Designing for All Learners: UDL in Curipod

Designing lessons that hold all students to high expectations while supporting their diverse needs isn’t easy.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps teachers do just that—with lessons that anticipate barriers, embed flexibility, and design for success from the start. Not by lowering expectations, but by using research-backed strategies that work.

At Curipod, we believe the best thing to do should also be the easiest thing to do. That’s why we built Curipod around the core principles of UDL and learning science. Teachers create classrooms that buzz with curiosity, conversation, and connection with lessons where every student is engaged from the start. 

Start with the Why: Engagement is Everything

Learning starts with engagement. One of the biggest barriers to engagement is relevance.
It’s the age-old question: Why do we need to learn this? When will I ever use this?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) emphasizes that relevance isn’t a bonus—it’s the foundation. When students see themselves in the content, when they see why it matters, they’re more likely to stay curious, motivated, and engaged. They’re invested in their learning. Research shows this is when they learn more—and remember longer.

‍How Curipod Motivates Engagement

In minutes, teachers create Curipod lessons that:

• Connect to students’ world—and hit instructional goals: Generate lessons on any topic or standard and weave in student interests, current events, or classroom context. Teach topic sentences in the context of Minecraft. Connect history to modern events. Make learning timely and meaningful.
• Promote classroom conversation: Peer-to-peer sharing and voting create a culture of dialogue. Everyone participates, not just the students who raise their hands. Students aren't just responding—they’re thinking, talking, and building meaning together.
• Build safe spaces for all voices: Student names are hidden from peers (only visible to the teacher), giving every student a chance to participate without fear of judgment.

In Curipod, relevance is woven into every lesson. Grounded in pedagogy and powered by AI, Curipod makes it possible to adapt instruction to students, not the other way around.

The What: 100% Active Participation

UDL calls for giving students multiple ways to express their thinking. Within a single Curipod lesson, students write, talk, draw, vote, and collaborate—without ever leaving the platform.

This isn’t one-size-fits-all content delivery. It’s curiosity-rich instruction that evolves with your students’ ideas.

Every Curipod lesson combines open-ended prompts, polls, drawings, and peer responses to spark critical thinking, creativity, and connection—all in one seamless flow.

💬 Built-In Translation

Language access is built into Curipod. Teachers of multilingual students can provide lessons in students’ home languages, all in the same lesson. Students aren’t held back from engaging in grade-level content while they’re learning the language.

The How: Teacher-Led, Student-Centered Learning with Built-In Flexibility

We’ve made a purposeful choice to design Curipod for synchronous, teacher-paced learning—because that’s where connection lives.

UDL calls for flexible lesson design. But flexibility doesn’t mean every student does their own thing. With Curipod, teachers guide the flow. They decide when to pause, model, discuss, or move forward based on student needs in real-time.

This structure supports shared focus, whole-class participation, and timely support—and pairs seamlessly with the Gradual Release of Responsibility model:

• I do: Teachers model thinking
• We do: Students practice together
• You do: Students reflect and respond independently

By moving flexibly between modeling, collaboration, and independent thinking, classrooms stay active and students stay curious. All within one cohesive, interactive experience.

💬 Feedback That Moves Learning Forward

Often, students have to wait days, or even weeks, to know how they’re doing. Feedback works best when it’s timely, specific, and actionable—delivered while the learning is still unfolding. Learning science backs this up. Formative, in-the-moment feedback is one of the most effective ways to support student growth.

Curipod makes that possible with real-time AI feedback on student writing, helping learners reflect, revise, and improve—right when it matters most. And for teachers? Every response is visible as it comes in, allowing for meaningful discussion, targeted support, and smarter use of instructional time.

Our Stance

We’re not just supporting best practices. We’re making them easier than ever to build into every lesson.

Universal Design for Learning turns learning science into classroom practice. Curipod turns UDL into something teachers can create in minutes.

When classrooms buzz with thinking, talking, and authentic engagement, every student’s voice has a chance to be heard—and to grow.

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