Universal Design for Learning: Apply

This three-week virtual institute includes a mix of self-paced learning, asynchronous group discussion, live webinars with UDL experts, and job-embedded application to support individuals or teams to begin applying UDL to their practice. UDL: Apply will focus on brainstorming, identifying, and refining a “problem of practice”--a curiosity or challenge participants experience in their own context. Participants will design an action plan to explore and address their problems of practice from a UDL perspective. Throughout the virtual institute, participants will share their problems of practice and design plans with fellow participants, learning from one another and building a network that will carry them through the work of the entire program--and beyond. This program can serve as preparation for independent implementation.

Participants should plan to devote an average of three to five hours of work per week. Each week, participants will engage in 1 60-minute webinar, 1-60 minute small group meeting, and 2-4 hours of individual work to apply course materials to their own contexts. Participants who complete all individual activities and contribute to group discussions prior to the end of the program period will receive a certificate indicating the completion of fifteen clock hours of instruction.

Each week you will:

• Engage with a variety of resources (articles, podcasts, videos) to explore and build new learning around UDL.
• Share your ideas and connect with other educators who are committed to designing inclusive learning environments.
• Self-reflect on ways to further develop your practice through a UDL lens.
• Gain tools and approaches to refine your UDL implementation action plan.

Wednesday: 

Start to the week, getting oriented (asynchronous)

Thursday: 

Live session 3:30–4:30 p.m. ET (synchronous but recorded)

Friday – Tuesday: 

Connecting with small groups via facilitator office hours (synchronous, optional)
Individual work and discussion (asynchronous via learning platform)
Feedback in small groups (synchronous and/or asynchronous via learning platform)

• Gain a solid foundation of design thinking.
• Learn how design thinking can help educators define, frame, and address problems of practice.
• Employ strategies to identify and refine a clear problem of practice that can be addressed through a focused understanding of UDL.
• Create a UDL action plan that addresses your problem of practice.

• K-16 educators from all disciplines and subject areas
• Administrators, instructional coaches, teacher-leaders, librarians, and curriculum specialists
• School and district leaders
• Team enrollment is highly encouraged

Enrollment Requirement: Completion of Universal Design for Learning: Explore or an alternative CAST program. This course is designed for individuals and teams with foundational knowledge of UDL who are ready to design an action plan to explore and address a problem of practice from a UDL perspective.

Prerequisites: Participants must register for each offering in the Learning Series: Exploring UDL through Cycles of Design, Action, and Reflection separately. For UDL: Apply, you must complete either UDL: Explore or an eligible CAST program prior (including Introduction to Universal Design for Learning: Addressing the Variability of All Learners, UDL 101, any 2-day CAST workshop, CAST’s Digital Learning Series, or CAST’s NH UDL Innovation Network. The recommended pathway is to participate in both within the same academic year in order to maintain momentum through the learning and implementation process. However, participants may space their participation across time as best fits their needs and availability.

This program welcomes registrations from both individuals and teams. First-time registrants need to create a Professional Education account to register.

Individuals: Click the "Register" button at the top of this page to log into your Professional Education account and access the registration page. Proceed with the individual form until submission. Invoices will be immediately available upon the submission of the form.

Teams:

Step 1: Designate one participant or an administrative staff member as the Coordinator.

• The Coordinator should click the "Register" button at the top of this page to log into their Professional Education account and access the registration page.
• Proceed with the team form, including providing the name, email address, and job title of each participant in your team.
• The Coordinator can choose to receive a team invoice
• The invoice will be immediately available upon the submission of the form. Contact us if you are eligible for the group discount. 
• Contact us if you need to make any changes to your team after submitting the form.

Step 2: Upon the submission of the team application, all team members will receive an email notification with a link to their personal registration form. Team members should complete their forms promptly to access the program’s Community Group for updates and Canvas course access. 

Tuition assistance is available for this program on a need and application basis. Tuition assistance is granted based on participant and institutional needs. Requests for tuition assistance do not affect an applicant's prospects for admission. You may access the tuition assistance application after you have submitted your program application. Tuition assistance applications should be submitted at least one month prior to the final application deadline.