UDL University: Designing for Variability Across the Curriculum

In UDL University: Designing for Variability Across the Postsecondary Curriculum, sixteen Goodwin faculty members share their stories of ambitious experiments, inspirational successes, and instructive failures in applying Universal Design for Learning in their classrooms. Their compelling and highly personal accounts of UDL's transformative effects span a variety of disciplines at the career-focused university-nursing, sociology, histology, computers, math, writing, literature welding, manufacturing, social justice, management, education, and more.

While the focus is on higher education, these stories provide educators at any level with practical illustrations of how to translate UDL theory into concrete lesson plans and curricular designs. They may also foster campus-wide conversations about teaching and learning, the variability of learners, and a new vision for more inclusive approach to education.

Allison Posey, a curriculum and design specialist at CAST who collaborates with educators from across the U.S. and internationally to implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL), provides the Foreword. She works in a wide range of settings, from kindergarten to higher education institutions to informal learning environments - with the ultimate goal that learning is intentionally designed to meet the needs of every individual in equitable, inclusive ways.

Contributors include: Amy Beauchemin, Annjanette Bennar, Keith A. Carter, Sandi Coyne-Gilbert, Michelle Dent, Phillip J. Fox, Kelli Goodkowsky, Lisa Coolidge Manley, Karrie Morin, Cynthia Murphy, Zachary Vincent Smith, Ellen Swider, Robin L. Young-Cournoyer

Randy Laist, Ph.D., is professor of English in the School of Applied Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Goodwin University. Laist received his doctorate in American literature from the University of Connecticut. He has taught in middle schools, high schools, and colleges, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is the author of The Twin Towers in Film: A Cinematic History of the World Trade Center.

Nicole Brewer is a literary specialist and assistant professor of practice in humanities at Anna Maria College. She received her master's degree from New York University, and she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education from Northeastern University. Brewer coauthored a book with her father titled Withstanding the Lie, which helps people cope with the mental and emotional harm caused by bigotry. Nicole's next UDL challenge is to explore the ways in which UDL can enhance institution-wide academic supports to improve student retention and persistence in higher education.

Dana C. Sheehan is director of the Writing Center at Anna Maria College. Sheehan received her BFA in writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College and her MFA in creative and professional writing from Western Connecticut State University. She has delivered UDL-infused presentations at conferences all around New England. Dana's next UDL challenge will be about making discussion boards more inviting