Designing for Building Knowledge (Guideline 3)
Building usable knowledge is not a passive process of receiving information but an active one. Learners build understanding by connecting ideas, questioning, organizing, and applying new concepts. Barriers can arise when instruction assumes that all students share the same background knowledge or ways of knowing. Supporting these processes benefits not only students who have gaps in prior knowledge but all learners as they work to create durable, flexible understanding.
Strategy Library: Designing for Building Knowledge
This strategy library focuses on designing for building knowledge, 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.
Connect prior knowledge to new learning (3.1)
CAST 3.1 definition: Barriers can occur when learners are not able to connect new information to what they already know, or when they don’t realize their existing knowledge is relevant. Effective instruction can help activate prior knowledge, make connections explicit, and bridge to new learning.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- iClicker: Collect live responses to review or preview key concepts.
- Library Resources: Provide background readings or reference materials to help students refresh prerequisite knowledge.
- Microsoft Copilot Chat: Generate explanations, examples, or bridges between prior and new knowledge to activate connections.
- Microsoft Forms: Run pre-/in-class polls or short quizzes to gauge background understanding.
- Microsoft Teams Polls and Zoom Polls: Use quick questions during synchronous sessions to surface prior knowledge.
- Quercus Course Card Image: Use course visuals that spark associations and help activate conceptual links.
- Quercus Discussions: Create prompts where students share relevant experiences and prior knowledge.
- Quercus ePortfolios: Invite students to connect new course learning with past projects or experiences.
- Quercus Modules: Build optional review modules at the start of a unit to bridge from prior to new learning.
- Quercus Quizzes: Design graded or ungraded quizzes and surveys to check prerequisite knowledge or activate key concepts.
Highlight and explore patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships (3.2)
CAST 3.2 definition: Experts are skilled at identifying what is most important, while novices can be distracted by detail. Learners benefit when instructors emphasize patterns, big ideas, and relationships, while minimizing less relevant information.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Hypothesis: Annotate texts collaboratively to surface key concepts, relationships, and patterns.
- Library Resources: Point students to review articles or summaries that emphasize big-picture concepts and patterns.
- Microsoft Forms: Use quick polls or quizzes to check whether students can distinguish critical features from less relevant details.
- Microsoft PowerPoint: Use visuals, colour, and layout to highlight big ideas and critical features in slides.
- Microsoft Whiteboard: Co-create diagrams, concept maps, and relationship charts to make connections visible.
- Quercus Announcements: Post weekly “big ideas” summaries to reinforce patterns across the course.
- Quercus Data Insights Dashboard: Visualize student engagement and performance patterns to highlight big-picture trends.
- Quercus Discussions (Pinned): Pin discussions so important and relevant discussions remain visible.
- Quercus Modules and Pages: Organize material around big ideas with structured sequencing and supporting visuals.
- Quercus Rich Content Editor Icon Maker: Create and use icons to consistently signal key concepts, activities, or relationships.
- Snagit: Create annotated images or screencasts that draw attention to critical features.
Cultivate multiple ways of knowing and making meaning (3.3)
CAST 3.3 definition: Inclusive learning environments recognize and cultivate diverse ways of knowing—such as Indigenous knowledge systems, storytelling, problem solving, holistic thinking, and disciplinary approaches. Scaffolds, models, and multiple entry points help learners engage meaningfully across these perspectives.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Hypothesis: Annotate shared texts to highlight diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives.
- Library Reading List: Curate materials from diverse cultural, disciplinary, and epistemological traditions.
- Microsoft Stream and Clipchamp: Support storytelling, reflection, or multimodal demonstrations through video creation with captions and accessible editing options.
- Quercus Assignments: Enable multimodal submissions (e.g., text, video, audio, media) to support varied forms of expression.
- Quercus Discussions: Offer flexible participation options (anonymous posts, thread replies, post-before-viewing) to support varied forms of contribution.
- Quercus Groups: Facilitate collaborative projects where students bring disciplinary, cultural, and community perspectives.
- Quercus Modules and Pages: Scaffold entry points, prerequisites, and requirements to support varied pathways for learning.
- Team Up!: Support peer-based collaborative knowledge building with multiple perspectives.
Maximize transfer and generalization (3.4)
CAST 3.4 definition: Learners benefit from support in applying knowledge to new contexts. Reminders, practice opportunities, and explicit chances to revisit and extend ideas can strengthen transfer and generalization.
Examples using U of T's Academic Toolbox
- Microsoft Forms: Provide practice quizzes or surveys that revisit concepts in new contexts.
- Microsoft OneDrive Collaborations: Enable shared projects where students adapt concepts into new outputs or formats.
- Microsoft Whiteboard: Co-create concept maps that connect prior knowledge to new contexts and applications.
- Microsoft Word: Create checklists, graphic organizers, or structured templates to support application and generalization across tasks.
- peerScholar: Use peer review cycles to encourage students to apply concepts in varied ways and reflect on feedback.
- Quercus Announcements: Send reminders that prompt learners to revisit or apply ideas at strategic points.
- Quercus Calendar and To-Do List: Help students manage deadlines and track tasks to revisit and apply learning over time.
- Quercus Quizzes: Design varied quizzes or surveys (graded or ungraded) to reinforce transfer of knowledge.
- Team Up!: Extend collaboration across contexts to reinforce transfer and generalization of concepts.
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 meaningful impact.
Need support? CTSI offers consultations to help you adapt strategies for your context. Reach out to us to start a conversation.
U Design Learning | Teaching with Universal Design for Learning at U of T