Universal Design For Instruction - Background

Background

Universal Design for Instruction (UDI) applies and adapts universal design principles and the Principles of Universal Design to learning environments and learning products, with a goal toward maximizing learning for all students.

Universal design (UD), a concept pioneered by architect Ronald Mace at North Carolina State University (NCSU), refers to buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to both people without disabilities and people with disabilities. The Center for Universal Design at NCSU established a set of Principles of Universal Design based on UD to guide and evaluate the design process, with a goal toward creating more accessible products and environments. Universal Design for Instruction is an educational framework and set of strategies that applies both UD and the Principles of Universal Design to academic and teaching environments, learning products, and learning materials.

Specific UDI frameworks and educational initiatives vary between academic and policy institutions. The Center for Universal Design in Education (CUDE) at the DO-IT Center (University of Washington) combines UD, the Principles of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create UDI strategies for applying universal design to educational products and environments. Each CUDE strategy is linked with relevant principles of UD and UDL. Using a different approach, the Center on Postsecondary Education and Disability at the University of Connecticut developed a set of UDI principles that draws on the work of Chickering and Gamson, who had originally published a set of principles for more inclusive postsecondary education, as well as the Principles of Universal Design.