Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is one of those concepts that floats through professional development sessions like a familiar ghost, friendly, well-intentioned, and universally acknowledged… yet rarely embodied in the work itself. We nod, we smile, we add “include more options” to a sticky note. Then we return to our overfilled workloads and hope that offering a PDF plus a video counts as UDL.
But if there’s anything I’ve learned as both an educator and an instructional designer obsessed with cognitive and sensory diversity, it’s this:
UDL is not a strategy list.
UDL is a worldview.
And when you view it through the lens of uncommon instructional design, the lens of visibility, difference, perception, and the realities of human variability, it stops being a framework on a poster and starts becoming a design ethic.
This is not another “What is UDL?” resource.
This is UDL examined through the edges, not the average.
Why UDL Exists (Spoiler: It’s Not About Compliance)
Most descriptions of UDL emphasize “reaching all learners,” but that can dilute the deeper purpose. UDL is not about providing three versions of the same worksheet. It’s not about offering choice for the sake of novelty. It’s not about adding an audiobook button and calling it a day. These are scaffolds for learner support and are touted in educational professional development as UDL. But they are merely a small part of the UDL framework.
At its core, UDL is an equity framework. One that recognizes that:
- Most barriers are cognitive, sensory, or perceptual.
- Most barriers are invisible.
- Most learners who need support will never disclose what they struggle with.
UDL, therefore, asks us to design before we know who will show up, before someone has the language to describe what’s hard for them, and before a problem becomes a point of shame or academic struggle.
In the world of Uncommon Instructional Design, that’s the work of visibility: seeing what isn’t named.
The Learners Who Rarely Appear in UDL Conversations
UDL conversations often center on general categories: attention, sensory needs, and language access. But real classrooms and digital spaces include far more nuanced variability, such as:
Learners with non-visual working memory deficits or aphantasia
Traditional “picture first, explain later” or “visualize this scenario” tasks create unnecessary cognitive load. They need structured, concrete, verbal, or spatial scaffolds instead.
Learners living with sensory volatility
Migraine days, overstimulation days, days when letters float off the page or screen, days when contrast flickers or sound is sharp, UDL ensures they don’t have to “push through” inaccessible materials.
Learners with color blindness or low color differentiation
Your red/green graph is meaningless, your categorical color coding collapses into one value, and your Storyline button states may all look identical.
UDL eliminates the need for guesswork.
Learners navigating fluctuating executive function
Energy levels change. Emotional bandwidth shifts. A student who thrives with structure on Monday may need flexibility by Wednesday.
UDL designs for this reality rather than punishing it.
These learners are everywhere.
Their differences are real.
And their needs often go unnamed.
That’s exactly why UDL matters.
UDL in Practice: What It Looks Like When It’s More Than a Poster
The most powerful UDL implementations I’ve seen share a key feature: they build accessibility in from the very beginning, not as an afterthought.
This looks like:
- audio versions of every reading
- closed captions on videos plus transcripts, always both
- color-blind-friendly palettes and iconography
- diagrams with alt-text, annotation layers, simplified versions, and text-based equivalents
- vocabulary in multimodal formats
- workflow scaffolds for executive function
- clear microcopy that reduces ambiguity, not increases it
- multiple paths to demonstrate mastery without lowering rigor
UDL, when practiced authentically, doesn’t pamper learners.
It removes cognitive friction so they can think about content, not about navigating the medium.
Why This Matters for “Uncommon Instructional Design”
My blog exists to explore the things we don’t notice until someone names them: vision, perception, sensory experience, cognitive architecture, the little details that shape learning long before the content lands.
UDL fits naturally here.
It is the design principle of visibility in action.
Not “visibility” as in “make it bigger” or “use bold fonts,” but visibility as in:
I see you, even if I can’t see what you’re struggling with.
I built this with you in mind.
You don’t need to disclose anything to belong here.
That’s the heart of UDL.
And that’s what makes it uncommon.
Further Reading
A resource that explores when accessibility falls short:
Hinderliter, H. (2022). Principles of Accessible Multimedia Learning.
It offers a thoughtful re-examination of designing multimedia learning through the deep consideration of neurodiverse learners, aligning beautifully with UDL.
The cornerstone and foundation of UDL: