The Principle of Representation

The three principles of Universal Design for Learning each address specific aspects of learning and how we process information.

They are:

1.       Representation: which focuses on recognition networks in the mind

2.       Action and Expression: which focuses strategic network in the mind

3.       Engagement: which focuses on affective networks in the mind

The first principle pertains to how we present information to learner.  Essentially, it is about what they are learning. To ensure learning is most successful, offer a choice of multiple presentations of the information.

People differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information. How we present it to them matters. Besides sensory disabilities, such as blindness or deafness, and various learning disabilities, there are several varying factors that are associated with standard accessibility that significantly affect individual learning. A few of these factors include:

• Language differences 
• Cultural differences 
• Economic differences

Each of these may require different strategies to presenting content to ensure student success. In this way a more inclusive approach would accommodate all of these factors to offer an equal opportunity for understanding.  

Disregarding all of these factors, other learners may simply acquire information faster through one means of presentation instead of another, such as excelling at visual presentations instead of textual information. For this reason having multiple representations of content improves student success at learning. This allows students to make connections between, and within, the content that improves learning and the transfer of concepts. Thus the use of multiple representations of content is vital for everyone to learn because there is not one optimal representation for learning and the use of multiple representations allows the students to better comprehend the material during the learning process.  

There are three guidelines to follow when focusing on the representation as of content.  They are

1.       Perception

2.       Language and Symbols

3.       Comprehension.  

Each of these guidelines, each with their own goals to meet, ensure students have the best chance to recognize what they need to learn.  Meeting the Principle of Representation also contributes to student inclusion, as it does not bar access to the content for any group. This results in overall student success and is just good practice in teaching.