Long before CAST developed the Universal Design for Learning framework, their mission as the Center for Applied Special Technology Focus (CAST.org) began with helping learners. They initially investigated what we would nowadays call educational and assistive technology as a means to that end. However, their mode of thinking always centered on the learner first before the technology. Even as they were winning awards for developing new educational technologies, they were also conducting classroom-based educational research on the barriers to learning and how to overcome them. This research ultimately led to the creation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and CAST’s continued reflection on the diversity of learners that has been the catalyst for the current, revised UDL 3.0 guidelines. The evolution of CAST and UDL offers a powerful example of the effectiveness of thinking backwards.
“I looked at the UDL guidelines and a lot of them are basically just good teaching practices that have been around a while.” This comment from an experienced instructor who was recently introduced to UDL highlights the flexibility of the UDL framework to combine established teaching practices with continual evolution. Backwards thinking or backwards design is certainly not new in education and is a cornerstone of instructional design. Langara’s Teaching & Curriculum Development Centre (TCDC) offers workshops and Course (Re)design Resources to help instructors employ backwards design and outcomes-based teaching & learning (OBTL) principles. But, as with most things in education, there is often a gap between ideas and what actually happens in the classroom when September starts and the mood quickly shifts from summertime breeziness to full-on fall hectic.
Graphic Organizers and UDL Lesson Plan Design
The good news is that even if you haven’t used backwards design to set up your course, it’s not too late to plan your next lesson. The same backwards thinking that puts the learner first in UDL can be applied with some simple graphical tools for lesson planning. Loui Nelson’s 2021 book Design and Deliver: Planning and Teaching Using Universal Design for Learning uses the example of design thinking as a human-centered approach to problem-solving to explain how backward thinking can translate into UDL-informed lesson planning.
The above graphic from Nelson’s book starts with the design solution that would be equivalent to the goal of the daily lesson. Thinking backward, the design visualization process would be similar to an instructor thinking about how they will provide access, flexibility, choice, and rigor to a variety of learners so that they can achieve that goal.
The design understanding would be equivalent to what the mastering process looks like as learners engage with different aspects of a lesson, build on prior knowledge, locate and access resources, strategize how they will achieve the goal, and reflect on what is learned, i.e. in UDL terms—all of the things that expert learners do as they develop learner agency and mastery of the goal.
Once you establish clear, thoughtful goals for each lesson, a variety of graphical tools can be used to identify learning barriers, organize learning resources, brainstorm flexible ways to achieve the goal, consider helpful UDL strategies, and plan learning activities that are structured to move through a mastering process (initial engagement, scaffolding, modeling, guided practice, independent practice). The level of complexity of the graphical organizer or workbook that you create can vary depending on your needs and experience with UDL learning activities. The example below from Loui Nelson’s Design and Deliver is a simple flowchart that starts with the learning goal and moves through brainstorming flexible, accessible paths to goal achievement, ending with learning activity planning and learning environment design.
Lesson Planning With Journey Maps
A similar approach to course and lesson planning uses the idea of a journey map, a tool that comes from the field of UX (user experience) within the broader context of software development, product design, and commerce. As in UDL lesson planning, the journey map starts with the well-defined, clearly expressed learning goal. While it doesn’t necessarily proceed in a linear way, the journey map tool allows the instructor to think backwards from the goal to identify flexible activities, resources, learning barriers, and UDL redesign options, while specifically adding in a “journey” or visual representation of the learner’s emotions as they might move through the activities in the lesson plan.
The visualization of the emotional journey allows the instructor to think back on the variety of learners and be more inclusive in their design. Anticipating how different learners might react at different stages in the lesson helps to identify points where UDL strategies can be useful. Has the goal been articulated in a way that is relevant and meaningful? Is there an opportunity to connect to learners’ personal goals? Are supports and resources easy to locate and access for a given stage? Does the instructor provide models or examples? Are larger goals broken down into sub-goals? If there is student choice built-in to the lesson, are the expectations for rigor clear? Can learners reflect on how they meet expectations of rigor at a checkpoint? Are the learning activities overtly connected to disciplinary learning or habits of mind? Does the journey highlight the learning process over the product? Are there multiple points for mastery-oriented or formative feedback?
The video below shows the full CAST webinar on using journey maps for course and lesson planning.
Regardless of the tools that you might use to design a lesson plan, the primary goal is reflection. Taking time to think about how the learning process will unfold and impact a variety of learners in a given lesson not only helps the instructor to better organize their class, it also the best way to create an inclusive learning environment that helps all learners to become purposeful & reflective, resourceful & authentic, strategic & action-oriented.
