The three principles of Universal Design for Learning (version 3.0) each address specific aspects of learning and how we process information.
They are:
- Representation: which focuses on recognition networks in the mind
- Action and Expression: which focuses strategic network in the mind
- 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:
- Perception
- Language and Symbols
- Building Knowledge (version 3.0)
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.
