C-I and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

We’ve been asked by dedicated faculty members “I respect these ideas, but my bigger priority is making sure I am practicing Universal Design for Learning (UDL)—how does (and does) C-I fit in there?” These are important questions, and related. 

C-I is a student-centric pedagogy model that raises the stakes for student buy-in.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is, at its core, about planning on the front end for as many different needs (legitimate needs, not preferences) our students might have so that we can spend less time in the semester having to react to accommodations. When put bluntly, it sounds like making preemptive accommodations so that we can make our teaching job easier. Maybe we are. But Womack and Godden remind us why the job becomes easier—because we keep it focused on the student rather than ourselves:

Designing inclusive learning spaces is a process, one that must be re-evaluated on a continual basis, and one where our students need to be invited into, rather than be treated as the recipients of, “best practice” authoritative models of teaching practice. (Womack and Godden, 2016)