Designing for Support
Support is one of the three scaffolds for learner supports introduced in the UDL Guidelines 3.0. Support focuses on helping learners stay engaged and build understanding over time. Support includes sustaining effort and persistence (Guideline 8), clarifying and making meaning of language and symbols (Guideline 2), and providing flexible ways for expression and communication (Guideline 5). By proactively designing for these supports, you create conditions where learners can meet challenges with confidence and develop deeper understanding.
This page supports the February 2026 UDL in Practice session on Designing for Support. Explore the strategies below, and find additional opportunities through U of T’s UDL Programming.
Strategy Library: Designing for Support
This library highlights strategies for designing for support, organized into three categories drawn from the UDL Guidelines 3.0. Each strategy links directly to UDL considerations while emphasizing small, practical changes you can try right away.
Sustaining Effort and Persistence
Clarification of goals, balance of challenge and support, collaboration, and feedback
Language and Symbols
Vocabulary, decoding, cross-language understanding, and multimodal meaning-making
Expression and Communication
Multiple modes of expression, development of fluency, and inclusive communication
Sustaining Effort and Persistence
Designing options for sustaining effort and persistence (UDL Guideline 8) means clarifying goals, balancing challenge and support, fostering collaboration, and ensuring learners receive actionable feedback. This may include:
- Clarify the meaning and purpose of goals (8.1)
- Optimize challenge and support (8.2)
- Foster collaboration, interdependence, and collective learning (8.3)
- Foster belonging and community (8.4)
- Offer action-oriented feedback (8.5)
Here are some ways you might begin to design options for sustaining effort and persistence:
Clarifying Goals
Make outcomes clear, purposeful, and motivating.
- State learning goals in plain language alongside technical or disciplinary terms. (8.1, 2.1)
- Connect course goals to professional, community, or personal contexts. (8.1, 7.2)
- Highlight progress toward goals at milestones with check-ins or summaries. (8.1, 6.4)
- Use rubrics to show alignment between assignments and outcomes. (8.1, 6.1)
- Reinforce goals regularly in slides, announcements, or modules. (8.1, 6.2)
- Invite learners to restate goals in their own words. (8.1, 9.1)
- Share weekly “look ahead” overviews connecting activities to goals. (8.1, 6.2)
- Encourage learners to set personal learning goals alongside course outcomes. (8.1, 9.1)
Challenge and Support
Balance high expectations with scaffolds for success.
- Sequence tasks from simple to complex with clear transitions. (8.2, 6.2)
- Provide practice opportunities before high-stakes assessments, supported by tutorials or supplemental resources. (8.2, 5.3, 7.1)
- Provide structured scaffolds such as examples, templates, checklists, or flowcharts. (8.2, 6.3)
- Encourage revision and resubmission to promote growth. (8.2, 8.5)
- Normalize challenge by framing it as an expected part of learning. (8.2, 9.1)
- Pair learners for accountability during extended tasks. (8.2, 8.3)
- Design optional enrichment or challenge activities. (8.2, 7.1)
Collaboration and Collective Learning
Build structures for shared responsibility and interdependence.
- Assign rotating group roles (e.g., facilitator, timekeeper, note-taker). (8.3, 8.4)
- Use peer review cycles to foster accountability and reflection. (8.3, 9.3)
- Incorporate collaborative problem-solving tasks tied to real-world contexts. (8.3, 7.2)
- Scaffold collaboration with sentence starters or feedback frames. (8.3, 2.1)
- Encourage group reflection on process and contributions after projects. (8.3, 9.3)
- Build class-wide collaborative notes or study guides. (8.3, 6.3)
- Use “think–pair–share” to balance individual reflection and peer dialogue. (8.3, 8.2)
Belonging and Community
Foster respect, recognition, and connection.
- Begin with introductions or icebreakers that validate multiple identities. (8.4, 7.3)
- Incorporate peer mentoring or buddy systems to build support networks. (8.4, 9.2)
- Validate diverse contributions by acknowledging ideas and perspectives. (8.4, 9.1)
- Build predictability with clear communication of schedules and expectations. (8.4, 6.2)
- Encourage learners to co-create community guidelines. (8.4, 9.4)
- Celebrate group achievements to reinforce belonging. (8.4, 7.3)
- Design smaller discussion groups or communities of practice within large classes. (8.4, 8.3)
- Check in with learners mid-course about classroom climate. (8.4, 6.5)
- Incorporate recognition rituals such as shout-outs or weekly wins. (8.4, 9.1)
Action-Oriented Feedback
Provide feedback that is specific, timely, and tied to next steps.
- Offer feedback in multiple modes (written, audio, video) for accessibility. (8.5, 5.1)
- Give comments that focus on effort, strategies, and growth rather than ability. (8.5, 9.1)
- Use rubrics and exemplars to clarify expectations in advance. (8.5, 6.1)
- Create time for learners to reflect on feedback and set next steps. (8.5, 9.3)
- Provide general feedback to the whole class to reinforce common strategies. (8.5, 8.2)
- Scaffold peer feedback with guiding questions or prompts. (8.5, 8.3)
- Encourage learners to track how they acted on feedback across assignments. (8.5, 6.4)
- Use “feedforward” prompts that emphasize applying feedback to future work. (8.5, 9.3)
- Allow learners to request the type of feedback they find most useful. (8.5, 7.1)
Language and Symbols
Designing options for language and symbols (UDL Guideline 2) means clarifying vocabulary, supporting decoding, and ensuring that learners make meaning across languages and representations. This helps reduce barriers tied to linguistic complexity or unfamiliar symbolic systems. This may include:
- Clarify vocabulary, symbols, and language structures (2.1)
- Support decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols (2.2)
- Cultivate understanding and respect across languages and dialects (2.3)
- Address biases in the use of language and symbols (2.4)
- Illustrate through multiple media (2.5)
Here are some ways you might begin to design options for language and symbols:
Vocabulary and Clarity
Make language structures transparent and accessible.
- Provide glossaries or keyword lists to clarify new terms. (2.1, 8.1)
- Highlight patterns in language use (e.g., prefixes, recurring concepts). (2.1, 3.2)
- Provide sentence starters or frames to support academic writing. (2.1, 5.2)
- Reinforce new terms through multiple exposures across contexts. (2.1, 3.4)
- Use visuals, examples, or analogies to support complex vocabulary. (2.1, 3.2)
- Clarify expectations for specialized formats such as lab reports or problem sets. (2.1, 6.1)
Decoding and Notation
Support learners in working with text, symbols, and notation.
- Provide text in formats compatible with screen readers and text-to-speech tools. (2.2, 1.2)
- Use captions and transcripts to support auditory decoding. (2.2, 1.2)
- Break down mathematical or symbolic notation into step-by-step explanations. (2.2, 3.2)
- Provide practice opportunities with feedback for interpreting graphs or formulas. (2.2, 8.2)
- Use scaffolds like colour coding or annotation to signal relationships. (2.2, 3.2)
- Pair symbolic representations with real-world applications. (2.2, 7.2)
- Incorporate think-alouds to model expert interpretation of symbolic systems. (2.2, 6.3)
- Offer multiple representations of problems (equations, graphs, word problems). (2.2, 3.2)
Cross-Language Understanding
Validate linguistic diversity and foster respect across dialects and languages.
- Encourage learners to connect course terms with translations in their own languages. (2.3, 7.2)
- Recognize and normalize multiple dialects and linguistic registers. (2.3, 7.4)
- Provide opportunities for bilingual or multilingual resources. (2.3, 1.3)
- Invite students to share key terms from their own languages. (2.3, 9.2)
- Avoid penalizing minor grammar differences that do not affect meaning. (2.3, 5.4)
- Use inclusive examples reflecting global contexts. (2.3, 7.2)
- Create multilingual peer collaboration opportunities. (2.3, 8.3)
- Normalize translation tool use and discuss strengths/limits. (2.3, 7.4)
Addressing Bias in Language
Challenge assumptions and exclusionary uses of language.
- Review course texts for biased or outdated terminology. (2.4, 6.5)
- Use people-first or identity-affirming language. (2.4, 7.4)
- Discuss how language reflects systems of power. (2.4, 9.4)
- Provide alternative framings when sources contain problematic language. (2.4, 1.3)
- Encourage critical annotation to surface bias in texts. (2.4, 7.4)
- Model respectful terminology and correct misuses. (2.4, 9.2)
- Audit syllabi and slides for inclusivity before each term. (2.4, 6.5)
- Share examples of how disciplinary language evolves over time. (2.4, 7.2)
Illustrating with Media
Use multiple forms of representation to reinforce meaning.
- Combine text with visuals, diagrams, or flowcharts. (2.5, 3.2)
- Use multimedia (audio, video, animations) to illustrate abstract ideas. (2.5, 5.1)
- Provide tactile or interactive materials (manipulatives, models). (2.5, 4.1)
- Encourage learners to create diagrams or concept maps. (2.5, 3.2)
- Provide captions or transcripts for all media. (2.5, 1.2)
- Pair disciplinary symbols with narrative explanations. (2.5, 7.2)
- Pair text with video demonstrations. (2.5, 5.1)
- Use icons or colour-coding consistently. (2.5, 3.3)
Expression and Communication
Designing options for expression and communication (UDL Guideline 5) means ensuring learners have multiple ways to express what they know, develop fluency with tools and media, and communicate with clarity and confidence. This may include:
- Use multiple media for communication (5.1)
- Use multiple tools for construction, composition, and creativity (5.2)
- Build fluencies with graduated support for practice and performance (5.3)
- Address biases related to modes of expression and communication (5.4)
Here are some ways you might begin to design options for expression and communication:
Multiple Media for Communication
Support learners in choosing how they express knowledge.
- Allow students to present ideas through text, audio, video, or visuals. (5.1, 7.1)
- Provide opportunities to combine media (e.g., infographic with short explanation). (5.1, 2.5)
- Encourage collaborative documents that integrate multiple voices and formats. (5.1, 8.3)
- Invite learners to use speech-to-text or text-to-speech tools. (5.1, 4.2)
- Offer options for both synchronous and asynchronous communication. (5.1, 7.1)
- Provide optional reflection prompts in multiple formats. (5.1, 7.1)
- Create low-stakes opportunities to share ideas across media. (5.1, 7.3)
Tools for Creation and Composition
Give learners varied ways to build and demonstrate knowledge.
- Provide flexible assignment guidelines that allow choice of format. (5.2, 7.1)
- Encourage use of concept maps, diagrams, or models. (5.2, 3.2)
- Scaffold digital storytelling, podcasts, or visual essays. (5.2, 2.5)
- Support creative expression through multimodal projects tied to goals. (5.2, 7.2)
- Provide templates, outlines, or scaffolds for multimodal assignments. (5.2, 6.3)
- Encourage learners to remix or adapt existing resources. (5.2, 5.3)
Building Fluency
Support practice and development of skills with scaffolds and feedback.
- Create low-stakes practice activities before higher-stakes tasks. (5.3, 8.2)
- Provide exemplars of effective communication in multiple formats. (5.3, 6.1)
- Offer guided practice with feedback before independent work. (5.3, 8.5)
- Break large tasks into smaller steps with feedback along the way. (5.3, 6.2)
- Encourage revision to build confidence. (5.3, 8.5)
- Normalize practice as a process of growth rather than performance. (5.3, 9.1)
- Provide practice with authentic audiences (peer review, community partners). (5.3, 7.2)
- Model metacognitive strategies for preparing and revising. (5.3, 9.3)
Inclusive Communication Practices
Reduce barriers by valuing diverse modes of communication.
- Normalize and respect different communication styles. (5.4, 7.4)
- Provide opportunities for anonymous or written contributions. (5.4, 7.1)
- Avoid privileging one mode of communication in assessment. (5.4, 9.4)
- Discuss how bias shapes communication norms. (5.4, 2.4)
- Invite learners to share communication preferences. (5.4, 9.2)
- Design rubrics that value clarity of ideas across modes. (5.4, 6.1)
- Discuss accessibility practices such as plain language or captions. (5.4, 7.4)
- Invite learners to reflect on which communication modes feel most inclusive. (5.4, 9.2)
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.
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