Designing for Everyone: UDL in Action from K–12 to College

If there’s one thing we know as educators, it’s that no two students are exactly alike. They bring different strengths, challenges, interests, and experiences to the classroom whether it’s a virtual space or face-to-face. And that’s exactly why I love Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. It’s not just a framework. It’s a mindset that helps us design learning experiences that actually work for all students.

UDL is all about flexibility and options. It invites us to offer multiple ways for students to engage with content, take in information, and show what they know. More than that, it shifts our mindset from “How do I teach this?” to “How do I support every student in accessing and loving this content?”

Let’s get into the benefits and some real-world ways UDL can transform both K–12 and higher education.

Why UDL? Because One-Size-Fits-All Doesn’t Fit Anyone

When we intentionally design with UDL, here’s what we see in action:

• Students feel seen and supported. When we build options into our design from the beginning, students aren’t left scrambling to request accommodations or feeling like the exception.

• Motivation increases. Students are more likely to engage when they have choice and autonomy in how they learn and show what they know.

• Learning becomes deeper and more meaningful. When students connect with material in a way that works for them, retention and critical thinking naturally improve.

• Barriers are minimized before they become issues. Proactive design makes learning more accessible and makes life easier for both students and educators.

UDL in Online Learning

Online learning offers so many opportunities to build UDL into the design from the ground up. Here are some ways educators are doing it:

Psychology Course Activity Example

Students choose how they want to respond to a prompt about stress and coping techniques:

• Write a discussion post

• Record an audio or video response

• Share a visual mind map using a digital tool

All students are also provided with a video lecture that includes captions, a transcript, and a downloadable audio version. This gives students control over how they access and engage with content.

STEM Course Assessment Example

For a unit on data analysis, students:

• Explore content using a simulation, an article, or a pre-recorded presentation

• Choose how to demonstrate understanding by submitting a written report, video explanation, or infographic

Tip: Embed clear expectations and scaffolds like rubrics or “starter prompts” to reduce cognitive load without limiting creativity. Built-in options like these support different learning styles, schedules, and strengths.

UDL in the Face-to-Face Classroom

Face-to-face environments also offer so many opportunities for UDL in action.

Higher Ed Biology Class Example

To support learning during lectures, the instructor:

• Shares slides with notes ahead of time

• Uses live polling and short-answer questions to check for understanding

• Offers real-time captioning and records sessions for later viewing

These strategies support students who need more time, prefer visual learning, or miss class due to life circumstances.

High School Science Lesson Example

A teacher designing a lesson on ecosystems includes:

• A visual infographic and live demonstration

• Hands-on group activities or an individual guided worksheet

• A final project where students choose to create a poster, write a short report, or present a skit

Middle School ELA Activity Example

After reading a novel, students can:

• Write a character analysis

• Draw a character map or create a comic strip

• Perform a short skit in groups

Each student finds a way to connect with the story in a format that fits their strengths.

Final Thoughts

UDL isn’t just for students with accommodations. It’s for everyone. When we apply UDL, we create spaces where all students can learn, grow, and succeed. And once you start designing this way, it’s hard to go back.

So here’s your challenge. Pick one place to try UDL this week. Give your students a choice in how they access something, engage with it, or show what they know. Watch what happens.

Spoiler alert: It will probably be more meaningful for your students, and honestly, more energizing for you too.

Want to explore UDL together? I’m always up for a conversation. Let’s keep designing learning that works for every single student.

Leading with Courage: Transforming the Future from Where You Are

I recently attended the 2025 Spring LSU Online and Continuing Education Innovation Series Event, where I was inspired by a panel discussion on "Leading with Courage: Transforming the Future from Where You Are." The conversation focused on how courageous leaders drive transformation by investing in people, fostering innovation, and challenging the status quo.

The panelists, leaders from both education and industry, shared how they inspire change by prioritizing growth, collaboration, and adaptability. They discussed strategies for empowering individuals, cultivating leadership at all levels, and navigating the challenges of an evolving educational landscape. One key takeaway? Bold leadership isn’t just about making big moves. It is about building strong connections between education, workforce development, and the future of our society.

This discussion made me reflect on what truly defines a great leader. Leadership isn’t about simply assigning tasks or overseeing projects. It is about being present, guiding growth, and creating an environment where people feel valued and motivated.

Lessons in Leadership: Powerful Analogies

During the panel, several powerful analogies were shared that really resonated with me. I have taken time to reflect on them and what they truly mean in the context of leadership. These comparisons helped frame leadership in a way that is both relatable and actionable. There are also a few I have added myself as an extension of what I have learned, building on the ideas that stood out to me the most.

Leadership is Like Directing a Theater Production

If you think about it, great leadership is a lot like being a theater director. You may not always be center stage, but behind the scenes, you are making sure the entire production comes together. A director supports the actors, coordinates lighting and sound, secures funding, and ensures that everything runs smoothly so the performers can shine. Great leaders do the same as they provide the vision, structure, and resources that allow their teams to succeed.

A Leader Gets Things Done With Their Team

One of the key insights that stood out to me is that leadership isn’t just about delegation. Great leaders don’t just assign tasks; they work alongside their team to achieve goals. They understand that success isn’t about individual achievement but about how well the entire team operates together.

A Leader’s Team is a Reflection of Their Leadership

A strong leader understands that their team’s performance, morale, and success are a direct reflection of their leadership style. They do not just give orders; they support, inspire, and equip their team with the tools to succeed. A thriving team results from a leader who invests in growth and well-being.

Leadership is Building a Bridge

A great leader doesn’t just direct people from point A to point B. They build the bridge that helps their team cross over challenges, grow their skills, and move toward success. Leadership is about connecting people to opportunities, resources, and their own potential.

Leadership is Coaching, Not Just Managing

The best leaders act like coaches, not just managers. Instead of simply delegating tasks, they motivate, train, and push their team to be their best. Coaches see potential, provide feedback, and celebrate growth. They don’t just call the plays. They get in there and help their team execute them.

Leadership is Navigating the Ship Together

A great leader doesn’t just steer the ship alone. They sail alongside their team, ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction. Leadership is about guiding, adjusting the sails when necessary, and making sure no one gets left behind.

Leadership Starts with Trust and Relationships

A true leader builds a culture of trust, creating an environment where people feel safe to contribute ideas, take risks, and grow. Leadership is not just about results; it is about the people who drive those results.

Leaders Teach People to Fish, Not Just Give Them Fish

Great leaders don’t just solve problems for their teams. They equip them with the skills to solve problems themselves. This means fostering critical thinking, resilience, and decision-making abilities. By empowering their teams to take ownership, they create long-term success.

A True Leader is Open to Change

Change is inevitable, and great leaders recognize that their ability to adapt sets them apart. The best leaders do not resist change; they embrace it and help their teams navigate it. Instead of simply demanding tasks be completed, they explain the reasons behind decisions and invite collaboration.

Courageous Leaders Drive Innovation and Progress

It takes courage to challenge outdated processes, advocate for new ideas, and push for meaningful progress. The best leaders foster innovation by encouraging creativity and adaptability. They recognize that staying stagnant is not an option in an evolving world.

The Best Leaders Grow Their People

Like a garden, teams need to be nurtured to flourish. Leaders should focus on professional growth and skill development, providing mentorship, training, and opportunities for advancement. A leader’s success is measured not just by what they achieve, but by how well they help others grow.

Wrapping It Up

All of this reinforces that my views on leadership align with the panel discussion. The best way to lead is to be present, encouraging, and innovative. Great leaders invest in their people, foster collaboration, and embrace change. They don’t just direct. They support, empower, and inspire.

This panel reminded me that leadership is about action, not position. True leaders inspire, empower, and create an environment where people feel valued and capable of achieving their best work.

When leadership is done right, it builds trust, drives growth, and creates lasting impact. Whether you're leading a team, a classroom, or an entire organization, remember that true leadership is about lifting others up and creating an environment where everyone can thrive.

What leadership strategies have made the biggest impact on you?

Maximizing Student Engagement in Science Education

For the past two years, I’ve been using LabXchange in my course design work, and it has become a go-to resource for helping faculty create engaging, interactive online science learning experiences. LabXchange is a comprehensive open educational resource (OER) platform filled with a diverse range of materials including videos, articles, simulations, virtual labs, and interactive experiments. It offers much more than what a traditional textbook can, providing students with opportunities to immerse themselves in science content in dynamic and hands-on ways.

What I find most valuable about LabXchange is how it supports faculty in thinking creatively about how to engage students with complex scientific concepts. As someone who collaborates with faculty, my role is to help them design learning experiences that meet course outcomes and learning objectives. LabXchange makes this easier by offering a wide variety of resources that allow students to explore science concepts interactively, whether through a simulation, a video, or a virtual lab that mirrors real-world scientific experimentation. This active engagement deepens students' understanding and sparks curiosity, making the learning process much more engaging than reading static textbook content.

While I would love to create my own simulations and virtual experiments, I currently don’t have the advanced skillset required to do so at this time. So, I’m incredibly thankful to have a resource like LabXchange, which is well built-out and high-quality, meeting the needs of both educators and students. It allows me to focus on helping faculty design immersive learning experiences without having to reinvent the wheel. In the future, I would love to learn how to create my own simulations and virtual experiments, as well as develop 3D images like you can find on Sketchfab.

LabXchange’s accessibility is another major reason why I love using it. Designed with inclusivity in mind, the platform ensures that all students, regardless of their learning needs, can engage with the content. This is critical in science education, where diverse learning styles and abilities often require varied resources to support understanding. LabXchange provides these resources in a way that helps create an inclusive, accessible learning environment for every student.

As an educator, it’s important to always check the accessibility of the resources you’re integrating into your courses. Never just trust what someone says. Test it out yourself. This ensures that the materials are truly accessible to all students, providing a more equitable learning experience for everyone. To learn more about LabXchange’s efforts in improving accessibility, check out their blog here.

Through my work, I’ve seen how LabXchange helps bridge the gap between theory and practice in science education. Science is all about hands-on learning and experimentation, and LabXchange offers virtual experiments and simulations that allow students to apply scientific concepts in an interactive way. This active exploration is incredibly powerful. It allows students to engage with the material in a meaningful way, helping to solidify their understanding and connect theoretical knowledge to real-world applications.

LabXchange has become an invaluable resource for designing online science courses that are immersive, engaging, and accessible. It offers faculty a diverse set of tools to create interactive, hands-on learning experiences that go far beyond what textbooks can provide. I’m excited to continue using it to help faculty inspire students to explore, experiment, and deepen their understanding of science in ways that are both interactive and effective.

A Time-Saving Guide to Creating Learning Resources

Okay, real talk, how many times have you made a study guide, stared at it, and thought, this needs to be more fun?

I’m using my daughter’s study guide as an example today. She’s super independent and usually handles things on her own, but every now and then, she asks me for help. And honestly, I love it. Helping her out is one of those little joys that make my day.

Creating learning games and tools can take forever. But over the past year, I’ve cracked a process that’s saved me HOURS. And the best part? The process I’m about to show you works for learning materials from early elementary all the way to higher education. If you’re looking to turn study guides into something way more interactive, without the headache, keep reading. I’m about to show you how I do it in no time.

The Game-Changing Process

Step 1: Digitize Your Study Guide

I start with a study guide, often handwritten, not typed. To turn this into a digital format, I take a picture of it and upload it to my favorite website: ASU Online AI Labs Image Accessibility Creator. This tool is a lifesaver for both saving time and ensuring accessibility. It converts the image into text and provides robust, accurate alt text for any graphics.

Once the text is extracted, I paste it into a Word document, creating a digital version of my notes. Just like that, the hard part is done!

Step 2: Generate Questions

With my digital study guide ready, I turn to my trusty think partner: ChatGPT. I ask it something like this:

“Can you take this study guide of notes (attached) and create multiple-choice questions with four answer options for each question, marking the correct answer with an asterisk? For example:

*a. evolution

Provide enough multiple-choice questions to cover all the content on the study guide notes.”

ChatGPT generates a set of questions, but here’s an important note: Prompt engineering is a crucial step in getting the results you want. Improving your prompts takes time and practice, so don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work perfectly on the first try. I suggest once you create a prompt that delivers exactly what you need, save it! Having a list of template prompts is a huge time-saver for me, and it ensures I can streamline repetitive tasks like this.

Also, here’s a pro tip: Always review the content yourself. As much as I love ChatGPT, it’s vital to verify the information to ensure accuracy. You are the brain behind the process, so don’t skip this step.

Step 3: Transform Questions into Interactive Formats

Once I’ve reviewed the questions, I upload them to GetMarked’s Google Form Quiz Import Tool. This tool lets me convert my questions into a Google Form, which I then transform into a Google Quiz. There are a few more steps to get the quiz from GetMarked to Google Form, but the instructions on the GetMarked website are super easy to follow, making the whole process smooth from start to finish.

With the quiz ready, I can easily import it into Quizizz to create an engaging, interactive learning game.

If I’m not working with Google Quizzes, I’ll add the study guide or questions directly to Quizlet. From Quizlet, I can export the content to platforms like Kahoot, Blooket, Quizalize, or back to Quizizz for even more options.

The Result: Hours Saved

What used to take me hours and hours to do now takes about 10 minutes, depending on the content. I’ve taught myself this process over the past year, and it’s been an absolute game changer. Not only do I save time, but I’m also creating accessible and effective learning materials that students love.

Give It a Try!

If this process connects with you or if you’d like a walkthrough, feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to share specific steps or guide you through it. Saving time and creating great learning experiences is something we all deserve!

Applying the Eight Cultural Forces in an Online Course

Welcome to Part 2 of my blog post on Cultivating a Culture of Thinking. As an educator who also helps faculty build their courses online and teaches online, it’s important to consider how these principles translate to an online learning environment. In an online setting, the pace of learning can vary greatly. Students may feel pressured to quickly respond to discussion posts or complete assignments. To combat this, consider integrating reflective activities that allow students to take their time.

Use asynchronous discussions where students can respond over several days. After posting, encourage them to revisit and refine their thoughts based on peer feedback or further reflection. You could also include built-in reflection periods in your course schedule, prompting students to take a step back and think about what they've learned before moving forward.

Opportunities in an Online Classroom

Online classrooms offer incredible flexibility in the kinds of learning experiences you can design. Purposeful opportunities for deep thinking can be embedded into online assignments, projects, and discussions.

One way to integrate collaborative learning is by utilizing interactive tools such as discussion boards, wikis, and collaborative documents. For instance, you could ask students to co-create a research project where they collectively explore a topic, generate hypotheses, and analyze findings. Platforms like Google Docs or Padlet facilitate real-time collaboration and deeper exploration, enhancing the learning experience by allowing students to share ideas and resources effectively.

Structures & Routines in an Online Classroom

Even in an online setting, routines are essential for helping students develop consistent thinking habits. Establishing clear patterns of interaction and reflection helps students feel anchored and supported.

Begin each week with a “thinking routine” prompt in your online course. For instance, implement a "See-Think-Wonder" discussion where students share their observations about a topic, articulate their thoughts on what is happening, and pose any questions they have. Over time, these routines will become ingrained, even in a virtual environment.

Language in an Online Classroom

Using a language of thinking online involves being intentional in your communications and ensuring that students are exposed to and using reflective language in their posts and interactions.

One idea to integrate is to utilize interactive tools like discussion boards, wikis, and collaborative documents. For example, you could ask students to co-create a research project where they collectively explore a topic, generate hypotheses, and analyze findings. Platforms such as Google Docs or Padlet facilitate real-time collaboration and deeper exploration.

Modeling in an Online Classroom

Modeling in an online environment can be challenging but is still crucial. Showing students your thought processes can be done through written explanations, video lectures, or even live sessions.

Integrating video resources can be highly effective. Consider recording a video where you walk through solving a complex problem or analyzing a text, explaining your thought process along the way. Post these videos as resources and invite students to comment or ask questions. Additionally, you could host live sessions where you think aloud and encourage students to share their thoughts in real-time.

Interactions & Relationships in an Online Classroom

Building a community of thinkers online requires deliberate efforts to create safe, supportive spaces where students feel comfortable sharing and challenging ideas.

A great way to integrate collaboration is by fostering projects where students rely on each other’s ideas. Pair or group students in discussion boards, encouraging them to engage deeply with one another’s posts. Additionally, consider setting up "thinking partners" or small peer groups that meet regularly in breakout rooms or discussion threads to share insights and offer feedback.

Physical Environment in an Online Classroom

Though you can’t control the physical environment of each student’s home, you can design your virtual space to facilitate thoughtful interaction and creativity.

Consider arranging your online course blueprint to encourage exploration. Use clear, intuitive navigation and create sections or spaces for different types of thinking activities, such as a "Discussion Hub," a "Reflection Corner," or a "Project Zone." This organization helps students understand the purpose of each activity and engage more thoughtfully.

Expectations in an Online Classroom

Setting clear expectations for the quality of thought in an online course is important. Explicitly communicate that depth of thinking is valued over speed or superficiality.

Utilize detailed rubrics that emphasize critical thinking, creativity, and reflection in discussions and assignments. Clearly communicate in your instructions that you are seeking well-reasoned arguments, connections between ideas, and evidence of thoughtful reflection, rather than just task completion.

Recap: Building a Reflective and Engaging Online Learning Environment

By adapting these principles to your online teaching, you not only create a more engaging and reflective learning environment but also model the kind of thoughtful learning you want to see in your students. The goal is to make thinking visible and valued, whether in a physical or virtual classroom, fostering a culture where students are motivated to think deeply and critically about their learning.

A Call to Reflect and Act in Online Learning

Creating a culture of thinking in an online classroom requires just as much intentionality as in a physical classroom; if not more. As you adapt Ritchhart's eight cultural forces to your virtual environment, consider how these elements can transform your online teaching practice.

Challenge

Choose one of the cultural forces and focus on enhancing it in your online course this week. Maybe you’ll redesign your discussion board to promote deeper thinking or record a video that models your thought process. Reflect on the changes at the end of the week: How did students respond? Did you notice a shift in their engagement or the depth of their reflections?