What do the UDL Guidelines suggest?

3.2. Options that highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships

One of the big differences between experts and novices (including those with disabilities) in any domain is the facility with which they distinguish what is critical from what is unimportant or irrelevant. Because experts quickly recognize the most important features in information, they allocate their time efficiently, quickly identifying what is valuable and finding the right "hooks" with which to assimilate that most valuable information into existing knowledge. As a consequence, one of the most effective ways to make information more accessible is to provide explicit cues or prompts that assist individuals in attending to those features that matter most while avoiding those that matter least. Depending on the goal of the lesson, highlighting may emphasize 1) the critical features that distinguish one concept from another, 2) the "big ideas" that organize domains of information, 3) the relationships between disparate concepts and ideas, 4) the relationships between new information and prior knowledge to build networks and contexts in which the new information has meaning.

Click here to go to the UDL Guidelines for examples.