifacts with reflective commentary on growth, strengths, and challenges over time.
- Quercus Groups: Organize small-group activities (e.g., role plays, case consultations) that encourage perspective sharing.
- Quercus Pages: Post models and scaffolds for coping strategies and perspective-taking (e.g., sentence starters, reflection frameworks, campus supports).
- Quercus Profile Settings: Invite learners to display names and authentic identities to strengthen awareness of self and others.
Promote individual and collective reflection (9.3)
CAST 9.3 definition: Reflection on individual and collective progress helps build motivation and metacognition. Learners benefit from varied models and scaffolds that support reflection, feedback, and ongoing growth.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Microsoft Forms: Collect quick reflections or exit tickets that encourage learners to assess their own progress.
- Microsoft OneNote: Provide a flexible space for ongoing self-reflection, journaling, or metacognitive notes.
- Microsoft Word: Use structured templates or checklists for guided reflection on goals, progress, and next steps.
- peerScholar: Structure cycles of peer feedback and self-reflection to support iterative growth.
- Quercus Announcements: Prompt reflective pauses at milestones (e.g., “What have you learned so far? What challenges remain?”).
- Quercus Assignments: Collect reflective journals in text, audio, or video formats.
- Quercus Calendar and To-Do List: Scaffold checkpoints for ongoing self-reflection and progress tracking.
- Quercus Discussions: Facilitate collective reflection through guided group prompts.
- Quercus ePortfolios: Support long-term reflection by curating work and commentary across a course or program.
- Quercus Gradebook: Provide learners with visibility into their progress to inform reflection.
- Quercus Rubrics: Give students transparent feedback structures to reflect on how their work meets expectations.
Cultivate empathy and restorative practices (9.4)
CAST 9.4 definition: Empathy strengthens inclusive communities by encouraging learners to consider diverse perspectives. Restorative practices help repair harm and rebuild trust when community agreements are disrupted.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Library Reading List: Curate diverse voices, lived experiences, and perspectives to deepen empathy and understanding.
- Microsoft Forms: Provide anonymous channels for students to share concerns or reflections that can inform restorative practices.
- Microsoft Teams and Zoom Breakout Rooms: Host restorative circles or small-group check-ins to address harm and build trust.
- Microsoft Word: Co-create community agreements that set shared expectations.
- Quercus Announcements: Reinforce community agreements and highlight inclusive practices at key moments.
- Quercus Discussions: Facilitate respectful dialogue that affirms multiple perspectives and encourages empathy.
- Quercus Groups: Foster shared responsibility, peer support, and mutual care in smaller teams.
- Quercus Surveys (via Quizzes): Collect climate feedback to inform restorative practices.
Try One Thing
UDL doesn’t mean redesigning everything at once. Start small: pick one strategy from the lists above and try it out in your teaching or staff-facing context. Even a single simplification, added option, or reduced barrier can have a meaningful impact.
If you’re looking for more structured guidance, explore Universal Design for Learning Foundations (UDLF)—a self-paced program that guides you through course design dimensions, learner scaffolds, and the UDL Guidelines 3.0 menu to help you connect small adjustments to your broader teaching goals.
Need support? CTSI offers consultations to help you adapt strategies for your context. Reach out to us to start a conversation.
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