Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Health Education: Reflect on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how it can be applied in health and physical education settings. How can UDL help create inclusive and accessible learning experiences for all students, regardless of their abilities? How might this approach be useful, not only in educational environments but in broader health promotion and community settings?
The universal design for learning notes the fact that all classrooms are diverse, and asserts the belief that every students approach to education is unique. An analogy they use in the in-class video we watched is that the unique ways students learn in class can be compared to the uniqueness of there finger prints. The three core principles of UDL, engagement, representation, action & expression, can all be applied to health and physical education. My blog post this week will break this question down into detail to discuss how these different core principals can be applied to benefit PHE and help create inclusive and accessible learning experiences for all students.
Allowing for multiple means of engagement in PHE is crucial if you want a group with diverse needs to meaningfully participate in activities. From my personal experience, PHE was usually taught from a very sport-centric approach, highlighting things such as competition and teamwork. This allowed for certain students to thrive, but many students that lacked the desire for competition or the physical/technical capabilities to compete, seemed to often be disengaged with the activity. Providing access to multiple different forms of physical activities that differ from sports such as yoga, weight lifting and running allow students to engage with something that better suits their diverse needs.
Expressing multiple means of representation in PHE is important to allow for students to connect with material. Activities should be led through different formats such as self-lead, peer collaboration and instructor lead. Its important activities be broken down to assist students who may struggle to grasp activities and concepts. In my personal experience, I found teachers often would briefly explain activities and expect the majority of students to already understand the game or activity being played. Almost always, a group of students would not be able to grasp the concept of the activity, significantly diminishing their engagement. I can see this becoming a growing issue as our community continues to diversify. New students not familiar with common PHE activities will be left clueless and struggle to represent themselves to their full capabilities. Teaching PHE through multiple means of representation will allow students to engage with each other and digest learning in multiple diverse ways. Ultimately, multiple means of representation will strengthen all core principles of UDL.
Allowing students to demonstrate learning through multiple means of action and expression improves students’ ability to digest and reciprocate things learnt in PHE. Providing students opportunities for self-assessment gives them the ability to engage with material in a way that best suits their diverse needs. This could be demonstrated in ways such as creating meal or workout plans that best suit their personal nutritional and physical needs. Allowing students to choose how they want to participate is important for meeting everyone’s individual needs. Some students may prefer to work individually, whilst others may want to collaborate with peers in small or large groups. Creating a PHE plan where all of these different needs can be met will significantly improve students’ ability to connect and learn course material.
In conclusion, the benefits that UDL can have on PHE are extensive. Its important that educators familiarize themselves with the core principles of UDL to better express them when designing PHE curriculum. From my experience, PHE was often seen as a time for fun and games and teachers often took it as an opportunity to take a break. It’s important educators use PHE time wisely to foster physical and health skills that can aid students for the rest of there lives. Fortunately, the UDL framework is an incredibly helpful tool that can be used to improve PHE for both the student and educator.
https://udlguidelines.cast.org/
CAST. (2010, January 6th). UDL at a glance – Focus and concentration music [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvKnY0g6e4
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