UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING

SCALE

Essentially, the Scale phase is focused on ensuring that UDL becomes an integral part of the organisation's culture and that it is sustained over time. During the Scale phase, the team examines the monitoring and feedback systems for effective instructional design, delivery, and student outcomes to grow their UDL implementation project.

There are three guiding questions:

How do we create and sustain a collaborative community of practice? (who is your team?)
How can we expand our UDL implementation across our learning environment? (what PD is needed?)
What policies, procedures, and processes are most supportive of growing UDL implementation? (how do you monitor and evaluate the success of the UDL implementation?) NOTE: Here is where you refine your plan

During this phase you will:

PROMOTE UDL PLG

EXPAND PRACTICES

ENHANCE IMPLMENTATION

He Pikorua

The He Pikorua sequence in this phase of the implementation tool incorporates both Tātai and Whakamahi. This is because it’s about strengthening and tweaking the plan so that the pedagogy can be embedded in everyday practice within the classroom. Throughout this phase, the teacher will be asked to evaluate their practice, link to others, and adjust policies and procedures as feedback is received.

PROMOTE A UDL PLG

Any team can be described as a group of people who work together to achieve a common goal. Once this has been achieved, the team can disband, a Professional Learning Group (PLG) is formed to address a shared learning need and is held together by the relationships that develop among its members. Communities of practice succeed when members derive value from learning together. To bring about long-standing transformative change, it is important that your team has a sense of momentum that is supported by a stronger bond than just accomplishing tasks.

What are “Communities of Practice”?

This article explores what constitutes a good community of practice. Such communities are distinguished by their emphasis on sharing best practices, offering constructive feedback of high quality, and maintaining reliable and effective communication channels.

Establishing a Community of Practice

This document provides a concise guide for establishing and sustaining a Community of Practice.

Here are three things you can explicitly address with your team

If working with teachers - Invite representatives from various departments and grade levels to ensure that all voices are heard. If working with fellow RTLBs, invite representatives from different offices/responsibilities/strengths (the idea of this is to ensure diversity and reach across your organisation)
Assign clear roles and responsibilities for each member
Schedule regular meetings to discuss progress and make decisions as a team

As you set up your PLG, remember the principles of UDL. Here is a template that may support you with this:

EXPAND PRACTICES

To scale your UDL implementation, think about how you could take it to a system-wide level. One way to achieve this is to consider your zone of influence. This consists of individuals and groups of people who may find your UDL implementation interesting and would like to learn alongside you.

Here are three steps you can do immediately to help expand your knowledge and implementation of UDL:

Offer workshops and training sessions on UDL principles and strategies - this is a great way to help the ‘UDL bug’ to share beyond your RTLB reach. Having teachers share their own knowledge and practical application will help others see this as less scary and have supportive connections within their setting.
Provide coaching and mentoring opportunities for teachers to apply UDL principles in their classrooms
Incorporate UDL principles into performance evaluations and professional development plans for staff

You are not an island - there are many other Clusters on this UDL journey as we speak. Where are they up to in their practice? How have they formed their PLGs? Is there a way you can team up to share the same message or help build each other’s practice? One of the functions of this website is to help people connect. Now is a good time to explore the forums and the news page.

ENHANCE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION

During the Scale phase, it is vital that you consider which of the Four Ps (policies, procedures, processes, and practices) in your system are supporting the UDL implementation and also the ones that are creating a barrier. For example, do programs or instructional practices promote or restrict learner flexibility? Are there time-consuming procedures that could be achieved more effectively by using technology?

As you scale your UDL initiative, it is important that you refer to the evidence when making decisions about the Four Ps that do or don’t work. To determine what to keep (or not), you will need to measure the Four Ps that result in long-term, direct and indirect impact. Outcomes for a transformative framework, such as UDL, can be unpredictable and progress may not be sequential or straightforward. This process sits on a continuum and could be considered as an ever-evolving practice. Assessment of learning and assessment for learning both have a role in evaluating the effectiveness of your UDL implementation.

Here are some practical ways to ensure your UDL implementation is effective:

Collect data on student outcomes to measure the impact of UDL implementation. This should compare before and after results
Conduct surveys or focus groups with RTLB/teachers to gather feedback on their experiences with UDL
Use data and feedback to make informed decisions about how to improve and refine the UDL implementation plan

UDL Implementation Rubric

Here is an example of a rubric to evaluate the effectiveness your UDL implementation in the classroom.

NEXT STEPS

Before moving to the next phase, consider the following questions:

Who else may be interested in implementing UDL?
What emerging roles are available for PLG members?
How can UDL support learners, educators, stakeholders, or whole communities?
What are the key four p’s that need to be shared?
How can we share our UDL implementation practices with other learning communities?

Ralibate, K & Berquist, E (2020). Your UDL Journey: A systems approach to transforming instruction. CAST