The UDL Institute 2003

This was the first UDL Institute offered at George Washington University. We welcomed 11 graduate students representing the disciplines of vocational evaluation, transition, acquired brain injury, rehabilitation, and regular education. Many of these students continued on after the class to infuse the principles of UDL into:

• private vocational evaluation practices
• special education classrooms
• regular education classrooms
• rehabilitation programs
• re-designs/ designs of institutional websites

The UDL Institute 2004

The UDL Institute 2004 was held in the technology lab of the Department of Teacher Preparation and Special Education, Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University - Washington, DC. A class of 13 graduate and doctoral students and several faculty attended this institute representing the disciplines of rehabilitation, vocational evauation, transition, special education, and the acquired brain injury program.

The UDL Institute 2005

GWU's UDL Institute for 2005 was held in the technology lab at the bottom of Gelman library on the Foggy Bottom campus, Washington, DC. A total of 16 graduate and doctoral students attended this course representing the disciplines of special education, transition, vocational evaluation, rehabilitation, and general education.

The UDL Institute 2006 (6/26-6/30/2006)

The following postings and discussions are taken from the 2006 Summer UDL Institute at George Washington University. This is a 3 credit graduate course entitled, Universal Design for Learning: Implications for Career Assessment and Transition. It is patterned after the CAST Institute on Universal Design for Learning where the instructor attended during the summer of 2001. Students are exposed to an array of information around the distinctions between universal design and universal design for learning, theories on learning and multiple intelligences, designing accessible web media, the importance of using digital text, and a range of digital technologies that support access and learning. Students attending during this summer of 2006 came from a variety of programs representing graduate programs in museum education, collaborative vocational evaluation, and transition special education. This year we also enjoyed the company of students attending from as far away as the state of Michigan.

A Welcome from your Instructor

Welcome to the graduate course on universal design for learning (UDL). We began this journey in 2003 and offered a graduate summer institute on UDL. This was an experimental course that GWU sponsored and through its success - became a departmental offering. The response to the course has been very positive and has since continued to grow. We have been pleased as this seems to be the direction this idea is taking across the country. As a participant in this course, we hope you will also become one of the early UDL implementers that helps to shape the direction of this important concept in education.

This blog space is being created for a number of reasons. First, this blog was created in 2006 to allow course participants to chronicle their week long experiences. Second, it is being established for all UDL course participants throughout the 4 years to add their comments about the course, the importance of UDL, and how they've continued to infuse this in their practice. It is my hope that this will be a valuable online commmunity that you can all share with each other regarding your successes in the growing field of UDL.
Enjoy your online journey!

Your instructor, Frances Smith, Ed.S., CVE
Visiting Adjunct Instructor - Virginia Commonwealth University