The Office of Faculty Development

Multiple Representations

A principle of the Universal Design for Learning framework, providing students with opportunities to engage with multiple representations, will provide more equitable access to learning opportunities.  The three guidelines for multiple representations call for educators to provide multiple representations for learners to perceive, communicate about, and comprehend content and ideas. 

When considering representations for learners to perceive information, learners will benefit from multiple forms of representation (e.g. visual and auditory) as well as multiple options of customizable choice related to a form of representation.  For example, videos can be created that offer various options related to playback speed or subtitles/captions.

Working with multiple means of representation will not just provide students with multiple access points to understand content, but it will also provide students with opportunities to make connections and develop deeper understanding.  This will improve students’ abilities to apply ideas to other classes and settings.  It will also improve long term retention of information.

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Multiple Means of Representation (College STAR)


UDL GuIdelines (CAST)
Multiple Means of Representation (Jennifer Cronk)UDL Principle One: Multiple Means of Representation (Texas Education Agency)

Universal Design for Learning: Representation and Science Content (Finnegan & Dieker)