Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are the main practices that teachers and instructors can implement to create a thriving learning environment. The four “gears” to UDL are mindset, skill, practice, and the UDL guidelines. To go into more depth about these “gears”, an instructor needs to have a certain mindset and set of skills to create a proper learning environment. The practices used by the teaching instructor and how they go about using the UDL guidelines also affect how well the students learn. The guidelines are put into place as recommendations so students can participate in learning with meaning and purpose.

The UDL guidelines show recommendations for engagement, representation, and, action and expression. The strategies proposed provide ways to access interest, perception, and action, to then build on persistence, language, and communication, to lastly internalize the information with self-regulation, comprehension, and functions.

To create a successful learning environment all of these “gears” must be put into play. For example, if an instructor has the right mindset but the skills and practices needed are not there, then the students’ learning comprehension will not be the best it can be. Although the UDL guidelines are just suggestions, they are important for teachers and/or future instructors to review in hopes to achieve the best education environment for all students.