UDL Course Design
This page introduces three approaches to applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in course design. You can read through start to finish, or jump to the sections most relevant to your goals. Each approach includes practical examples and considerations for design. For additional concrete applications, explore the corresponding strategy libraries on the UDL in Practice page.
Three Key Dimensions of Course Design
UDL begins with anticipating learning barriers and planning for learner variability. At CTSI, we encourage instructors to start by reflecting on three key dimensions of their course design:
Methods
How learning happens (e.g., instruction, activities, communication)
Materials
What learners interact with (e.g., content, formats, tools)
Environments
Where and when learning happens (e.g., digital, physical, and social spaces)
What Are My Methods, Materials, and Environments?
Start by taking inventory of your course design. This includes instructional strategies, content formats, and assessment experiences—whether online, in class, or collaborative. How do you teach and communicate? What do learners interact with? When and where does learning happen?
Methods
These are the ways you deliver content, engage learners, and structure learning interactions. Examples:
- Live or recorded lectures
- Small group discussions or breakout rooms
- Guided note-taking or worksheets
- Reflective journaling
- Think–pair–share activities
- Office hours, announcements, polls, surveys
- Synchronous vs. asynchronous delivery patterns
- Instructions and communication for assessments (e.g., sharing expectations, rubrics, logistics)
Materials
These are the content, formats, and tools learners use to access information or complete tasks. Examples:
- Textbooks, readings (PDFs, online, print)
- Slide decks, recorded videos, or podcasts
- Problem sets, quizzes, or lab manuals
- External websites or multimedia content
- Quercus modules, discussion boards, or learning apps
- Infographics, images, and data visualizations
- Assessment materials such as rubrics, templates, worksheets, or question formats
Environments
This includes the digital, physical, and social spaces where learners interact with course content, one another, and you. Examples:
- Quercus site navigation and layout
- Online discussion forums or synchronous Zoom sessions
- Lecture halls, labs, or field sites
- Peer collaboration spaces (e.g., group chats, shared docs)
- Social norms (e.g., participation expectations, turn-taking)
- Assignment upload portals and deadlines
- Assessment settings, such as testing spaces, group-based assessments, or Quercus-based quizzes
Where Do Barriers Arise—and Why?
Once you’ve identified your course methods, materials, and environments, the next step is to consider where learning barriers might emerge—and why these barriers aren’t the result of learner deficits, but of mismatches between design choices and learner variability.
UDL starts from the idea that learner variability is normal, expected, and part of every classroom. Learners differ in how they access content, stay motivated, manage their time, interact with others, and demonstrate learning. These differences intersect with your course design in powerful ways—sometimes creating friction or exclusion without you even realizing it. This includes students with disabilities, who may face systemic or design-based barriers that cannot be addressed through individual accommodations alone.
Methods
Examples of possible learning barriers:
- Long lectures with no breaks or interaction
- Limited opportunities to ask questions or clarify expectations
- Group work that assumes high verbal fluency or extroversion
- Assessment instructions or criteria that are unclear or inconsistently communicated
Learner variability that might interact with these:
- Processing speed, variability in attention and focus, mental health needs
- Apprehension or anxiety related to speaking, reading, or writing tasks
- Sensory or cognitive overload
Materials
Examples of possible learning barriers:
- PDFs that don’t work with screen readers
- Videos without captions or transcripts
- Readings or materials that are not optimized for multiple formats or devices
- Assessment documents that are hard to navigate or not formatted accessibly
Learner variability that might interact with these:
- Content navigation through non-visual or alternative formats
- Reading comprehension, executive function, or language processing
- Technology access or data limitations
Environments
Examples of possible learning barriers:
- Inaccessible classroom setups or fieldwork logistics
- Difficult-to-navigate Quercus course sites
- Deadlines or participation expectations that assume consistent schedules or availability outside of class time
- Assessment conditions that don’t account for access needs or varied working environments
Learner variability that might interact with these:
- Mobility or chronic health conditions
- Neurodivergence
- Competing responsibilities and time constraints outside of class
Looking to apply these dimensions in your teaching? Explore our UDL in Practice Strategy Libraries for Methods, Materials, and Environments. Each library offers concrete strategies that connect this framework with practical examples you can use right away.
Scaffolding Learner Supports
Once you’ve reflected on how your course design might create friction for some learners, the next step is to build in supports that help students stay engaged, organized, and successful.
Designing for inclusion means more than offering choice—it also means ensuring that all students have the tools, time, and structure they need to navigate the learning process. This is where access, support, and executive function come into play.
Access
Reduce entry barriers to course content and participation
Support
Help learners stay engaged and build understanding
Executive Function
Strengthen learners’ ability to plan, organize, and manage their work
Scaffolding as a Design Lens
Scaffolding in UDL means proactively designing for access, support, and executive function—so that all learners can enter into learning, stay engaged in the process, and successfully manage their progress over time.
Access
Designing options for welcoming interests and identities, perception, and interaction. Strategies might include:
- Using multiple content formats (e.g., text, audio, video, diagrams)
- Captioning videos and ensuring documents work with screen readers
- Offering options for participation (e.g., speaking, writing, polls, collaborative docs)
- Inviting learners to bring in diverse perspectives and lived experiences when responding to prompts
- Leveraging platforms and tools that support multiple modes of sensory engagement and help manage cognitive load
Support
Designing options for effort and persistence, language and symbols, and expression and communication. Strategies might include:
- Scaffolding complex assignments with checkpoints and timelines
- Providing sentence starters, key terms, or vocabulary glossaries
- Sharing assessment instructions in advance, along with rubrics or permitted tools
- Offering multiple ways for learners to express understanding (e.g., presentations, infographics, written reflections)
- Clarifying the purpose of each task to support sustained motivation
- Pairing learners for peer feedback or accountability during longer projects
Executive Function
Designing options for emotional capacity, building knowledge, and strategy development. Strategies might include:
- Providing checklists or planning templates for large assignments
- Sharing exemplars and rubrics before tasks begin
- Building in opportunities for learners to review feedback and apply it to future work
- Creating predictable weekly structures in your Quercus course site
- Encouraging learners to set goals or reflect on learning at key intervals
- Acknowledging that learning takes time and including opportunities for revision
Using the UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a Menu of Options
After identifying how methods, materials, and environments can create or reduce barriers and exploring how access, support, and executive function can be built into your design, the three core UDL principles of engagement, representation, and action and expression in CAST’s UDL Guidelines 3.0 offer a guiding framework, or menu of options, for design.
Rather than being abstract ideals, these principles outlined in CAST’s UDL Guidelines 3.0 help you take a proactive approach to designing with flexibility, access, and learner agency in mind.
Engagement
The “Why” of learning—How are learners motivated and invested?
Representation
The “What” of learning—How is information presented and perceived?
Action & Expression
The “How” of learning—How can learners show what they know?
UDL Guidelines 3.0 as a Design Lens
The Guidelines act as a menu of options for practice. Think of the principles as a design lens for asking: How can I create more ways for learners to engage, access content, and demonstrate their learning?
Engagement
This principle encourages you to design multiple ways for learners to connect with the course—through choice, relevance, collaboration, or structured support. Engagement is not about entertaining learners; it’s about recognizing that motivation and persistence look different for different learners. Examples:
- Clarifying the relevance of activities to learners’ goals or interests
- Building community through discussion or group norms
- Offering choices between topics, formats, or partners
- Scaffolding complex tasks with built-in milestones
- Normalizing struggle as part of learning (e.g., acknowledging that challenge is expected)
Representation
This principle focuses on providing content in multiple formats so learners can access, process, and make sense of information in ways that align with their strengths and needs. Examples:
- Using a mix of visual, auditory, and textual formats
- Captioning videos and structuring documents for screen readers
- Clarifying key vocabulary or abstract concepts with examples
- Activating background knowledge before introducing new material
- Offering summaries or guided reading supports
Action & Expression
This principle emphasizes designing flexibility in how learners express understanding and complete tasks—including assessments—while still upholding academic standards. Examples:
- Inviting learners to choose between formats (e.g., presentation, written report, video)
- Designing assessment options that align with learning outcomes while offering flexibility in how learners demonstrate understanding
- Providing exemplars and rubrics to clarify expectations
- Supporting executive function with checklists and timelines
- Offering opportunities for revision or formative feedback
Alongside these design strategies, you can also explore our Strategy Libraries built around the U of T Academic Toolbox. These nine libraries connect UDL principles with tools you already use—such as Quercus, Microsoft 365, and Zoom—making it easier to apply UDL in your day-to-day teaching.
Looking Ahead
UDL course design is an ongoing practice of reflection and adaptation. Whether you’re just getting started or refining existing approaches, small changes can have a big impact. Consider using a plus-one approach: choose one area of your course—such as a reading, assignment, or discussion format—and add one more way for learners to engage, access content, or show their learning.
A new self-paced, asynchronous program—UDL Foundations—is currently in development and will offer guided opportunities to explore these concepts more deeply. Stay tuned for updates, and visit the UDL Resources page for more support in the meantime.
U Design Learning | Teaching with Universal Design for Learning at U of T