Engaging all Learners to Engage with God: Universal Design for Learning and Theological Education

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for teaching and learning developed in order to give all students equal access to learning and meet the needs of all students in the classroom.

The principles of UDL focus attention on flexible learning environments with multi-modal teaching styles which can accommodate individual learning strengths and abilities. The UDL approach to pedagogy seeks to assist educators with focusing attention on the processes involved with thinking and learning.

What is it that drives students to learn? What helps students to engage better with teaching materials? How can students learn to evaluate and critique what they are learning? How can students learn to apply what they are learning?

The principles of UDL focus attention on flexible learning environments with multi-modal teaching styles which can accommodate individual learning strengths and abilities.

While primary and secondary educators have long seen the merit in UDL, tertiary educators have been slower to appropriate UDL methods into the lecture theatre. This uptake has been even slower in Christian higher education institutions with very little research dedicated to UDL and Christian higher education.

This paper will outline the aims and methodology of UDL and consider its application for higher education in general, and more specifically, to the area of Christian higher education. In particular, this paper will focus on the benefits to both students and educators of adopting UDL methods in theological education.