While conducting training on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for an international audience of educators, Loui Lord Nelson began employing the simple image of a tree using its roots and branches to express the entire UDL ecosystem.
The metaphor of the tree helped "minimize the language barrier" in a global setting, writes Nelson, author of the bestseller Design and Deliver: Planning and Teaching Using Universal Design for Learning. But the tree metaphor also provided a means to explain more effectively how to apply the UDL framework to any learning environment.
The result-A Tree for All: Your Coloring Book of UDL Principles and Practice-is a fun, engaging, and thought-provoking review of UDL theory and practice. Whether it is colorful . . . well, that's up to you!
