From the course: Teaching with Technology
About applying UDL principles
- Now, we'll look at a topic that will help us teach with technology. Raise your hand if you have heard of Universal Design for Learning. I can't actually see if you're raising your hand so I'll give you quick overview, and then dive in to how it relates to this course. As the name suggest, Universal Design means keeping everyone in mind when you designing something. That way, you won't have to make major changes when someone with different needs come alone. In an article I wrote for Diversity and Democracy, I described Universal Design for Urban Planning. Planners build curb cuts where sidewalks meet crosswalks so everyone gets equal access. This includes people using wheelchairs, walkers, baby strollers, skateboards, and anyone else traveling that path. If the sidewalks weren't designed that way, then at some point they may have to get a jackhammer and redo them at busy intersections. Universal Design for Learning or UDL that is a framework for making learning more inclusive. The Center for Applied Special Technology sums it up with a mantra. Teach every student. While some people associate UDL with accommodating students with disabilities, it really means every student. If you prefer big vocabulary words the UDL approach is based upon equifinality. Basically, we're allowing people to take different paths to reach the same goal. Technology supports creating those pathways and guiding students as they go. The UDL famework consist of three core principles. Namely, they tell us to provide all students with multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement. In other words this means that whenever possible instructors should A. Provide course content and resources in several formats. B. Give learners different ways to demonstrate what they have learned. c. Use multiple strategies to engage learners and motivate participation. As we go through the other chapters in this course, we'll look at how to use technology to provide these multiple pathways. Keep in mind that you do not have to apply UDL to everything you do all the time. The goal is to start thinking about how you can support greater numbers of students. One way to work toward the goal is to introduce something new each time you teach the class, so you can build up a lesson or course over time. If you want to study UDL in more depth, check out the Center for Applied Special Technology or CAST website cast.org. There you can download simple resources like a one-page flyer with guidelines, or you can access more robust resources, like an entire online book called Teaching Every Student In The Digital Age. For those of you who are K-12 teachers, this site even has lesson ideas and tools to build lessons. For those of you who are college or university instructors, also check out UDL Universe. A similar resource site created by Sonoma State University. You can find UDL Universe at enact.sonoma.edu/udl. Before reviewing your next movie in this course, take a minute to answer the following questions for yourself. Do you present content and information in different ways? Do you engage and motivate students in different ways throughout the term? Do you allow students to show what they know in different ways?
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