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UDL Guidelines - Version 1.0: Principle I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation

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Students differ in the ways that they perceive and comprehend information that is presented to them. For example, those with sensory disabilities (e.g., blindness or deafness), learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia), language or cultural differences, and so forth may all require different ways of approaching content. Others may simply grasp information better through visual or auditory means rather than from printed text. In reality, there is no one means of representation that is optimal for all students, therefore, providing options in representation is essential.


Guideline 1: Provide options for perception

To be effective in diverse classrooms, curricula must present information in ways that are perceptible to all students. It is impossible to learn information that is imperceptible to the learner, and difficult to learn when information is presented in formats that require extraordinary effort or assistance. To reduce barriers to learning, therefore, it is important to ensure that key information is equally perceptible to all students by (1) providing the same information through different sensory modalities (e.g., through vision, hearing, or touch); (2) providing information in a format that will allow for adjustments by the user (e.g., text that can be enlarged, sounds that can be amplified). Such multiple representations not only ensure that information is accessible to students with particular sensory and perceptual disabilities, they also make it easier for many others to access. When the same information, for example, is presented in both speech and text, the complementary representations enhance comprehensibility for most students.

Checkpoint 1.1 Options that customize the display of information

In print materials, the display of information is fixed, permanent, one size fits all. In properly prepared digital materials, the display of the same information is malleable and can easily be changed or transformed into a different display, thus providing great opportunities to customize it. For example, a callout box of background information may be displayed in a different location, or enlarged, or emphasized by use of color, or deleted entirely. Such malleability provides many options for increasing the perceptual clarity and salience of information for a wide range of students, and adjustments for the preferences of others. While these customizations are difficult to make with print materials, they are commonly available automatically with digital materials.

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  • Information should be displayed in a flexible format so that the following perceptual features can be varied:
    • the size of text or images
    • the amplitude of speech or sound
    • the contrast between background and text or image
    • the color used for information or emphasis
    • the speed or timing of video, animation, sound, simulations, etc.
    • the layout of visual or other elements

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Checkpoint 1.2 Options that provide alternatives for auditory information

Sound is a particularly effective way to convey the impact or "energetics" of information, which is why sound design is so important in movies and why the human voice is particularly effective in conveying emotion and significance. However, information conveyed solely through sound is not equally accessible to all students, and it is especially inaccessible for students with hearing disabilities, for students who need extra time to process information, or for students who have memory difficulties. To ensure that all students have equivalent access to learning, options should be available for any information, including emphasis, to be presented aurally.

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  • Text equivalents in the form of captions or automated speech-to-text (voice recognition) for spoken language
  • Visual analogues for emphasis and prosody (e.g., emoticons or symbols)
  • Visual equivalents for sound effects or alerts

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Checkpoint 1.3 Options that provide alternatives for visual information

Graphics, animation, or video is often the optimal way to present information, especially when the information is about the relationships between objects, actions, numbers, or events. But such visual representations are not equally accessible to all students, especially students with visual disabilities or those who are not familiar with the graphic conventions employed. To ensure that all students have equal access to that information, non-visual alternatives should be available that use other modalities, such as text, touch, or audition.

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  • Descriptions (text or spoken) for all graphics, video, or animation
  • Touch equivalents (tactile graphics) for key visuals
  • Physical objects and spatial models to convey perspective or interaction

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Text is a special case of visual information. Since text is a visual representation of spoken language, the transformation from text back into speech is among the most easily accomplished methods for increasing accessibility. The advantage of text over speech is its permanence, but providing text that is easily transformed into speech accomplishes that permanence without sacrificing the advantages of speech. Digital synthetic text to speech is increasingly effective but still disappoints in the ability to carry the valuable information in prosody.

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  • Properly formatted digital text (e.g., NIMAS, DAISY). Such text can be automatically transformed into other modalities (e.g., into speech by using text-to-speech software or into touch by using refreshable braille devices) and navigated efficiently by ScreenReaders
  • A competent aide, partner, or "intervener" who can read text aloud as needed

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Guideline 2: Provide options for language and symbols

Students vary in their facility with different forms of representation, both linguistic and non-linguistic. Vocabulary that may sharpen and clarify concepts for one student may be opaque and foreign to another. A graph that illustrates the relationship between two variables may be informative to one student and inaccessible or puzzling to another. A picture or image that carries one meaning for some students may carry very different meanings for students from differing cultural or familial backgrounds. As a result, inequalities arise when information is presented to all students through a single form of representation. An important instructional strategy is to ensure that alternative representations are provided, not only for accessibility but for clarity and comprehensibility to all students.

Checkpoint 2.1 Options that define vocabulary and symbols

The semantic elements through which information is presented—the words, symbols, and icons—are differentially accessible to students with varying backgrounds, languages, lexical knowledge, and disabilities. To ensure accessibility for all, key vocabulary, labels, icons, and symbols should be linked to, or associated with, alternate representations of their meaning (e.g., an embedded glossary or definition, a graphic equivalent). Idioms, archaic expressions, culturally exclusive phrases, and slang should be translated.

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  • Pre-teach vocabulary and symbols, especially in ways that promote a connection to the students' lived experiences and prior knowledge
  • Highlight how complex expressions are composed of simpler words or symbols (e.g., "power-less-ness")
  • Embed support for vocabulary and symbols within the text (e.g., hyper-links or footnotes that provide definitions, explanations, illustrations, previous coverage)
  • Embed support for unfamiliar references (e.g., domain-specific notation, idioms, figurative language, jargon, archaic language, colloquialism, and dialect) within the text

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Checkpoint 2.2 Options that clarify syntax and structure

Single elements of meaning (like words or numbers) can be combined to make new meanings. Those new meanings, however, depend on students' understanding the rules or structures (like syntax in a sentence or the conventions of a formula) with which those elements are combined. When the syntax of a sentence or the structure of a graphic presentation is not obvious or familiar to students, intelligibility suffers. To ensure that all students have equal access to information, provide alternative representations that clarify, or make more explicit, the syntactic or structural relationships between elements of meaning.

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  • Complex syntax (in language or in math formulas) or underlying structure (in diagrams, graphs, illustrations, extended expositions, or narratives) is clarified through alternatives that:
    • highlight structural relations or make them more explicit
    • offer less complex alternatives
    • make relationships between elements explicit (e.g., highlighting the transition words in an essay, antecedents for anaphoric references, links between ideas in a concept map, etc.)

Plus sign icon Checkpoint 2.2: View examples and resources

Checkpoint 2.3 Options for decoding text or mathematical notation

The ability to fluently decode words, numbers, or symbols that have been presented in an encoded format (e.g., visual symbols for text, haptic symbols for braille, algebraic numbers for quantity) takes years of practice for any student, and some students never reach automaticity. That lack of fluency or automaticity greatly increases the cognitive load of decoding, thereby reducing the capacity to comprehend and process information. To ensure that all students have equal access to knowledge, at least when the ability to decode is not the focus of instruction, it is important to provide options that reduce the barriers that decoding raises for students who are unfamiliar or dysfluent with the symbols.

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  • Digital text used with automatic text-to-speech programs
  • Digital mathematical notation (Math ML) with automatic voicing
  • Digital text with accompanying human voice recording (e.g., Daisy Talking Books)

Plus sign icon Checkpoint 2.3: View examples and resources

Checkpoint 2.4 Options that promote cross-linguistic understanding

The language of curricular materials is usually monolingual, but the students in the classroom often are not. Especially for new learners of the dominant language (e.g., English in U.S. schools), the accessibility of information is greatly reduced when no linguistic alternatives are available to provide entry points for non-native speakers of the dominant language or students with limited English proficiency. Providing alternatives as an option, especially for key information or vocabulary, is an important aspect of accessibility.

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  • Whenever possible, make all key information in the dominant language (e.g., English) also available in first languages (e.g., Spanish) for students with limited English proficiency and in ASL for students who are deaf Link key vocabulary words to definitions and pronunciations in both dominant and heritage languages
  • Define domain-specific vocabulary (e.g., "matter" in English, "material" in Spanish) using both domain-specific and common terms
  • Provide electronic translation tools or links to multilingual glossaries on the web (e.g., www.google.com/translate)

Plus sign icon Checkpoint 2.4: View examples and resources

Checkpoint 2.5 Options that illustrate key concepts non-linguistically

Classroom materials are often dominated by information presented in text. But text is a weak format for presenting many concepts and for explicating most processes. Furthermore, text is a particularly weak form of presentation for students who have text- or language-related disabilities. Providing alternatives—especially illustrations, simulations, images, or interactive graphics—can make the information presented in text more comprehensible for any student and accessible for some who would find it completely inaccessible in text.

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  • Key concepts presented in one form of symbolic representation (e.g., an expository text or a math equation) are complemented with an alternative form (e.g., an illustration, diagram, model, video, comic strip, storyboard, photograph, animation, physical or virtual manipulative)
  • Key concepts presented in illustrations or diagrams are complemented with verbal equivalents, explanations, or enhancements
  • Explicit links are made between information provided in texts and any accompanying representation of that information in illustrations, charts, or diagrams

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Guideline 3: Provide options for comprehension

The purpose of education is not to make information accessible (that is the purpose of libraries), but to teach students how to transform accessible information into useable knowledge. Decades of cognitive science research has demonstrated that the capability to transform accessible information into useable knowledge is an active process, not a passive one. Constructing useable knowledge—knowledge that is accessible for future decision-making—depends not on merely perceiving information but on active "information-processing skills," like selective attending, integrating new information with prior knowledge, strategic categorization, and active memorization. Individuals differ greatly in their skills in information processing, and in their access to prior knowledge through which they can assimilate new information. Proper design and presentation of information—the responsibility of any curriculum or instructional methodology—can provide the cognitive ramps that are necessary to ensure that all students have access to knowledge.

Checkpoint 3.1 Options that provide or activate background knowledge

Information—facts, concepts, principles, or ideas—is more accessible and open to assimilation as knowledge when it is presented in a way that primes, activates, or provides any prerequisite knowledge. Differential barriers and inequities exist when some students lack the background knowledge that is critical to assimilating or using new information (e.g., knowing the rules that underlie math operations). Those barriers can be reduced when options are available that supply or activate relevant prior knowledge, or link elsewhere to the prerequisite information.

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  • Anchoring instruction by activating relevant prior knowledge (e.g., using visual imagery, concept anchoring, or concept mastery routines)
  • Using advanced organizers (e.g., KWL methods, concept maps)
  • Pre-teaching critical prerequisite concepts through demonstration or modeling, concrete objects
  • Bridging with relevant analogies and metaphors

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Checkpoint 3.2 Options that highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships

One of the big differences between experts and novices (including those with disabilities) in any domain is the facility with which they distinguish what is critical from what is unimportant or irrelevant. Because experts quickly recognize the most important features in information, they allocate their time efficiently, quickly identifying what is valuable and finding the right "hooks" with which to assimilate that most valuable information into existing knowledge. As a consequence, one of the most effective ways to make information more accessible is to provide explicit cues or prompts that help individuals attend to those features that matter most while avoiding those that matter least. Depending on the goal of the lesson, highlighting may emphasize (1) the critical features that distinguish one concept from another, (2) the "big ideas" that organize domains of information, (3) the relationships between disparate concepts and ideas, and (4) the relationships between new information and prior knowledge that make it possible to build networks and contexts in which the new information has meaning.

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  • Highlight or emphasize key elements in text, graphics, diagrams, formulas
  • Use outlines, graphic organizers, unit organizer routines, concept organizer routines, and concept mastery routines to emphasize key ideas and relationships
  • Use multiple examples and non-examples to emphasize critical features
  • Reduce background of extraneous features, use masking of non-relevant features
  • Use cues and prompts to draw attention to critical features

plus Checkpoint 3.2: View examples and resources

Checkpoint 3.3 Options that guide information processing

Successful transformation of information into useable knowledge often requires the application of mental strategies and skills for "processing" that information. These cognitive, or meta-cognitive, strategies involve the selection and manipulation of information so that it can be more effectively summarized, categorized, prioritized, contextualized, and remembered. While some students in any classroom may have a full repertoire of these strategies and the knowledge of when to apply them, most students do not. For those students who do not, one of the most beneficial interventions is to explicitly teach them those strategies and have them practice their appropriate use in context. Well-designed materials can provide customized and embedded models, scaffolds, and feedback to assist students who have very diverse abilities and disabilities in using those strategies effectively.

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  • Explicit prompts for each step in a sequential process
  • Interactive models that guide exploration and inspection
  • Graduated scaffolds that support information-processing strategies
  • Multiple entry points to a lesson and optional pathways through content
  • Chunking information into smaller elements
  • Progressive release of information, sequential highlighting

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Checkpoint 3.4 Options that support memory and transfer

While each of the cognitive scaffolds described above is likely to enhance retention for some students, others have weaknesses or disabilities that will require explicit supports for memory and transfer in order to improve cognitive accessibility. Supports for memory and transfer include techniques that are designed to heighten the memorability of information, and those that prompt and guide students to employ explicit mnemonic strategies.

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  • Checklists, organizers, sticky notes, electronic reminders
  • Prompts for using mnemonic strategies and devices (e.g., visual imagery, paraphrasing strategies, method of loci, etc.)
  • Explicit opportunities for spaced review and practice
  • Templates, graphic organizers, concept maps to support note-taking
  • Scaffolding that connects new information to prior knowledge (e.g., word webs, half-full concept maps)
  • Embedding new ideas in familiar ideas and contexts, use of analogy, metaphor

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Last Updated: 06/30/2010