Universal Design for Learning
Guidelines, 3.0
Today, CAST released version 3.0 of the UDL Guidelines, a comprehensive update that includes references to Readability research and expands its Design Multiple Means of Representation, Consideration 1.1: Support opportunities to customize the display of information. CAST documented the rationale for the update noting, “The full description of this prompt was also updated to offer more details in terms of the importance of customizing text formats along with the display of information.” The Guidelines now include recommendations that information creators and distributors offer information in accessible formats so that the perceptual features can be customized, including font, text size, character and line spacing, character width, background color, and text colors.
Readability Matters was honored to collaborate with Dr. Jenna Gravel and her colleagues in expanding the comprehensive Guidelines. The recommendation that developers allow for user customizations of text format is one of the many research-backed recommendations the CAST team made. In addition to Representation guidelines, Engagement and Action & Expression recommendations are also included.
UDL is a powerful framework that empowers educators and edTech creators to guide the design of learning environments that are accessible, inclusive, equitable, and challenging for every learner. According to CAST, “the goal of UDL is to support learner agency, the capacity to actively participate in making choices in service of learning goals. The UDL Guidelines inform the design of learning environments to support learner agency.”
The UDL Guidelines offer a set of recommendations that can be applied to instructional design to reduce barriers and maximize learning opportunities according to specific learning goals. The UDL Guidelines offer a structure for proactively uncovering and addressing learning barriers and for intentionally designing learning environments and experiences that more fully honor and value every learner. CAST’s website notes that “UDL aims to change the design of the environment rather than to situate the problem as a perceived deficit within the learner. When environments are intentionally designed to reduce barriers, every learner can engage in rigorous, meaningful learning.”
UDL 3.0 is not just about K-12. It’s about creating inclusive learning experiences that extend to college, careers, and beyond. Readability Matters was pleased to hear that the US Department of Education released the Educational Technology plan, incorporating the UDL Guidelines. Additionally, the Workforce Investment Act will expand the use of the Guidelines beyond K-12. (See the UDL in Public Policy page here.)
Nicole Tucker-Smith and Jenna Gravel, 3.0 Guidelines Co-Chairs, Photo: Nicole-Tucker Smith
CAST UDL Guidelines 3.0
Click to enlarge, or visit https://udlguidelines.cast.org/
Design Multiple Means of Representation
Design Options for Perception
Consideration 1.1 Support opportunities to customize the display of information
In print materials, the display of information is fixed and permanent. Digital materials allow the display of the same information to be flexible and customizable. For example, a call-out box of background information may be displayed in a different location, enlarged, emphasized by the use of color, or deleted entirely. Such flexibility provides options for increasing the perceptual clarity and salience of information for a diversity of learners and allowing for preference adjustments for others. While these customizations can be more difficult with print materials, these are features that can be available through digital materials. It is important to note that digital does not mean the content is accessible, as many digital materials are equally inaccessible because the accessibility features were not included during content development. Educators and learners should work together to attain the best match of features to learning needs.
Offer information in accessible formats so the following perceptual features can be customized:
- Font, size of text, character and line spacing, character width, background color, and text colors
- Size of images, graphs, tables, and other visual content
- Contrast between background and images
- Color used for information or emphasis
- Volume or rate of speech or sound
- Speed or timing of video, animation, sound, simulations, etc.
- Layout of visual or other elements
Research
You can explore the research CAST used to develop Consideration 1.1 here.
Readability Research included:
Azzarello, C. B., Miller, D. B., Sawyer, B. D., & Lewis, J. E. (2023). Format Readability Enhancing In Basic Mathematical Operations. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 67(1), 2248–2251. (Paper)
Beier, S., Berlow, S., Boucaud, E., Bylinskii, Z., Cai, T., Cohn, J., Crowley, K., Day, S. L., Dingler, T., Dobres, J., Healey, J., Jain, R., Jordan, M., Kerr, B., Li, Q., Miller, D. B., Nobles, S., Papoutsaki, A., Qian, J., … Wolfe, B. (2022). Readability Research: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Foundations and Trends® in Human–Computer Interaction, 16(4), 214–324. (Paper)
Sheppard, S. M., Nobles, S. L., Palma, A., Kajfez, S., Jordan, M., Crowley, K., & Beier, S. (2023). One font doesn’t fit all: The influence of digital text personalization on comprehension in child and adolescent readers. Education Sciences, 13(9), 864. (Paper)
Tensmeyer, C., Bylinski, Z., Cai, T., Miller, D., Nenkova, A., Niklaus, A., & Wallace, S. (2023). Web Table Formatting Affects Readability on Mobile Devices. Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2023, 1334–1344. (Paper)
Wallace, S., Bylinskii, Z., Dobres, J., Kerr, B., Berlow, S., Treitman, R., Kumawat, N., Arpin, K., Miller, D. B., Huang, J., & Sawyer, B. D. (2022). Towards individuated reading experiences: Different fonts increase reading speed for different individuals. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 29(4), 1-56. (Paper)
Wallace, S., Dobres, J., Bylinskii, Z., & Sawyer, B. (2022). Space for readability: Effects on reading speed from individuated character and word spacing. Journal of Vision, 22(14), 3349. (Paper)
About CAST: CAST is a nonprofit education research and development organization that created the Universal Design for Learning framework and UDL Guidelines, now used all over the world to make learning more inclusive.
About UDL: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.
