March 3, 2009
CAST Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Launch of UDL Spotlight Launched
New online feature to feature great examples of Universal Design for Learning in practice
March 3, 2009 — CAST today announced the launch of UDL Spotlight, an online feature (www.cast.org/spotlight) to showcase exemplary initiatives in Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL Spotlight is supported by an anonymous donor to help celebrate CAST’s 25 years of innovation in education.
CAST’s first UDL Spotlight features the EnACT Project (Ensuring Access through Collaboration and Technology, http://enact.sonoma.edu/). Led by Emiliano C. Ayala, Ph.D., of Sonoma State University, EnACT features collaborative teams working together across eight California State University (CSU) campuses to improve educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
Dr. Ayala and his colleagues have chosen to implement Universal Design for Learning as the best possible approach for meeting the needs of diverse learners. That choice, first made in 2005, was prescient as it came a full three years before the passage of the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, which defined UDL in federal statute for the first time and urged to make UDL implementation a priority in their teaching and learning, and in preservice teacher education.
In this inaugural UDL Spotlight feature, CAST features the classroom practices of Prof. Sandra Yang, a member of the Music Faculty at Cal Poly Pomona. Linking to a video example of Dr. Yang in the classroom, this Spotlight shows how Dr. Yang uses UDL to expand her teaching repertoire and engage more students in high-quality learning. The UDL Spotlight also aligns Dr. Yang’s work to the research-based UDL Guidelines—a feature which provides visitors with a deeper understanding of UDL principles in practice.
UDL Spotlight will be a regular feature of the CAST website, and CAST welcomes nominations of innovative initiatives, products, and individual efforts for recognition. An online nomination form is available at www.cast.org/spotlight. CAST will promote UDL Spotlight features through regular email updates reaching a broad array of educators, national education organizations, policy advocates, curriculum developers, and funders.
CAST congratulates all participants in the EnACT Project on their exemplary work in implementing UDL.
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About CAST
Founded in 1984 as the Center for Applied Special Technology, CAST has earned international recognition for its development of innovative learning resources and for articulating the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework for creating inclusive educational environments. For more information, go to www.cast.org.
