Enhancing Capacity for Monitoring Progress in Universal Design for Learning

Enhancing capacity for monitoring progress is a universal design for learning (UDL) guideline that supports multiple means of action and expression. The UDL guidelines were developed by an organization called CAST. This article will explore how teachers and other educators can help learners recognize the progress they make.

Enhancing capacity for monitoring progress in Universal Design for Learning

Enhancing capacity for monitoring progress means giving learners tools and feedback to help them understand their progress. Tools and feedback allow learners to notice the knowledge they have gained and recognize their progress toward achievement of learning goals. Therefore, learners should receive different forms of detailed feedback in a timely manner. Furthermore, formative feedback in the middle of an assignment can help learners improve their final versions of the assignment.

Teachers can use many strategies to enhance learners’ capacity for monitoring progress. For instance, teachers can ask questions or provide prompts that focus learners’ attention on certain aspects of an assignment. For example, teachers can ask learners about how they have used vocabulary and structured ideas.

In addition, teachers can provide rubrics or checklists detailing the criteria learners must meet to achieve success on an assignment. Moreover, teachers can show learners examples of completed assignments, and point out areas for improvement in those examples. Similarly, teachers can show examples of the progress former students made when completing assignments, such as:

• Before-and-after photographs of assignments at different stages
• Portfolios with different drafts of a paper

Likewise, teachers can show examples of learners assessing their own work, or the work of their peers. For instance, learners can benefit from peer-review or self-monitoring models such as:

• Role-plays
• Videos or slideshows providing feedback

Furthermore, teachers can provide templates to guide learners through assessing aspects of their own work. Finally, teachers can introduce learners to other forms of feedback that may align with their goals, their preferences, or the context of a lesson or topic.