Course List

The UDL Extended Workshop

The UDL Extended Workshop is a blended learning experience: combining real-time presentations and conversations in three Zoom sessions, alternating with self-paced work in a LearnDash LMS environment.  Over the course of 8 weeks you are guided through a process designed to enhance your teacher skills and to deepen your understanding of inclusive practices. 

Course Description:

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that supports the design of accessible, inclusive, and challenging learning environments. UDL can be used to improve instructional practices in a classroom, school, or another context. In this workshop, you will be asked to use Universal Design for Learning Principles to design and  assess enhancements to your current instructional practices.  You are offered the opportunity and support to:

• Increase your understanding of the UDL principles,
• Assess your current instructional practices against UDL principles,
• Design an Action Plan to enhance your instruction practices,
• Implement your plan and document the impact on student outcomes,
• Contribute to a growing professional knowledge base of what works in addressing the needs of diverse, all-too-often marginalized, student populations.
• Earn 20 clock hours of professional development.

We expect this extended workshop will enable you to use and share this process with your colleagues and continue to use it in the future.

An outline of the 8-Week UDL Workshop (specific dates and timelines will be applied to each cohort):

Lesson One – Set Expectations ~ presents a reading on UDL and asks you to specify expectations for the workshop. This also serves as a frame of reference for the closing activity.

Lesson Two – Explore UDL ~ a live 2-hour Zoom session providing information regarding the research support for UDL and the underlying UDL principles, and introduces a process for selecting and unpacking a learning standard applicable to your instructional responsibilities.

Lesson Three – Self-Assessment of UDL Usage ~ this assignment involves “observing” your practices related to engagement, representation, and action/expression; and analyze your observations and other data to identify one or more UDL areas that your learnings suggest will likely improve student outcomes.

Lesson Four – Unpack a Learning Standard ~ use the lesson protocol to identify and unpack a learning standard that you would like to use as the focus of your UDL Plan. 

Lesson Five – Deepen UDL Understanding ~ this second 2-hour Zoom session outlines a step-by-step approach to setting SMART goals, and designing lessons and units of instruction aligned with the UDL guidelines.

Lesson Six – Design & Post a UDL Action Plan: (again, working asynchronously), the course protocol will guide you through:

• Finalizing and posting a standards-based lesson plan.
• Designing and summarizing an Action Plan that employs UDL Principles to enhance the impact on student outcomes.

Lesson Seven – Documenting Your UDL Action Plan ~ this is where the deep learning occurs as you collect observations regarding the impact on student learning and ask for feedback from your UDL Workshop Facilitators and Colleagues.

Lesson Eight – Reflecting on the UDL Course.  During this closing, one-hour Zoom session you will be asked to share reflections on the impact of this course on your instructional practices; as well as insights the course facilitators might consider for improving this and other future UDL Extended Workshops.

(Note: upon completion of the course work, WEA will be notified.  They will send an end-of-course evaluation and process clock hour certificates.)