Designing Inclusive Learning Environments for Stronger Student Knowledge Building
September 23, 2026 from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
North Hennepin Community College (Brooklyn Park)
Learn how integrating Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guideline 3 with Optimal Learning Environment (OLE) principles creates accessible conditions and instructional designs that strengthen students’ capacity to build meaningful and transferable knowledge.
Building new knowledge requires intentional design and supportive learning conditions that allow students to transform information into meaningful understanding.
What to Expect
We will explore how UDL Guideline 3 supports the representation of concepts through varied, culturally relevant methods that reduce barriers to comprehension, while OLE principles guide educators in shaping conditions that nurture curiosity, belonging, and sustained engagement.
Through discussion and applied examples, participants will consider practical strategies for aligning instructional design with learning conditions that honor students’ diverse backgrounds, languages, identities, and cultures. Participants will leave with tools they can adapt to strengthen knowledge-building opportunities in their own educational contexts and foster deeper, more transferable learning.
Outcomes
- Explore how the UDL and OLE frameworks work and support one another.
- Analyze how each framework informs the design of accessible, inclusive learning environments and experiences that promote student knowledge-building.
- Apply UDL and OLE strategies to your own teaching or educational context.
Register for the Pre-Conference Workshop
The option to join this workshop, hosted by faculty from Minnesota State University, Mankato, is available for in-person attendees of the NED Teaching and Learning Conference which begins the following day (September 24-25).
When registering for the NED Teaching and Learning Conference, add this workshop to your NED Conference registration for an additional $30. Space is limited. Visit the NED Teaching and Learning Conference website to learn more and register.
Learn More
The NED Teaching and Learning Conference is an opportunity for Minnesota State educators to network, collaborate, and share their evidence-based experiences, and learn from each other as we explore the theme Empowering Every Learner: Strategies for Universal Access.
Contact
Email the Network for Educational Development with questions.
