Opportunity in crisis: The role of universal design for learning in educational redesign

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated an unprecedented shift in special education practice from brick-and-mortar instruction to online learning This manuscript explores factors related to the shift and argues the COVID-19 disruption creates an opportunity for systemic educational reform The Universal Design for Learning framework is presented as a means to proactively anticipate learner variability while redesigning an education system to meet the diverse needs of students with learning disabilities Issues surrounding FAPE in online instruction, digital inequity, and socioeconomic status are addressed The article concludes with an example of how an online course, developed using the framework and supported with multiple technologies, can benefit students with learning disabilities (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)