Course Redesign

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs (CAST, 2012). UDL is included in COMAR and Maryland’s Teacher Technology Standards.

To shed light on how institutions of higher education can make sustainable improvements in who can learn what they learn by the time they graduate, we have studied a series of initiatives by the University System of Maryland (USM) to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of selected courses.  These redesigns incorporated a variety of learning-­centered practices, that is, teaching practices that were chosen and applied using evidence of student learning.

Curricular transformation/innovation in STEM takes several forms. Among the many courses being redesigned at UMBC, the Departments of Biological Sciences and Mathematics and Statistics have redesigned courses based on the pedagogical model known as Team-Based Learning (TBL). TBL is a specifically structured format that promotes student learning and self-efficacy through frequent readiness quizzes (both individual and team-based) and team projects and applications.