Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 3

Universal Design for Learning

Principle of Representation - Guideline 3 - Criterion 3

When developing a course using the first principle of Universal Design for Learning, there are three specific guidelines to assist us. The third, Comprehension focuses on maintaining clarity about the content provided.

Criterion 3 of this guideline advocates that we guide information processing and visualization by encouraging the application of meta-strategies.

Applying these strategies are skills for “processing” information. These assist in better summarizing, prioritizing, and remembering the content. Many learners to not have a developed set of these skills and the knowledge of when to use them, so guiding students both stimulates knowledge acquisition and reinforces the meta-skills needed for learning.  Properly designed materials assist learners who have diverse abilities in using these strategies by providing customized learning environments that scaffolds and offers feedback to assist the learners.  Try to design lessons that:

• Explicitly prompt each step in a sequential process
• Offer options for organizational methods and approaches.
• Provide interactive models that guide exploration and new understandings
• Scaffold the design to support information processing strategies
• Provide multiple entry points to a lesson and optional pathways through content.
• Utilize cognitive load theory and “Chunk” information into smaller elements
• Reduce cognitive load by removing unnecessary distractions
• Progressively release information (for example, sequential highlighting) 

By following these suggestions, your course will assist students communicating and expressing their knowledge, as well as being in line the Principle of Representation in the Theory of Universal Design for Learning.