The 9th Annual CAST UDL Symposium: Through the Lens of UDL
Symposium
Dates
Monday, July 31 –
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
This year's Symposium will be held online and in-person at the Westin Denver Downtown.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for addressing the educational needs of diverse and variable learners in many settings across many stages of life. It is a means to eradicate persistent inequities in education—and it is an even more powerful tool when used as a lens for shaping educational systems, designs, and initiatives.
This year’s Annual Symposium invites experts across a variety of fields to explore more deeply the ways in which UDL can be used as a lens to see the work of teaching and learning. We hope to both highlight the promising ways UDL has already made great practices even better and to co-create a vision for making UDL ubiquitous as a lens for our collective work of designing learning without limits.
Find out more about the CAST UDL Symposium.
Conference Goals
By engaging in online and in-person sessions that encourage innovative ideas, systemic thinking, and application of theory to practice, participants will:
- Explore the unique ways UDL can enhance and improve the most cutting-edge practices in education today.
- Be inspired to use UDL as a framework for designing and pulling together multiple initiatives across a school, university, or workplace.
- Consider the crosswalks of UDL and other promising educational frameworks.
- Imagine innovative policies and practices that complement and advance the goals of UDL.
- Challenge their own assumptions about teaching, instruction, and learning.
Live Session Schedule
Please note: The concurrent session options are different for in-person and online participants. In-person participants will have access to all in-person and online sessions plus the online session recordings. Online participants will only have access to the online sessions and online session recordings. In-person only items are indicated by an asterisk (*) in the main schedule. Keynotes are the only sessions for both in-person and online attendees.
All times are listed in Mountain Time (MT). Find out how this translates to your time zone.
Day One: Monday, July 31, 2023
- 8:00 – 9:00 am: Registration*
- 9:00 – 9:15 am: Welcome Session & Opening
- 9:15 – 10:15 am: Keynote
Nicole Tucker-Smith
CEO, Lessoncast
Cultivating Brave Spaces by Designing from Diverse Perspectives - 10:15 – 10:45 am: Break
- 10:45 – 11:45 am: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- Digging into Choice and Flexible Means
Dan McDowell & Amber Riehman - Quantum10: Equity in Education through the lens of UDL
Heather Cowap, Talisa Sullivan, & Jennifer Borrelli - The UDL Roadmap: A roadmap to Support UDL Implementation
Fred Cochran & Jennifer Hicks - Meeting Emotional Needs: Using UDL to address Trauma in Students
Alison Trimper - UDL & EBPs for UPK-Higher Ed Students with Autism
Jennifer Boettger & Leah Padilla
- Digging into Choice and Flexible Means
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- Integrating UDL into a Two-Year Master's of Arts in Teaching Program
Emily Art, Tasia Chatman & Amy Liszt - Hybridizing UDL, Science, and Literacy Frameworks
Michelle Damiani & Heather Waymouth - Weaving together UDL and diversity and inclusion initiatives
Jessica Collado & Rocio Mendoza Fox - Utilizing Hope Neuroscience to Improve Resiliency, Motivation, and Achievement
Paule Marie Ebrahimi, Jeanette Simenson & Cathleen Stocktill-Beachboard
- Integrating UDL into a Two-Year Master's of Arts in Teaching Program
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Lunch* / Break
- 12:30 – 12:45 pm Break
- 12:45 – 1:45 pm: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- Grow with us: Sharing our journey of braiding MTSS and UDL
Loui Lord Nelson & Michael McSheehan - Recognize, Dismantle, Rebuild: Using the MTSS Framework to Lead 4 Justice in STEM
Jennifer Munoz - UDL and Systems Change
Ruth Templeton & Melissa Sanjeh - Transparent Assignment Design Lab
Jennifer Pusateri - Harnessing UDL to Fight Internalized Shame in Autistic Students
Kelly Cray
- Grow with us: Sharing our journey of braiding MTSS and UDL
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- An Anti-Oppressive UDL Framework
Diana Ma - Co-Teaching through the lens of UDL
Anna Hart & Amy Papacek - The Scientific Case for Cultivating Grateful Learning Communities
Allison Posey & Lainie Rowell - Conveying Research Results Meaningfully with UDL
Angel Morgan - Let's Talk About EdTech-quity
Multiple presenters
- An Anti-Oppressive UDL Framework
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 1:45 – 2:15 pm: Break
- 2:15 – 3:15 pm: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- UDL Ubiquity: Going from Principles to Policies, Practices, and Culture
Thomas J. Tobin - Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: A UDL Framework for College Coaches
Whitney Griffin & Jeanette McKillop - UDL Rising to Equity: Community Conversation
Jenna Gravel & Nicole Tucker-Smith - Empowering Diverse Learners Utilizing Nearpod
Katey Armstrong & Katie Phillips - UDL as the Foundation: A Look at Early Childhood and UDL
B. Canham, K. Gerould & D. Mendoza
- UDL Ubiquity: Going from Principles to Policies, Practices, and Culture
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- Oodles of "n-UDL-s" (noodles): A recipe for increasing engagement
Kate Morgan, Alicia Swaggerty & Meagan Wilkinson - Creating State Accessibility Microcredentials for Educators & Aligning with UDL
Krystle Merry & Kirsten Wilson - "But there's too much to cover!": learning to create UDL-focused lessons
Brandy Dudas & Holly Salmon - Students as Access Partners: Teaching Accessibility, UDL, and Anti-Ableism
Katie Healey & Jennifer Healey
- Oodles of "n-UDL-s" (noodles): A recipe for increasing engagement
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 5:00 – 6:00 pm: Reception*
Day Two: Tuesday, August 1, 2023
- 9:00 – 9:15 am: Welcome Session
- 9:15 – 10:15 am: Keynote
Loui Lord Nelson
President, The UDL Approach
From single vision to transition lenses: UDL is maturing - 10:15 – 10:45 am: Break
- 10:45 – 11:45 am: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- A Simple View of Reading: Growing Literacy through Discourse
Michele Estill & Joann Phillips - UDL at Work
James McKenna - Building District-Level UDL Buy-In
Danielle Hamblin & Jennifer Pusateri - Incorporating Employability Skills in Math Courses for Business Using UDL
Subhadra Ganguli - Making the Inclusive Classroom Work for Autistic Students—and Everyone
Aaron Lanou
- A Simple View of Reading: Growing Literacy through Discourse
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- ChatGPT: A Tool for Inclusive UDL and Culturally Responsive Instruction
Jess Egan, Joan Giovannini, Marisha Marks, Jennifer Wallace & Mary Wiseman - Continuous Improvement and UDL: Synergy for Systemic Impact and Implementation
Alia Latorre - UDL Academy for Faculty: Pairing UDL with High-Impact Pedagogies
Breanne Kirsch - Empowering Learners and Minimizing Barriers with iPad Accessibility Tools
Tolulope (Tolu) Noah
- ChatGPT: A Tool for Inclusive UDL and Culturally Responsive Instruction
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 11:45 am – 12:30 pm: Lunch* / Break
- 12:30 – 12:45 pm Break
- 12:45 – 1:45 pm: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- Engaging Higher Ed Instructors Through the Lens of UDL
Virginia Hutcheson - Amplify, Access, Equity
Fred Cochran & Rhonda Marriott Spencer - Circle Up: Design and Problem Solving - UDL and SEL
Jess Gropen & Bill Wilmot - Five Questions (+1) : When Antiracism Meets Universal Design
Andratesha Fritzgerald - Experience Corgi: Explore digital organizers that support students' discipline-specific practices
Jenna Gravel & Beth Fornauf
- Engaging Higher Ed Instructors Through the Lens of UDL
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- Rethinking School Discipline & Classroom Management through UDL, CSP, and Restorative Practices
Carla-Ann Brown & Jalea Turner - Laying the Foundation for Co-Teaching with UDL
Sung Park & Sandya Lopez - Universally Designed, Inquiry-Based Science Professional Development for Special Educators
Meagan Karvonen & Lindsay Ruhter - Universal Design for SEL: It's Possible & Here's How
Aurora Dreger & Jared B Fries
- Rethinking School Discipline & Classroom Management through UDL, CSP, and Restorative Practices
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 1:45 – 2:15 pm: Break
- 2:15 – 3:15 pm: Concurrent Sessions
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- Breakout! Discovering the Benefits of UDL as a Language Learner
Michele Estill & Joann Phillips - The UDL Journey Guide: A North Star for Implementation
James McKenna & Zachary Smith - Zero Barriers in STEM: Supporting Students with Disabilities through Systems Change
Carol O'Donnell & Sherrell Williams - No Crystal Ball Needed: Using UDL to Plan Your Future
M. Patterson, T. Wilder, Y. Tazi, A. Grays & M. Marino
- Breakout! Discovering the Benefits of UDL as a Language Learner
- Online Sessions (available to both in-person and online attendees)
- Change Ideas: Using UDL and Student Voice for Institutional Transformation
Abigail Wilberding - UDL as the Catalyst for Inclusive Practices
Barb Gentille Green & Robin Cunconan-Lahr - Trauma Informed Design is Accessible Design
Alexis Reid & Luis Perez - Universal Design for Learning and its intersections with Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies
Humberto Hernandez
- Change Ideas: Using UDL and Student Voice for Institutional Transformation
- In-person Sessions (not available to online attendees)*
- 3:15 – 3:30 pm: Break
- 3:30 – 4:30 pm: Closing Keynote Panel
Hosted by Lindsay Jones, CAST CEO
Nothing Without Us: Leadership, Disability & the Importance of Visibility
Find out more and live stream this panel for free!- Rebecca Cokley
Program Officer, Ford Foundation - Claudia Gordon
Senior Accessibility Strategist, T-Mobile - Maria Town
President & CEO, American Association of People with Disabilities
- Rebecca Cokley
Pre-recorded Sessions
- Aligning LGBTQ+ Best Practices with the UDL Guidelines
Alia Latorre - UDL: The Base of Equitable Online Course Quality
Sally Baldwin & Jeff Suarez-Grant - A powerful combination: Mental health promotion and UDL
Natalie M Frandsen - The Language of Behavior
Joshua Stamper - Transformative Learning Model: Using UDL Principles to Promote Leadership in Neurodivergent Learners
Lindsey Balderaz & Abby Neel - Education Leaders Advancing Equity with UDL and Digitally Mediated Learning
Jennifer Elemen - Universal Design for Learning: What Our Educational World Needs Now More Than Ever
Kari J. Reneau - Inspiring Learner Voice Through Racial and Social Justice in UDL
Jennifer Munoz - Better Teaching Through UDL: Training Future STEM Faculty
Justi Echeles & Amy Forester - Understanding and reducing academic stress for university students through UDL
Elizabeth Hitches - Building campus-wide UDL Training: Bristol's Accessibility Academy
Julie Jodoin-Krauzyk & Julie Jodoin-Krauzyk - Empowering student-led learning with project management practices supporting executive function
Heather Cowap - Reimaging Online Courses: UDL through the lens of instructional design
Jana Hitchcock & Sonya Woods - Building Your Own Community of Muppets: A UDL PLC
Michelle Patterson, Mia Laudato, Tracy Galvin, Eric Moore, Shihua Brazil, Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles & Sue Jones - You Belong Here: How Universal Design Principles Can Cultivate Inclusive Learning Communities (A Look at Vision, Strategies and Collaborative Tools)
Cathi Davis & Carolyn McCoy - UDL in practice: main challenges and possibilities in Brazil
Raquel Neves Matos Carvalho & Luhany Ercleide Ponciano - Start Here: The first 8 steps to build expert learners
Susanne Croasdaile