PhD Progress / History of UDL
History of UDL
This category has 4 subcategories.
What My EndNote Library Currently Holds
This is an audit of my own library against the four-part structure I have set for the History of UDL section: Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning, UDL as a Policy, and Ireland. I have listed what I hold, put it in reading order, and honestly recorded what is missing.
1. Universal Design (architectural origins)
Rogers-Shaw, C., Carr-Chellman, D. J., & Choi, J. (2018). Universal Design for Learning: Guidelines for accessible online instruction. Adult Learning, 29(1), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159517735530
Opens with the architecture-to-education lineage and frames UDL as an “epistemological shift”. This is already my anchor for that phrase.
Gronseth, S. L., & Dalton, E. M. (2019). Universal access through inclusive instructional design: International perspectives on UDL. Routledge. (rec 784)
The editors’ introduction separates UD, UDI and UDL as distinct but related lineages.
2. Universal Design for Learning (the framework and its development)
Framework and periodisation
Gordon, D. T. (2024). Universal design for learning: Principles, framework, and practice. CAST Professional Publishing. (rec 780)
The CAST-authorised account of how the framework developed. The closest thing I hold to an internal history.
CAST. (2018). Universal Design for Learning guidelines version 2.2. (rec 801)
Read alongside CAST. (2024). Universal design for learning guidelines version 3.0. https://udlguidelines.cast.org (rec 802)
The 2.2 to 3.0 shift is itself an event in the history I am writing.
Gronseth, S., Flood, M., & Galvin, T. (2025). What is next for Universal Design for Learning? UDL 3.0 and implications for diverse settings. International Journal for Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning, 1(1), 237–247. https://doi.org/10.34874/PRSM.ijududl-vol1iss1.4993 (rec 778)
Edyburn, D. L. (2010). Would you recognize Universal Design for Learning if you saw it? Ten propositions for new directions for the second decade of UDL. Learning Disability Quarterly, 33(1), 33–41. (rec 814)
The single most important historical-critical piece I hold. It periodises UDL by decade and is the standard pivot point for a history section.
Evidence-base controversy, which is part of the history
Murphy, M. P. A. (2020). Belief without evidence? A policy research note on Universal Design for Learning. Policy Futures in Education, 19(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210320940206 (rec 813)
Boysen, G. A. (2024). Lessons (not) learned: The troubling similarities between learning styles and universal design for learning. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 10(2), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000280 (rec 812)
Boysen, G. A., Lyles, K. D., Wylie, M. M., & Ozomma, D. F. C. (2025). A review of neurological support for universal design for learning. Policy Futures in Education, 24(5), 748–762. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103251412473 (rec 811)
This one goes directly at the neuroscience origin story CAST tells about itself. I need it as a counterweight.
Capp, M. J. (2017). The effectiveness of universal design for learning: A meta-analysis of literature between 2013 and 2016. International Journal of Inclusive Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2017.1325074 (rec 815)
Almeqdad, Q. I., Alodat, A. M., Alquraan, M. F., Mohaidat, M. A., & Al-Makhzoomy, A. K. (2023). The effectiveness of universal design for learning: A systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis. Cogent Education, 10(1), 2218191. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2218191 (rec 804)
Griful-Freixenet, J., Struyven, K., & Vantieghem, W. (2021). Toward more inclusive education: An empirical test of the Universal Design for Learning conceptual model among preservice teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 72(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487120965525
Travel of the framework beyond North America
This strand matters to my comparative argument.
Arndt, J., & Luo, N. (2019). The intersection of Chinese philosophical traditions and UDL: Exploring current practice in Chinese early childhood classrooms. In S. L. Gronseth & E. M. Dalton (Eds.), Universal access through inclusive instructional design. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429435515-31
Almumen, H. A. (2020). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) across cultures: The application of UDL in Kuwaiti inclusive classrooms. SAGE Open, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020969674
Al’Abri, K. (2012). Toward effective inclusion at universities and colleges: Applications of Universal Design for Learning. Journal of Educational and Instructional Studies in the World, 2(2). (rec 797, no DOI recorded)
القحطاني، ن. & السليم، غ. (2022). تصوُّر مقترَح لتطوير الأداء التدريسي لمعلِّمات مدارس التعليم الشامل في ضوء التصميم الشامل للتعلُّم (UDL). مجلة التربية الخاصة والتأهيل، 14(49.1)، 167–221. https://doi.org/10.21608/sero.2022.258506 (rec 785)
3. UDL as a Policy
| Reference | Role in the history | Rec # |
|---|---|---|
| Murphy (2020) | Written explicitly as a policy research note. The canonical “policy adoption ran ahead of evidence” argument. | 813 |
| Boysen et al. (2025) | Same policy journal. Extends the challenge to the neuroscience warrant used in policy documents. | 811 |
| Edyburn (2010) | Marks the moment UDL entered US federal statute and asks what that did to the construct. | 814 |
| Flood, M., & Banks, J. (2021). Universal Design for Learning: Is it gaining momentum in Irish education? Education Sciences, 11(7), Article 341. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070341 | The “slowly and implicitly” policy-emergence argument. My bridge into section 4. | 749 |
| Ainscow, M. (2020). Inclusion and equity in education: Making sense of global challenges. Prospects, 49(3–4), 123–134. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09506-w | The global policy frame into which UDL was slotted. | 776 |
4. Ireland
UDL in Irish policy and practice
Flood & Banks (2021). (rec 749)
Foundational. I start here.
National Council for Special Education. (2025). Universal Design for Learning [PDF]. (rec 799), and the same text as a section of NCSE Relate, pp. 41–43 (rec 800).
Housekeeping: I need to decide which of the two I am citing. They are the same content and will duplicate in my bibliography.
National Council for Special Education. (2025). NCSE Relate: A regulation-first approach to reframing behaviour. (rec 798)
Flood, M. (2025). Universal Design for Learning in Irish further and higher education: Educators’ knowledge and practice. International Journal for Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning, 1(1), 72–99. https://doi.org/10.34874/PRSM.ijududl-vol1iss1.4981 (rec 779)
Flood, M., Nolan, S., & Boss, F. (2025). Universal Design for Learning with visual thinking strategies. International Journal for Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning, 1(1). (rec 777)
Gronseth, Flood & Galvin (2025). (rec 778)
Irish-led, so it doubles as Irish-context evidence.
Irish inclusion-policy backdrop
This is context rather than UDL as such, but the section needs it.
National Council for Special Education. (2024a). An inclusive education for an inclusive society: NCSE policy advice paper No. 7 on special schools and classes.
National Council for Special Education. (2019). Policy advice on special schools and classes: An inclusive education for an inclusive society? Progress report.
Shevlin, M., Winter, E., & Flynn, P. (2013). Developing inclusive practice: Teacher perceptions of opportunities and constraints in the Republic of Ireland. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(10). https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2012.742143
Mc Daid, R., & Nowlan, E. (2021). Barriers to recognition for migrant teachers in Ireland. European Educational Research Journal, 21(2), 247–264. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041211031724 (rec 755)
Selim, A. S. A. (2014). Islam and education in Ireland: An introduction to the faith and the educational challenges it faces. Veritas.
Central Statistics Office. (2023). Census of population 2022 profile 5: Diversity, migration, ethnicity, Irish Travellers and religion.
Gaps to close
Universal Design (section 1), my biggest hole
- Mace, R. L. and the Center for Universal Design: Connell, B. R., et al. (1997). The principles of universal design. North Carolina State University; and Story, M. F., Mueller, J. L., & Mace, R. L. (1998). The universal design file.
- Something on the Architectural Barriers Act (1968) and the ADA (1990), the legislative context that made Universal Design legible as policy in the first place.
- An Irish bridge worth chasing: the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority, established under the Disability Act 2005. This would give me a specifically Irish UD-to-UDL lineage that nothing currently in my bank supplies, and it would strengthen section 4 considerably.
UDL (section 2)
- Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age. ASCD. The founding text. Its absence is conspicuous.
- Meyer, A., Rose, D. H., & Gordon, D. (2014). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. CAST. This is the version of the model that Griful-Freixenet et al. (2021) empirically test, so at present I am citing a test of a model I do not hold.
- Hall, T. E., Meyer, A., & Rose, D. H. (Eds.). (2012). Universal design for learning in the classroom: Practical applications. Guilford Press.
- UDL Guidelines 1.0 (2008) and 2.0 (2011), if I want to trace the revision history properly rather than jumping from 2.2 to 3.0.
Policy (section 3)
- Higher Education Opportunity Act (2008), US, which carries the statutory definition of UDL. This is the pivot Edyburn is writing about.
- Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), US.
- UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 24, and CRPD Committee General Comment No. 4 (2016). I currently cite the NCSE reading of Article 24 without holding the instrument itself.
Ireland (section 4)
- Banks et al. (2024), cited in my own note on Flood (2025) but absent from the library.
- NCCA: Primary Curriculum Framework (2023) and Framework for Junior Cycle (2015). These are the actual documents in which Flood and Banks argue UDL is implicitly present.
- AHEAD and the National Access Plan 2022–2028, the higher-education UDL vector in Ireland, and directly relevant given my LaunchPAD role.
- EPSEN Act 2004 and the Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 for the legislative backdrop.