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UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING
INTEGRATE
The integrate phase is centered on building capacity and system-wide policies, procedures, and practices that will support you to implement your UDL action plan.
There are three guiding questions:
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How can a collaborative environment enhance our work?
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How can we support the development of teacher expertise?
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What systems will support UDL implementation?
During this stage, you will:
He Pikorua
This implementation phase is linked to Āta whakaaro and Tātai in the He Pikorua framework, which involves analysing and summarising collected information through open collaboration in preparation for Tātai, as it helps identify the supports and barriers to integrating UDL into practice. The previous phases of Whakawhanaungatanga and Kohikohi involved establishing relationships and gathering data using various tools.
FOSTER COLLABORATION
While collaboration is often expected in today’s learning environments, it is not always instinctual. The data that you gathered during the ‘explore’ phase will offer insights into who may be part of your collaborative team. You can foster collaboration by promoting the shared vision of your action plan.
In this sketch note video by John Spencer, we explore what makes creative collaboration work.
DEVELOP EXPERTISE
As you move through the five phases of UDL implementation, the team will be developing expertise. The difference between the previous two phases and the Integrate phase is that the focus is shifting from the ‘what’ of UDL to the ‘how.’ One of the primary tasks within this phase is to develop a professional development (PD) plan that focuses on providing teachers with the knowledge, beliefs, and practices they need to apply UDL to instruction. Guskey’ (2000) suggests that teachers’ attitudes and beliefs shift or change when they see differences in students’ performance. Therefore, effective PD, that will promote a sustained change in practice should:
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Clarify UDL theory
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Develop beliefs about learners and instruction
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Provide specific UDL strategies that can be applied immediately
RTLB & PROFESSIONAL LEARNING GROUPS (PLGs)
A key strategy for developing educator expertise is through the creation of PLGs. Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) can effectively use Professional Learning Groups (PLGs) as a tool to facilitate schoolwide systems change. PLGs are collaborative groups of educators who engage in ongoing professional development to enhance teaching practices, student achievement, and school-wide initiatives. More information regarding PLGs can be found on our PLG webpages:
RTLB AND COACHING MODELS
In conjunction with PLGs, you may also use coaching to support teachers to develop their expertise. Coaching sessions should provide teachers with the opportunity to compare, contrast and evaluate their beliefs about teaching and learning. As a coach, you may support a teacher to plan, model, observe and critique lessons as well as provide resources. There are a number of evidence-based coaching models that could be used at this point. If your cluster already has one in place, it’s likely preferable that you capitalise on this. If not, or you’d like to check out more of what is available, here are some you could explore:
This video, from Eduro Learning, provides a description of an instructional coaching cycle.
The GROW coaching model is a simple and effective framework for coaching individuals to achieve their goals. The coach helps the individual to identify their goals, assess their current situation, explore possible solutions, and create an action plan to achieve their desired outcome.
The FUEL coaching model is a four-step process that helps individuals achieve their goals. It involves focusing on the Future, understanding the current Reality, exploring various Options, and creating a plan to move forward with specific actions.
In this video, PhD student Shelley Moore explores inclusive education in Canadian classrooms through the analogy of bowling. It’s quick, to the point and really useful when engaging with Secondary Teachers!
The Solution-focused coaching model is a goal-oriented approach that focuses on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems. It involves identifying strengths and resources, setting achievable goals, and taking small steps towards progress.
The CLEAR coaching model is a five-step process that helps coaches guide their clients toward achieving their goals. It involves establishing a clear goal, exploring options, assessing resources, taking action, and reviewing progress.
Relationships between team members underpin all successful coaching. This template may help you learn more about your RTLB group/teachers/school leader’s experiences, expectations, and preferred ways of learning.
THE FOUR Ps
To support a smooth integration of UDL, you will need to support the team in critically evaluating what’s currently in place within your learning context. It is likely that changes will need to be made but if you build upon what already exists, you may receive more buy-in and experience more success. Within any setting, an array of rules and ways of doing things will impact your implementation of UDL. At this stage, it is important to consider the Four P’s - policies, processes, procedures, and practices.
By keeping in mind our three guiding questions from the beginning of this section, we can see how the Four P’s could impact us as teachers.
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How can a collaborative environment enhance our work?
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How can we support the development of teacher expertise?
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What systems will support UDL implementation?
When considering the following Four P’s, consider these questions:
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What already exists that supports us?
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What creates barriers?
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Where are the gaps?
POLICIES - refer to the set of principles, regulations, and laws that direct the functioning of the education system. These policies provide a framework for decision-making and guide the operation of educational institutions. By setting direction, education policies can help ensure equitable access to quality education for all students.
PROCESSES - A systematic series of actions aimed at achieving a particular objective is referred to as a process. It outlines the overall approach and emphasizes the essential tasks that need to be completed.
PROCEDURES - While processes cover a wide range of activities, procedures focus on the specific techniques or actions that are involved. These procedures are sometimes called protocols and provide a detailed understanding of the steps that need to be followed.
PRACTICES - Practices typically entail engaging in recurrent actions, often with the intention of enhancing one's abilities.
Now that you have identified and addressed the first two guiding questions alongside your teacher/school leaders/RTLBs, you are ready to dig into examples of systems to support the implementation of UDL.
The following are links to useful examples and guides to help your teacher integrate UDL into the classroom. Consider this next section as a grazing plate from which you could identify a couple of things to try. As an RTLB we would advise you to have a good look at each example before walking others through these resources in order to minimise overwhelming them! You should have a good sense of who your people are by now, and what is likely to resonate with them. Guiding your people toward particular resources may be a good strategy to employ.
The UDL Thinking Cycle is one of many approaches to planning using UDL. This image has a link to the interactive UDL Thinking Cycle.
This resource could be used as a checklist for self-reviewing (or peer-reviewing) the extent to which your recent lesson implemented the UDL principles. It also gives you ideas for your next steps.
The FUEL coaching model is a four-step process that helps individuals achieve their goals. It involves focusing on the Future, understanding the current Reality, exploring various Options, and creating a plan to move forward with specific actions.
This infographic resource outlines the skills we are wanting our students to display and prompts the teacher to consider how they are scaffolding the development of those skills.
This article challenges you to consider UDL not only as a way to keep your students excited about learning but to bring joy and creativity back into the classroom.
this tool is designed to be used in all steps of the lesson phase. There may be better models in this list to utilise but it sits here as an example of how this reflection could take place.
This is a great template that gives a definition for each lesson component and prompts the teacher to consider backward-chaining their lesson ie: how will you assess/what are the success criteria? It gives a table for prompts.
This resource will resonate with those who like to read. The example lesson plan explicitly identifies the UDL components of the lesson. When this pre-thinking is done, it is more likely to be put in place in the actual lesson.
This is an extensive document that identifies barriers to learning and suggests a range of adaptations and strategies to help overcome them. It is an extensive resource and while it uses some American schooling language, it is still very relevant and applicable within the Aotearoa context.
This is a visual guide for evaluating, assessing, and marking student work. Using this as a guide BEFORE giving the assessment to your students would provide you with all the information to help you become a ‘UDL grader’. It’s quite good and gives you ideas for how to tweak your assessment process.
This is a table where you can explore what practices you already have in place to address the three key principles of UDL - Engagement, Representation, and Action and Expression.
The following six resources will be particularly beneficial within a secondary school setting:
This Google Doc template will support the planning of a unit or lesson incorporating a UDL lens.
The UDL approach proactively considers, recognises, and tackles obstacles from the start to promote fair and unbiased learning environments. Using this template may help you identify barriers to learning that may exist for ākonga in your subject area
You may find this template helpful to review an NCEA assessment using the UDL Thinking Cycle.
This video looks at the experience of Rototuna Junior High School as they began implementing UDL strategies at their kura.
This Google Doc template can support you to plan an activity using the UDL Thinking Cycle.
To strengthen the equity and inclusion of a course outline and unit plans, this template that uses the UDL thinking cycle, may be helpful.
EVALUATE AND CREATE
It is important that your team reviews the structure of the 4p’s that will impact your UDL implementation. Using a collaborative inquiry approach may be beneficial. Collaborative inquiry, in which members of a professional learning community come together to systematically examine their educational practices, is a strategy that helps individuals and organisations meet adaptive challenges. Collaborative inquiry involves questioning long-standing beliefs, challenging mental models, and working collaboratively to test hypotheses, gather and analyse evidence, and assess the impact of actions. Through collaborative inquiry, teams can construct a common understanding, share knowledge and experience, and develop common goals. Collaborative inquiry is not a new approach, but its potential impact on sustaining changes in practice and ultimately achieving greater success for all students is increasingly recognised.
This resource is designed to support a self/group evaluation of the 4 Ps (Policies, Processes, Procedures, Practices) within your context.
NEXT STEPS
As a team :
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Identify what exists
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Consider if it is a barrier that could impact the successful implementation of UDL
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Decide what gaps are present
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Create new structures to fill the gaps
Congratulations on getting to the end of this phase, the next step is Scale.
Ralibate, K & Berquist, E (2020). Your UDL Journey: A systems approach to transforming instruction. CAST