Universal Design for Learning 3.0—Bring on the Happy Dance!

While most of us were sipping on a cocktail on a beach somewhere this summer (I hope!), CAST unveiled the 3.0 version of the ever-popular UDL Guidelines at the end of July. For those who have never heard of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), it’s a teaching and learning framework that centers students so that they can become “expert learners” on how they learn best. It advocates that students can (and should) have the power to take a front seat in their own education by varying how we teach and present information, how learners engage with that information, and how they are allowed to show that they have learned what you’re teaching. If you’ve attended any of my professional development workshops, this is where all the scarves, feathers, bean bags, stretchy bands, movement and visual reinforcement comes into play (yes, even for high school music teachers). I’m oversimplifying it and there’s more to it, but that’s the general gist.

First, I want to acknowledge that my love for UDL runs deep. It truly influences my work and how I think about teaching and learning in music and the arts and how I help other teachers work with their own students. Other than explicitly equity-centered approaches that center culturally responsive teaching, it has always been the framework that aligns most with my philosophies of teaching and learning.

What’s new in UDL 3.0

As much as I’ve loved UDL, I’ve always felt the need to tweak it a bit. Perhaps re-framing some of its guidelines more purposefully through an equity-based lens is a more accurate way to state it. Regardless, I constantly felt the urge (which I acted upon freely) to make it connect even more explicitly to my own conception of what access, equity and inclusion should look like in the music and arts classroom. When I work with teachers and my own students, I often find myself talking about the need to empower preK-12 students by giving them voice and choice. By empowering them, we promote agency, something that many students are not used to having in schools. Enter in the new UDL 3.0 guidelines and it’s as if I revised these guidelines myself (yay!).

A more purposeful shift towards “learner agency”

While some updates are subtle, the big “win”, in my opinion, is the emphasis on not only continuing to embrace and accommodate the needs of students in the classroom, but the outright call for teachers to do everything in their power to create a learning environment that promotes student agency through authentic, action-oriented and reflective means. In short, the new guidelines call teachers to empower students by fostering, within each student, learner agency. I love this so much, it makes me want to do a happy dance.

On top of that, there is a noticeable shift away from the term “expert learner” to acknowledge that the term “expert” could allude to a definitive end to the learning process.

Less teacher-centered, more student-centered

Of particular note is the removal of the word “provide” from each of the three overarching principles and the supporting guidelines. I love that this term is no longer present because it signifies that UDL is much more about students than it is about teachers. When we say things like, “teacher will….,” or “teacher provides….” it’s putting too much of the burden of teaching and learning on the teachers. As teachers, we do too much for our students. We need to teach our students, rather, empower our students, to carry more of the responsibility. With “provide” in the mix, our classes inherently become teacher-centered, rather than student-centered.

So long, “provide”! As my favorite boy band from my college days would sing—second only to the ultimate boy group, Boyz II Men (obviously!)—“Bye, Bye Bye!”

In addition to the removal of that term that shall no longer be named, UDL 3.0 explicitly addresses how to acknowledge our own bias and inherently exclusive practices, and “levels-up” the role that executive functioning development can play in the student experience. Each of these things just further supports student agency. All of this to say, that UDL 3.0 clearly takes a stand on things that truly promote a classroom culture of inclusion while fostering student autonomy and agency. Isn’t that what it’s all about? It’s so wonderful to see all of this, officially, in writing.

The verdict

Love, love, love. I’ve loved UDL for so long, and these new changes make me love it even more. There are more changes as well (all great things!), but rather than writing a book in one blog post, I’ll piece it together as time goes on for you. So, I’m sure I’ll have more on this in the near future (including even more specific recommendations on how to use UDL 3.0 as a springboard for equity in the music classroom). But for now, if you find yourself with some time on your hands, check those guidelines out. I’ll get to work on revising my own workshops and teacher training to make space, officially, for these new guidelines. Can’t wait to dig in!