UDL in Teaching Practices

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines offer a comprehensive toolkit for educators to assess and enhance the inclusivity of their teaching practices and learning environments. We aim to provide practical guidance for teachers seeking to design courses that better accommodate diverse student needs, starting with the development of inclusive learning goals and learning outcomes.

Tips for designing inclusive learning goals:

What is learning goal?
Learning goals are broad, overarching statements that describe the purpose of a course or what students will achieve. They paint the ‘big picture’ of what learning is for.

How does learning goals become inclusive?
  • UDL Guideline 6.1 (Action & Expression) emphasizes setting meaningful goals that are challenging, motivating, clear, and measurable. Articulating the goal helps learners plan, choose tools and resources, monitor progress, and decide when to shift strategies.

  • UDL Guideline 8.1 (Engagement) highlights clarifying the meaning and purpose of goals to sustain effort and persistence. When learners see why a goal matters to them and their communities, they stay engaged.
(IRIS Center, 2025; CAST, 2024)
SMART-criteria for setting inclusive learning goals
  • Specific: Focus on key content and skills. Ask yourself: What exactly do I want students to learn?

  • Measurable: Consider how success will be assessed. What evidence will show the goal has been achieved?

  • *Attainable: Ensure goals are realistic for all students, including those with diverse needs. Are the goals achievable for students from all groups, including SEN and minority learners?

  • Relevant: Align goals with your institution’s mission and outcomes. Do the goals drive meaningful results for students?

  • Time-bound: Set realistic time frames. What is the expected timeline for achieving these goals?
(Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, n.d.)
*Attainability is often the most significant for setting inclusive learning goals. Teachers should pay extra attention to evaluate whether the goals are equitably attainable by all students.
How to check if my learning goals are inclusive or not?

Before checking the goals, first identify the aspect on which the learning goal is based.
  • Content-based goals: These may involve tasks such as asking students to memorize the formula, identify right triangles and the respective components. Students can explore different approaches to understand the theorem, catering individual learning styles.

  • Skill-based goals: While the skill demonstration may be singular (e.g., applying the theorem to find unknown side lengths), the learning process can include diverse options like different materials, video tutorials or scaffolded practice.
To assess the learning goals, we have 2 main criteria i.e. clear goals and multiple means. This ensures that the goals are easily understood while allowing flexible ways of learning.
  • Clear Goals: what students will master, content-based (e.g., understanding Self Determination Theory) or skill-based (e.g., conducting data analysis).

  • Multiple Means: separate from the methods of achieving them, offer multiple ways to deal with potential barriers that might interfere with students’ ability.
Learning Goal Clear Goal Multiple Means
Students will watch a documentary, read a book chapter and write a movie critique paper.  X
Partially. The listed tasks are concrete, but the goal doesn’t state the specific learning outcome.		 X
No, there is only one way for all students to reach the goal (i.e., write a movie critique paper).
Students will watch a movie, analyze it with at least one film theory, and make an oral presentation. ✓
Yes, it identifies what students should do (apply at least one film theory to analyze a movie) and includes the analytic requirement.		 X
No, there is only one way for all students to reach the goal (i.e., an oral presentation).
Students will demonstrate specific semiotic concepts in any two kinds of chosen media texts. ✓
Yes, it provides a clear expectation regarding the concept students should learn and indicates the scope.		 ✓
Yes, it allows students to select the media they are interested in, while encompassing various formats for presenting their understanding.
Students will be able to  write a movie script.  ?
Your turn!		 ?
Your turn!
(IRIS Center, 2025)
Tips for designing inclusive learning outcomes:

What is learning outcome?
Learning outcomes are specific, measurable steps or actions that students will be able to demonstrate by the end of the course. They break down broad goals into actionable, observable components.

Why are learning outcomes important?
  • They create a foundation for aligning teaching, learning activities, and assessments.
  • They ensure assessments measure what truly matters.
  • When aligned with long-term learning goals, outcomes help students develop durable skills beyond a single task.
How to make inclusive learning outcomes?
UDL Guideline 3.2 (Representation) suggests highlighting patterns and critical features, as well as exploring big ideas and relationships by:
  • Making learning expectations transparent, helping students self-regulate and persist.
  • Enabling multiple means of action and expression, separating the “what” (outcome) from the “how” (method).
  • Providing a solid basis for accessible rubrics, feedback, and equitable assessment.
(Abawi, 2015; Biggs, 1996; Sadler, 2009; Boud & Falchiko, 2006; CAST, 2024)
Bloom’s Taxonomy for designing learning outcomes:

The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is widely used in designing learning outcomes. This classification framework organizes cognitive skills into six levels, from basic to advanced level of thinking, the higher level, the more expert the skill. However, bear in mind that learning is not a linear process. It is not necessary to start from the bottom and level up. Select and mix the levels to match the needs of the students.

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Creating: Combine previously assimilated elements to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern.
Evaluating: Judge and critique information based on criteria and standards.
Analyzing: Break information into constituent parts, draw connections among ideas.
Applying: Interpret information to solve problems in new situations.
Understanding: Comprehend the information, explain and draw conclusions to construct meaning.
Remembering: Recall facts and basic concepts from long-term memory.
Creating: Combine previously assimilated elements to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern.
Evaluating: Judge and critique information based on criteria and standards.
Analyzing: Break information into constituent parts, draw connections among ideas.
Applying: Interpret information to solve problems in new situations.
Understanding: Comprehend the information, explain and draw conclusions to construct meaning.
Remembering: Recall facts and basic concepts from long-term memory.
(Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
To use the bloom’s taxonomy, choose action verbs from the cognitive level you wish to target and use those verbs to set the learning outcomes. The verb list below suggests various action verbs in alignment with Bloom’s levels of learning.

To set a learning outcome, follow this structure:
“students will be able to + action verb from the targeted cognitive level + the knowledge/skill/capability students are expected to acquire”.

Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs
Remember  Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
acquire, articulate, choose, cite, collect, complete, define, describe, find, identify, indicate, isolate, label, list, mark, match, name, order, place, quote, recall, recognize, reproduce, retrieve, select, state, tabulate arrange, associate, categorize, clarify, conclude, differentiate, discuss, explain, exemplify, formulate, generalize, give example, interpret, outline, paraphrase, predict, relate, reorder, rephrase, summarize, transform, translate apply, arrange, calculate, classify, compute, conduct, construct, demonstrate, employ, examine, extrapolate, execute, experiment, illustrate, interpolate, implement, manipulate, modify, operate, organize, solve, transfer, prepare, produce, use analyse, break down, categorize, combine, compare, contrast, connect, criticize, deduce, deconstruct, detect, differentiate, discover, distinguish, divide, integrate, inventory, infer, paraphrase, separate, structure appraise, argue, assess, convince, critique, decide, determine, discriminate, evaluate, estimate, grade, measure, interpret, judge, justify, rank, recommend, relate, standardize, support, test, validate assemble, build, change, combine, compose, constitute, create, design, develop, derive, devise, document, formulate, generalize, generate, hypothesize, integrate, invest, make, modify, originate, plan, produce, propose, revise, signify, specify, synthesize, write
(Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001; Colorado College, 2022; EPM,2022; Imperial College London, 2025)
How to check if my learning outcomes are inclusive or not?
Let’s test your understanding! Decide if the following examples are good learning outcomes. If not, how to improve it?
Example 1:
Understand the causes of the French Revolution.
No!
  • Issue: “Understand” is vague and not measurable.
  • Improved version: Students will be able to explain three major causes of the French Revolution and compare their impact using evidence from primary sources.
Example 2:
Know how to use GIS.
No!
  • Issue: “Know how to use” is vague and does not specify what students will actually do with GIS.
  • Improved version: Students will be able to analyze spatial data using GIS software by creating a detailed map that visualizes demographic trends.
References
  1. Abawi, L. (2015). Inclusion ‘from the gate in’: wrapping students with personalised learning support. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 10(1), 47–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/22040552.2015.1084676

  2. Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. A. (2001). Taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman. 

  3. Ashman, J. (2025, September 12). Learning-Centred Marking Rubrics in the Age of AI [Online workshop]. Centre for Learning Enhancement and Research.

  4. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy – Colorado College. (2022, April 14). https://www.coloradocollege.edu/other/assessment/how-to-assess-learning/learning-outcomes/blooms-revised-taxonomy.html

  5. Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32(3), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138871

  6. Boud, D. and Falchikov, N. (2006). Aligning assessment with long-term learning, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(4) 399-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930600679050

  7. CAST, Inc. (2024). The UDL guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

  8. Choosing action verbs | Staff | Imperial College London. (2025). https://www.imperial.ac.uk/staff/educational-development/teaching-toolkit/intended-learning-outcomes/choosing-action-verbs/

  9. EPM. (2022, February 19). Bloom’s Taxonomy Explained with Example [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hE_XjCekfs 

  10. IRIS Center. (2025, March 7). Page 4: Goals. IRIS. Retrieved August 26, 2025, from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/cresource/q2/p04/#content

  11. Sadler, D. R. (2009). Indeterminacy in the use of preset criteria for assessment and grading in higher education. Assessment and Evaluation inHigher Education, 34, 159-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930801956059 

  12. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (n.d.). SMART Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) [Slide show]. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/ee/pdf/SMART-SLOs_presentation.pdf.