Highlights from the Field

National Center on UDL featured in NASDSE's "LearningPort"

Explore a range of resources in this extensive online library!

LearningPort is "a national online library of professional development resources compiled to help bridge research, policy, and practice."

UDL Legislation in Maryland

Learn more about the bill and other advocacy efforts in Maryland!

Maryland's legislature has established a state-level UDL Task Force to explore the incorporation of UDL principles into the State's education systems.

New opportunity through CAST

Become part of CAST's UDL Faculty Program!

CAST is pleased to announce the newly formed UDL Faculty Program. This program will create a cadre of national UDL professionals who will be contacted periodically to conduct workshops and institutes for school districts and state-level teams of educators. Consideration for the UDL Faculty program will be based on applicants’ professional experiences and completion of the required application. The UDL Faculty program will include a week-long training session (July 12 -16, 2010), on-going support, a yearly refresher meeting to remain current with advances in UDL, and a long-term relationship with CAST.

New forum on UDL

National Community of Practice on UDL

"This UDL Community of Practice will serve as a central repository for sharing resources, best practices, and success stories. We will work differently than other Communities of Practice because almost all of our work will take place on the Shared Work site. This will allow us to model and practice the principles of UDL that emphasize 1) multiple means of representation, 2) multiple means of expression, and 3) multiple means of expression. "

NASSP's new online course

Special Students in Regular Classrooms: Technology, Teaching and Universal Design for Administrators

"This workshop provides an introduction to the concept of universal design for learning (UDL), and strategies for implementing a UDL approach in instructional settings...This workshop is designed to acquaint participants with UDL principles, and provide practical, hands-on experience using software tools and digital media to support learning. Participants will explore how these tools can be incorporated into classroom practice, and begin preliminary steps to design an approach to integrate these concepts into their schools/districts."

Pearson's new accessible web-based textbooks

These new books offer the same text and images as the print format but in fully accessible e-versions and for the same price. Pearson, in utilizing NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard) source files for their HTMLbooks, has created content that can more easily be converted to accessible formats such as Braille and text-to-speech. Pearson issued thirteen high school titles in 2009 and is slated to add more in January 2010.

Learn more about Pearson's HTMLbooks on CAST's UDL Spotlight!

Visit the Pearson Web site

Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms

This toolkit provides a wealth of resources for teachers interested in implementing UDL into their classrooms including: literacy tools, graphic orgainzers, math tools, study skills tools, and more.

http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/

Race to the Top Public Hearing on Technology Innovation and Assessment:

Responses by Skip Stahl (CAST) to questions posed during the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top public hearing on "Technology and Innovation in Assessment" in Boston, MA on November 13, 2009.

CAST Responses to Questions:

Word doc

Race to the Top Assessment Program, U.S. Department of Education website:

Program Description