TILT supports universal design for learning principles and accommodations through collaboration among educators and students

How can educators know they are implementing universal design for learning (UDL) practices in a way that best supports their students' agency as “purposeful, reflective, resourceful, authentic, strategic, and action-oriented” learners, as the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) recommends? No teacher or accommodations expert alone can possibly identify the most effective approaches to help overcome the barriers to students’ learning without the students’ unique input about how they learn best and what obstacles stand in the way of their learning. UDL Guidelines recommend adopting “a collaborative approach among learners and educators to co-design learning goals, activities, and tasks”. An evidence-based practice that directly supports this collaborative approach is transparency in learning and teaching (TILT). TILT offers a time-efficient process for collaboration among educators and students through which they share responsibility for: analyzing the purposes, tasks, and criteria for a learning exercise or learning plan, applying students’ insights to identify and address barriers to learning, choosing effective learning approaches, and optimizing learning experiences. This transparent communication involves many practices enumerated under UDL's principal guidelines for learner agency including “engagement, representation, and action & expression”, and analysis of learners’ “access, support, and executive function”. This contribution suggests how the TILT Framework may support students, instructors, and accessibility experts in collaborating to identify and implement evidence-based pedagogical practices and effective accommodations.