Professional and social investment in universal design for learning in higher education: insights from a faculty development programme

Universal design for learning (UDL) is a research-based framework intended to optimise student learning by including student choice of content, process, and product in design. The UDL model recommends presenting course content in multiple ways, providing students various options for engagement, and then facilitating choice in expressing knowledge and skills. While previous research has shown that higher education instructors benefit from professional learning about UDL, little is known about the social and intellectual investments instructors make during these professional learning events. This study used qualitative research methods and a sociocultural definition of investment to investigate faculty development in a highly-ranked liberal arts university in the Midwest United States during a series of UDL workshops. Instructors invested in accordance with their beliefs that UDL could improve student engagement, enable them to teach more content, and develop important professional relationships with other instructors who also attended the workshops.