In terms of curriculum, universal design implies a design of instructional materials and activities that allows learning goals to be attainable by individuals with wide differences in their abilities to see, hear, speak, move, read, write, understand English, attend, organize, engage, and remember. Such a flexible, yet challenging, curriculum gives teachers the ability to provide each student access to the subject area without having to adapt the curriculum repeatedly to meet special needs. Subject matter can be presented in alternate modes for students who learn best from visual or auditory information, or for those who need differing levels of complexity. This accommodates the differing cognitive strategies and motor-system controls of students. Students' interests in learning are matched with the mode of presentation and their preferred means of expression.
Students are more motivated when they are engaged with what they are learning.
Teachers who want to begin implementing universal design must begin by using curricular materials that are flexible. Although digital materials are not the only way to deliver a universally designed curriculum, they allow the greatest flexibility in presentation. They can be easily customized to accommodate a wide range of student abilities, but the teacher and the students must know how to use them. The mere presence of good software programs in the classroom does not guarantee that they will provide needed access. In fact, the curriculum must remain at a sufficient level of difficulty if students are to progress in it.